This essay is a part of Companion Fare, a series of personal stories about traveling with loved ones.
28.01.2025 - 12:45 / insider.com
When my son was 4, I took him on our first big vacation . It was the first time we traveled out of state, and we had to take a plane to reach our destination. At the time, it was also a big deal for me to take an entire week off of work, but being able to take my son on a true vacation had long been a goal of mine.
We went to Vermont, where my family had a lakeside cabin, and spent the week hiking various trails, canoeing, visiting farmer's markets, and toasting s'mores while stargazing at night in the backyard. Being from Florida , the woods and mountain life were foreign to my son, and I was proud of finding a way to share an entirely new environment with him. Since we stayed with family and focused on free outdoor activities, my only cost for the whole trip was our airfare.
The cabin was pretty remote, which was great for really experiencing the wilderness, but it was a two-and-a-half-hour drive to the closest airport in New Hampshire. After our family dropped us off on our departure day and drove all the way back to the cabin, our late-evening flight was canceled . My initial reaction was fear.
While I was used to being a single mom , I was way out of my comfort zone, stranded in an airport with my young son. I spent hours in a ticket line with my mind going a mile a minute, worrying about everything from my son being up past his bedtime to how long we would be waiting for a new flight.
The airline offered us a different flight in the morning. It was unrealistic to ask our family to drive back and forth to the airport again, and I felt unsafe sleeping in the airport alone with a young child, so I pleaded for a hotel voucher . Then, after getting a shuttle to the hotel, sleeping there, eating the complimentary breakfast, and taking the shuttle back to the airport, our morning flight was also canceled.
This time, the airline told me they didn't have another flight until the next day, and I was able to negotiate a second hotel voucher. I looked down at my son feeling worse for him than I did myself. I decided to spend money I had no business spending on a rental car so we wouldn't have to rely on the shuttle.
I hopped on the New England freeway and found a Target, where I bought us some easy-to-prepare food and a Lego set to occupy my son that afternoon. We spent the rest of that day in the hotel room eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and apple sauce while I helped him assemble a Lego Batman and Joker battle scene.
After spending money on a car and various survival items at Target, I decided to continue making the best of our situation and took my son to the diner attached to the hotel. That one choice was when I finally had a real turning point.
While my hopes of the diner's
This essay is a part of Companion Fare, a series of personal stories about traveling with loved ones.
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