Causes of jet lag

Some people have asked for further details on why the first 14 hours of our trip was so gruelling.

Here is the long and short of it:

We had purchased our tickets through Delta, who told us that the bag weight allowance was 70 pounds per bag on Korean Airlines. Because we were trying to minimize the number of bags we were schlepping, we filled up Big Blue to its capacity. At the airport, it weighed in at what we thought was an acceptable limit only to be informed that the maximum weight was now 50 pounds and we would be charged extra.

Then, despite our vocal protests, when we checked in, the 'customer service agents' (if you can call them that) at Korean Airlines decided to force us into the bulkhead seats and gave our two seats away that we had specifically reserved 10 days before (center row, we both had aisles with the two center seats open). They told us that the flight was now full and the middle seats wouldn't stay open. They reassured us that they had 'blocked' the seat next to us, so we would still have 3 seats to spread out a little. In reality, they put another mother and her lap child in the 4th seat and promised her the same thing. Once she sat down and told us they had promised her the seat, a 'customer service agent' was summoned and because Sophia weighed 3 pounds less, they deemed that other mother could have the 'blocked' seat because Sophia could fit in a bassinet. Yeah right, she is about 3 inches too long and 3 pounds above the maximum allowable weight. To make matters worse, the arm rests did not go up and the seats were and inch or two narrower than its United's counterparts.

We tried to make the best of the situation and the other mother assured us that we could trade off so that neither of us would be miserable on the trip. Not only did she not make good on the offer, she would often sit in the seat next to Kat (leaving her aisle seat empty), hold her son who would then kick and hit Kat repeatedly. No amount of subtle and not so subtle hints seemed to get through to her and we just couldn't summon the necessary rudeness that seemed to be required.

Sophia only slept approximately 2 hours of the entire flight and she fidgeted, fussed, cried and screamed until Colin was forced to take her into the lav to try to spare everyone around us (except the inconsiderate mother, that is). Therefore, 5 out of the 14 hours, Colin (who usually has the magic touch to get Sophia to sleep) spent in the lav with Sophia.

The salt on the wound, was that when we walked by our original seats and saw, you guessed it, two people on the aisle with the two middle seats empty.

There is an old airline axiom that any flight you walk away from is a good flight, so I guess we can't qualify it as a 'bad flight' just a frustrating, aggravating, and tiring one.





Notice, while Mommy and Daddy try to sleep, our little girl is wide awake!




Sophia had so much fun on the flight from Korea to Hanoi. She figured out how to climb on top of her car seat so she could flirt with and wave to everyone behind her. She had a HUGE fan club despite her very loud temper tantrums in between in charming moments. The poor thing was dehydrated (we couldn't get her to drink enough water, milk or OJ), exhausted and confused about our purpose for dragging her all over the planet.