Oh Hi, Ohio!
Leaving for Ohio:
Left home at 8am and got an uber to the max station. We all loaded onto the max. It took us about an hour and we got to the airport around 9. We accidentally grabbed the wrong passport for J (expired) but he was still able to get through security to board the plane. Grabbed some breakfast for the kids and then made it to our gate about 20 min before boarding. Our plane ended up being delayed by an hour. We gate checked our car seats and then made it onto the plane!
Arriving in CVG – The Great Car Seat Adventure
After weeks of planning and packing, our trip finally began! We touched down at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) about an hour later than scheduled. Everyone was tired but excited to stretch their legs and get on the road. Unfortunately, there was one small problem… our car seats didn’t arrive with us.
What followed was a bit of an airport scavenger hunt (not the fun kind)… back and forth from the gate to baggage claim, then to oversized baggage, and finally to the help desk (more than once). No luck. Our seats had decided to take their own little vacation somewhere else.
Thankfully, the airline provided loaner car seats for the trip. The attendant helping us said he’d never seen this happen before. I told him I hadn’t either — we both laughed, though I think we were both a little stunned!
By the time everything was sorted, we’d spent an extra hour and a half at the airport. Two and a half hours behind schedule, we finally loaded up the car and hit the road. As we drove through Kentucky, Arabella spotted a KFC sign and asked if we could stop… how could we say no? It felt perfectly fitting to have Kentucky Fried Chicken in Kentucky. Thankfully, it was open late, and dinner hit the spot.
Afterward, we crossed briefly into Indiana so the kids could say they’d “been to Indiana,” then continued on to our hotel in Oregon, Ohio. Ironic eh?
When we arrived … very, very late … we discovered yet another hiccup: our reservation had been canceled because we hadn’t checked in early enough. The front desk told us it was marked as a no-show and hadn’t been refunded. After a fair bit of polite-but-determined back and forth, they thankfully agreed to reinstate our stay.
At long last, we made it to our room, unloaded the mountain of bags, and collapsed into bed. What a day! Here’s hoping tomorrow brings smoother travels (and that our real car seats decide to join us soon).