Ah, travel! The thrill of new adventures, investigating different cultures, witnessing natural beauty, and falling down the escalator. With every adventure, even the trips that are way less than adventurous, comes the mishap, especially when traveling with kids. If you’re a parent who travels, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. Now remember, these are travel mishaps, not travel traumas. This means no lost luggage, muggings, or trips to the local Polizia station.
O’Hare Airport
This is classified as a mishap, but could have been worse. But you could say the same about many of these. Disembarking the plane for our family trip to Chicago last summer, my oldest son wanted to lead our group out of the chute. This ticks off Tommy, my middle son, who is with my wife. As Danny, my oldest, Charlie, my youngest, and I wait for the other two in the lobby, we notice that they are not coming. The crew and the pilot leave the plane, but Jackie and Tommy are still in the chute. I hear bawling and screaming echoing from the cavernous structure. Not being able to head back down there, we wait, and eventually they emerge, after a good solid ten minutes of screaming and trying to drag him. The reason for the tantrum was the fact that Danny went first.
Seattle Airport
At another airport where the situation could have been worse, on the way off the escalator going up, Tommy missed the final step, fell back a step or two, and was caught by a Good Samaritan just below him. Falling down the escalator would have been a travel trauma, but thanks to the stranger, it was just a travel mishap.
Philadelphia Puncture Wound
While staying at the Residence Inn in Center City for our weekend in Philadelphia, a travel mishap happened in the hallway. We were heading to the Barnes Foundation for a tour of the museum. Although a Residence Inn, this is an old hotel. This historic building was the former Market Street National Bank. Inside the hallway is a chair rail. Danny, trying to run around my mother on the way to the elevator, struck his head on the 90-degree chair rail, impaling his forehead in the process. Thinking Danny was overreacting, I took Tommy down to the lobby. I received a call to come back up to the room, but I had no card key to operate the elevator. Finally, once my mother came to get us and we returned to the room did I realize that Danny was spurting blood from his forehead! After a quick patching up, he was ready to go to the Barnes. And he still has the indent to this day. Quite the souvenir.
Vomit in the Car
The next in the series of travel mishaps happened after a trip. My wife and I were able to get away for an evening to Lenox, Massachusetts. The autumn foliage was on full display, and we enjoyed an excellent meal at Bistro Zinc. Arriving back at my parents’ house, Danny was looking unwell. He’s a kid who is never sick. Everyone slept as I drove us home to Plymouth. A few seconds before the Route 95/495 interchange in Massachusetts, Danny announces that he is feeling sick and his stomach hurts. I asked if he needed to find a restroom, but soon knew he needed to pull over NOW. Exiting the car from the back row, he climbed over his brothers. On his way out, he couldn’t make it and threw up, all over Charlie, asleep in the car seat. I cannot imagine the feeling of warm chunky vomit on one’s head waking them up. He finished puking outside.
Back in the car, we headed toward home with one sick kid, one cranky child who had just been thrown up on, and one who was still asleep. My wife can’t find her phone. Of course, she thinks she left it outside on the side of Route 95. I pull off the next exit to get back onto 495 heading north. Now stuck in Boston traffic, I crawl back to Route 95 South. In a traffic jam until the next exit in North Attleboro, I turn around and head back to the presumed location. She’s walking on the far side of the rumble strip as I drive the car slowly behind her. Without luck, she asks if I can call her phone. The car reads it! It must be close! So close that it was in the lunch bag the whole time. A very annoying travel mishap that at least makes for quite a story.
Babies and Their Needs
This is a travel mishap that happens more often than I’d like. Just when it’s time to go, whether to work, for a road trip, or just for errands, it’s one change after another. Meaning just when it’s time to go, there is a dirty diaper. Or just as I put the baby into the car (whichever kid it was), he started soaking himself. Or maybe he does both!
Philly Phlies
During the same trip to Philadelphia, we rented a van for the whole family. My parents’ driveway had a slight fly infestation during that August. A fly or two entered the car and wouldn’t leave. Throughout the 4+ hour drive to Philly, the fly wouldn’t leave, which made Tommy, then only 2, hysterical and shrieking. Luckily for us, even with the windows open, the fly stayed in the van during our whole trip.
Traffic Jams and Bathroom Jams
After a ridiculously long ride back home from Vermont, my kids couldn’t wait anymore to use the bathroom. They needed to go ASAP. Route 3 doesn’t have any traditional rest stops. We pulled over at the next turnout out which is a small pull-out lane that enters directly back onto the highway. Out pop two of my boys, pants down (all the way of course), with fountains of urine streaming onto the heated blacktop. Looking over, about five other families were doing the same. Being a 90-degree day and wicked humid made the whole turnout area reek of pee.
Coffee and Craft Beer
Not to make fun only of my children, but my issue with liquids on road trips gets me, too. Typically, it’s fine unless I indulge in a coffee or a beer. Forget about it then. Finding woods off of abandoned weigh stations, wooded areas, or really anywhere needed becomes a must. It’s not really a classic mishap, but it’s still an annoyance for sure.
Luckily, none of these travel mishaps led to serious problems. Some are funny, some are gross, and one is a bit bloody. I guess that’s what to expect when traveling with kids in tow!
Do you have any travel mishaps you’d like to share? Comment below!
And if you’d like to hear the Backyard Road Trips podcast about the same topic- give this episode a listen.
