My beautiful grandmother, who is in her mid-90′s, lives in her own home in a suburb of Syracuse, New York. She’s doing great, but various age-related issues keep her close to her home. That explains why, this Thanksgiving, my Southern California family and I traveled across the country to spend the long Thanksgiving weekend with her. It’s not easy to get to her Syracuse suburb in the Finger Lakes region. But we packed like pros: Four carry-on size suitcases and two Tom Bihn bags (my purse shoved in one) sufficed.
Thanksgiving air travel, pre-flight
We had a layover in Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. We’d left time for a delayed departure out of Los Angeles, so my kids had the opportunity to sample some “authentic Chicago pizza” (read: generic airport pizza) before we boarded the next plane.
Layover lunch in O'Hare
The airplane to Syracuse was smaller, and noisy, with a weird-acting, possibly high man a couple rows up that had a bunch of other passengers nervous and upset in flight. Fortunately, my children didn’t notice him – thank you, Nintendo DS, for your distracting Sims games!
Air travel for Thanksgiving
We’d gotten up at 5:00 AM but the sun was setting before we landed in Syracuse. Then, we had the drive to grandma’s house.
Sunset view from airplane
Thanksgiving was absolutely perfect this year. My brother and sister-in-law are expecting a baby in June — it’s been a while since our family had a new baby. We played a couple of interactive board games, caught up, and laughed and laughed.
Playing board games with aunts, grandma and an uncle
I love living in Southern California, but I miss my Northeast family a lot. Thanksgiving reminds us not to take our happy, loving families for granted (hopefully, anyway).
Girls with Great-Grandma, Thanksgiving Day
My grandmother immigrated here from Hungary ages ago, with her parents and brothers. She never saw her Hungarian relatives again. Thinking about the weeks she spent on that boat, en route to a new country with a different language and culture than the one she knew, made me introspective this Thanksgiving. A cross-country trip on a couple of airplanes isn’t so hard after all. No matter how lousy the in-flight food is!
Happy Thanksgiving to families everywhere
The Vacation Gals hope that you all had terrific Thanksgiving weekends too.
That photo of you and your grandma is a KEEPER. What a great reminder to be thankful for extended family.
Glad you had a great Thanksgiving with your family. Look like we crossed path during Thanksgiving as you flew East, I flew West to your lovely Southern CA.
Lovely photos!
And always cool to see your Western Flyer getting a run. It was your review on the previous vacation gals website that convinced me it was the bag I needed! It’s been fantastic too – functional, stylish and most importantly, carry-on friendly for even the smallest airlines I travel.
Jen, I loved this story about your Hungarian grandmother!