Why travel?

13:09 US/Eastern

Aboard Delta 579 en route to San Juan

I have realized that kids are what make travelling worthwhile. When you have kids, there can be nothing more pleasant than to go somewhere far away, without them. Unfortunately, the family seated in front of us hasn't figured that out. They have four kids under 5 years old. The older two appear to be twins. For the younger two they brought carseats. They were originally scattered all over the plane, and cleverly traded seats with other passengers until the parents and three of the kids were on the emergency exit row. Then they were informed that babies and car seats aren't allowed on the emergency exit row, so they swapped with the passengers behind the emergency exit row. Then they were informed that car seats aren't allowed on that row either, so they moved yet another row back, to the row immediately in front of us.

The little girl in the carseat in front of us has been crying for at least half an hour.

Delia's comment: "I realized as the family moved closer and closer to our row that it would be a harbinger of the wailing and gnashing of teeth to come."