Airlines - A Necessary Evil to Get Me to a Cruise Port

I can still remember as a little girl flying with my parents back to Montreal to see family.  Now this goes way back - WAY back.  I was around the age of 5 - and yes there were planes back then.

Me, my Mom and sister on a big trip to Disneyland

We dressed up because it was a special occasion to be on a plane.  Mom would do up our hair and we would get a gift of a special toy that we could play with on the plane.  I still remember this plastic case that was filled with pretend makeup, blow dryer, curling iron, oh what joy it brought me.  

Back then they served full meals, for free.  Gave us pillows and blankets, for free.  Everyone looked nice, everyone smiled.  But there was no personal entertainment, certainly no wifi, no online check in or bookings.  Not a lot of options on carriers either.  And price was quite high.

For me the worst part of travelling is flying.  Not that I have a fear of flying, I just hate being squished into a metal tin can with so many others and treated like cattle.

Because of this we try to do a few things to ease any headaches.

- we always try to pre book seats and our preference is two aisle seats across from each other. 

- we try to pick flights that leave first thing in the morning.

- we limit our carry on, to one bag each (normally we check a bag, but if we can for a shorter trip we just bring carry on).

- I load my tablet with magazines, books, games and videos to pass the time.

- we try to never fly during peak holiday times if we can help it.

- if for some reason we can, we splurge on business class tickets (but this has only happened once).

Today I am working on our flights to Fort Lauderdale in early 2016.  Our flights are booked with United going, and American Airlines coming back.  

Seems like now if you want to pre reserve your seat you need to pay a small (as she clears her throat) fee for any "preferred" seat.

Really!  American was asking $60 US dollars each for an exit row seat for a three hour flight to Houston. Then another $68 US each for the four hour flight to Vancouver.  Nope can't justify it, so we are back to being further back in the plane and sitting across the aisle from each other.  .0

I really don't know how people who fly often do it.  

Another reason we cruise from destination to destination.  

Oh and don't even get me started on the fees for food, bags, priority boarding etc. etc.

I know once we retire and spend all our time travelling we will look at cruises to take us to different parts of the world and try and stay away from flights entirely.