WAKWIR Talks Travel & Other Kid Thoughts on the Subject

Hello and welcome to a Saturday on the road here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is February 17^th.

That’s right, folks. We’re on the road. The Third Grader and I have gotten into a nice little routine of writing the blog on Saturday mornings. Usually, we cuddle into the B.A.C. (big ass chair) in the living room with some hot coffee and tea and away we go. This morning, however, the original Wannaskan Almanac Kid Writer-in-Residence (WAKWIR) is driving while I do the typing. Yes, that’s right – WAKWIR 1.0 is in the house (or, literally, in the van) so buckle up, and let’s see what we can get out of him.

3rd Grader: Hello, everybody, it’s nice to see you. Instead of 1 kid, three kids might talk. And what are we going to talk about? Let’s talk about traveling.

6th Grader: Traveling can be fun but not always. For example, if it’s going well, you’re on time for your flight and you just made it on the plane.

3rd Grader: I don’t know how to explain traveling. It’s very boring in the car, yet somehow you still manage to have fun. For example, when you’re in the car and you’re just tired and you want to get to the place already, you remember that you had fun entertaining yourself in the car. On this trip, my sister and I entertained ourselves by taking turns playing Geometry Dash – so 10 minutes and 10 seconds, then 10 minutes and 10 seconds, 10 minutes and 10 seconds. (Mom Note: My phone timer was already set for 10:10.)

WAKWIR: I will interject and I will say that being in the car was fun because I was driving and I got to have a Celsius (an energy drink.) Due to our success with Amtrak on the way to Whitefish, we assumed we’d have smooth travels from St. Cloud to Minneapolis. But let me tell you, it’s a really crummy feeling to wake up to a notification that the train is 4 hours late. We’re still in the middle of solving the problem, but Minneapolis isn’t so far from St. Cloud so we’re driving to Maple Grove to meet with our friends.

3rd Grader: There are all sorts of travel. It doesn’t just have to be walking, biking, or driving. It could be anything. It could be flying, to swimming, to going on a boat, to hiking. Anything that makes you move is travel!

My favorite kind of travel is hiking or flying. With hiking you never know when you’ll find something cool. One time we were hiking and we found a beaver skull. I thought the beaver skull was really, really cool. With flying one of my favorites is you get to watch movies on the way. I remember watching a Captain Underpants movie. I liked the movie because it was really funny.

WAKWIR: I like flying. I love flying actually. You get to travel places, go to airports, and play the follow the sign game like I did when I had to navigate my way through Toronto’s Pearson airport – by myself. (Mom added that emphasis: BY MYSELF.) It was a really interesting experience because I knew that the airport was big, but actually being in it was so much bigger. It was so complex, like a maze. A labyrinth. But I followed the signs and I got to my gate.

This reminds me to tell you the story of navigating through Montreal (by myself) from Czech Republic. So, basically, here’s what happened: My dad and I got our boarding passes in Vienna. We were both flying from Vienna to Winnipeg but through different airports. (Mom note: WHY they were on different flights and not flying together is a whole other story in itself….) Dad went through Frankfurt and Toronto. I went through Munich and Montreal. Munich was fine; I got through there, and I got on my flight, An important thing to note is that in Vienna they only gave me two boarding passes. They told me that when I got to the gate in Munich I would get my boarding pass to Winnipeg. I got to Montreal and there were a ton of AirCanada flight cancellations. Hundreds of people were displaced at the airport because of these cancellations. I got caught in the action. There were so many people switching flights, that I got caught in this 50-person line and my flight was in an hour. I was explaining my situation to others in the line. Most of the people told me that if my flight was right then and there I should skip through the line and head to the counter. So, that’s exactly what I did. If I’d stayed in that line I wouldn’t have made it. I ran around the people to the counter. The person at the very front of the line at the counter said, “If your flight's in an hour, GO!” I got my boarding pass, got through customs, and I had to sprint to my flight. I attached myself to a family that was also rushing to get on to the same flight. So we ran together. And I’m not joking. We were literally sprinting in the airport.

But, wait! There’s more!

Right before my plane to Winnipeg took off, my dad called me and said that HIS flight from Frankfurt to Toronto was delayed and that he had missed his flight from Toronto to Winnipeg. I was too young to book a hotel, so when I got to Winnipeg, I asked security if I could sleep on the airport benches for the night. They said, “Yeah. Go for it.”

And that was my worst sleep ever.

My dad arrived in the morning at 9am.

Traveling has its ups and downs, but you just gotta go with the flow.

3rd Grader: In conclusion, traveling is really fun.