jetBlue Review – Is Even More Space worth it?

When we flew home from Seattle last month, I decided to upgrade our seats to the Even More Space seats.  The option was available when I  checked us all in 24 hours prior to our departure.  I was able to see that we could get 3 seats together and 1 seat in the next row which is about as good as it gets for a family of four flying on a plane with a 3-3 configuration.

We had not flown jetBlue in quite some time (we flew Delta to Seattle) and having heard so many great reviews, I was looking forward to the flight.  Especially with all that legroom…

But it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.

Let’s start with the positives:
  1. Loads of legroom.  I think Jason appreciated it the most.  I’m only 5’2″ and the kids are shorter than me – for now, at least – so we have a little less at stake on the legroom issue. One unexpected benefit – the kids weren’t bumping into each other every time they reached for their backpack which reduced the bickering. And that’s always a win.IMG_1710
  2. With more legroom comes an extra window.  This is key when traveling with 2 kids as it means the kid who has scored the window seat isn’t blocking the view for the other kid with his/her head.  This reduced the bickering far more than I expected. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I really appreciate anything that reduces kiddo bickering.IMG_1722
  3. Helpful flight attendants.  While our needs weren’t great, they kept the snacks and beverages coming and even put out water bottles in the galley for self-service.

 

Now for the negatives:
  1. The screens and entertainment system in general.  The first thing the kiddos said when we sat down  “why are the screens so small?”  I don’t believe I’ve ever seen screens that small before.  To make matters worse, the movies were not working.  This left us with just the TV channel options which can be hit or miss for kids.  We had our own devices and were happy to use them.  Except it was a 5-hour flight and we didn’t have charging outlets.FullSizeRender (10)
  2. Snack boxes were the only food items available for purchase.  I had higher expectations for a 5-hour flight that left at 11am local time.  It was too early to buy lunch at the airport prior to boarding since we’d just had breakfast and we had no way to keep it fresh until we were hungry.
  3. The plane was a little “tired” – there was some peeling on the interior just above the windows and we were delayed for a bit because the handle on an overhead bin broke.  Maybe I’m being too critical but sometimes, it’s the little things you notice.FullSizeRender (11)

The Even More Space seats were great and I would purchase them again – especially for a long flight.

As for our jetBlue experience on the whole, I definitely learned a few lessons and will be a little more prepared next time with charging options and meals.  I wasn’t as impressed as I thought I would be, but nothing was a deal breaker.

 

 

Kallo-Knippla – Our Swedish Paradise

When we started putting together our trip to Sweden, I knew we’d want to spend a few days in Stockholm, but wasn’t sure where else we would want to go.  I proceeded to spend more time than I care to admit scrolling through house listings on Airbnb* in an effort to figure out where else to go while in Sweden.

I kept coming back to this one charming house right on the water.  But I knew nothing about the location.  It sounded a bit intimidating – a tiny island off the coast of Gothenburg requiring 2 ferries to reach it from the mainland.  It also wasn’t very close to Stockholm which meant more logistics planning then I was necessarily wanting to tackle. But, I couldn’t resist.  The listing was almost dreamlike – right on the water with a dock, a water view from every room and while quiet, not isolated and lonely.  The house seemed to strike just the right balance.

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I went for it.  After viewing the listing no less than several dozen times, we made a family decision to book it.

It was perfect.  It was the first time in our travels that we took it slow and really relaxed without running this way and that, trying to see sights.  While there weren’t really any sights to see on Kallo-Knippla, that doesn’t mean we were bored.  Far from it.

The northern part of the island was not built up and just had walking paths winding through the rocky terrain.  We spent most of our time outside, walking and climbing the rocks along the coastline.  Despite the weather being cold and windy, we (okay, I…) packed a picnic lunch to enjoy on the rocks.

What town center there was consisted of a small market, a pizza place, one restaurant open during the high summer season, and a fish stand open only a few days of the week. The only drawback to the lack of services/amenities meant more time in the kitchen.  The good news is that Sweden has embraced the convenience of rotisserie chicken.

We did travel a few islands over to Hono for dinner out on two occasions – our first dinner out was at a little pub and the second was at a delightfully charming restaurant, Tullhuset.

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We spent one day in Gothenburg and on our way back to our perfect little house, we all vowed not to leave the island again for the rest of our trip.

Our time in Kallo Knippla was an absolute delight.  The weather was as good is it could be with sunny days warming up our little house.  The island was charming and a refresing break from city travel.  Because of our time on this charming island, my approach to travel planning has changed.  No longer do I reflexively look at city destinations, but I have been searching out quieter spots that allow us to absorb the culture of the place in a more relaxed way.  We’ll see how this pays off on our next trip.

*On the off chance you don’t already have an Airbnb account, clicking my referral link will land you a $40 credit.  But doesn’t everyone have an account by now? 😉