The Bean Takes San Francisco by Storm!

As usual, I‘d taken the easy way out of traveling with the Bean, a tube-fed, non-verbal special needs two year-old and arranged this trip to visit (and stay with) the Baby Bro and the fave SIL in San Francisco.

This was the Bean’s third flight (lucky kid, she was only 2)! But, this was her inaugural flight as an official member of the 2+ set, so marked the beginning of a whole new (read: more expensive) game! Pro Travel Tip: do as many free fare flights as you can before your little one turns 2 and travel as much as you can before you’re back to work! This strategy not only saved us money, but also meant we could take more time to enjoy our destinations. She also became accustomed to planes, trains, ferries and busses at an early age.

As it was her first flight with her own seat on the plane (and, unfortunately, her own seatbelt) we had no idea what to expect. As luck would have it, the airplane seatbelt buckle (metal) was different enough from her carseat seatbelt buckle (plastic) to trigger a major meltdown. Apparently, the metal buckle quite offended the Bean. She also had a difficult time understanding the concept of remaining seated and repeatedly got down onto the floor of the plane (which would’ve been alright) except that she kept trying to crawl under the seats in front of us, which clearly wasn’t going to work. Now, I (being the incredible mom that I am ; ) had packed a fair percentage of her total toy collection in her carry-on. However, at a few seconds per toy, this advance planning/packing didn’t quite pay off as much as I’d hoped it would. At this stage of her development, the Bean wasn’t super-interested in videos either, so we were at a bit of a loss. The flight from YYZ to SFO was nearly 6 hours and while the Bean had done flights of 3 hours before, this trip made me realize that perhaps working our way up to longer flights, in a slightly more gradual way, may have been the way to go! So, we finally touched down in SFO, tried this new thing where we patiently wait for all other passengers to disembark first, so that we can take our time to collect all of our equipment, make sure that none of the toys that were flung on the floor were left behind (No toy left behind!) and carry the Bean off the plane without her feet making contact with anyone’s face. Okay, well to be completely honest, Hubs waited patiently for everyone to disembark, while I pretended to wait patiently. Am pretty much only patient when it comes to the Bean! My impatience notwithstanding, our luggage was only just starting to come down the chute by the time we got to the rotator belt, so as it turns out, it actually doesn’t pay to be the first one off of the plane! Who knew? Okay, I guess like EVERYONE else. Live and learn. We collected our ridiculous amount of luggage and headed to the car rental desk. Hubs lined up while I chased the Bean up and down the airport hallway. In the span of the less than ten minutes that I had my back turned to the Hubs, he managed to upgrade the car rental I had carefully chosen, reserved and budgeted for! Hubs’ brain was still operating in $CDN$, so the upgrade (quoted in USD) seemed like a great deal to him! Anyways, we piled into our (for the week) fully-loaded Ford Explorer and Hubs braved the SF traffic to get to my brother’s place. We’d made it! The Bean was, of course, pretty thrilled to see her Uncle and Auntie again.

The next day, we crossed over from Alameda to San Francisco by ferry. Bean was living for the wind in her hair! On the ferry ride alone, we spotted the Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz. Once we docked we found ourselves face to face with countless Harbour Seals! We spent some time picking up souvenirs at Fisherman’s Harbor, while restraining Bean in her stroller, in order to prevent her from bolting into the crowd. After purchasing the requisite t-shirts, magnets and hats, we were ready to check out the city!

What’s a tour of San Fran without a ride on an old-timey cable car? And, why not cover as many forms of transit as possible (with a kiddo who throws up daily, without exception) in two days? We made our way to the departure point for the Powell-Hyde cable car. We somehow managed to take turns waiting in line and running around after the Bean, for what felt like hours, but was actually less than one hour! (Okay, okay, may have sent the Baby Bro to run after the Bean here and there but, come on, couldn’t let all that youthful lung capacity go to waste)! Also, as the tourists in this scenario, we needed time to take in the incredible view! Finally, we were at the very front of the queue when the attendant stopped letting people onto the cable car (of course). We very patiently waited until the next cable car came along. In preparation for boarding the train, I’d extricated the Bean from her stroller (read: safe place) and was just folding said stroller when the train started boarding and we were almost trampled! Apparently the San Fran mob of tourists waits for no one, not even a Canadian mom trying to fold up her Baby’s stroller! No matter, we boarded and, having sent Baby Bro ahead, scored seats/standing space altogether. When the cable car lurched forward, the Bean tried to scale Hubs as if she were a de-clawed cat trying to climb a tree! Once she became used to the jerky movements though, she relaxed a little and enjoyed the views of the city. This included the infamous steep, initial hairpin turn of Lombard St.

Pro Travelling with a Kiddo with Autism Tips:

1) The line-up to get on to a vintage Powell-Hyde cable car is looong, so a 2:1, adult to kiddo ratio is advisable. 1 adult waits in line while 1 adult chases after kiddo who refuses to wait in line.

2) The cable car gonna be crowded, as in you may not be able to see out the window crowded, ‘nough said.

3) Cable cars, not the fastest form of transportation. If you’re a ‘getting there is half the fun’ type traveller, enjoy! If not, choose a more modern form of transportation.

After our cable car ride, we chose a Chinese restaurant for lunch and then checked out Chinatown, which we thoroughly enjoyed. Though, shopping in Chinatown, shockingly, not a huge hit with the Bean. The Hubs even picked out a pair of jam-jams (as I now call them) for the Bean, which she seemed pretty proud of:

We then headed back down to the pier, onto the ferry and back to Alameda. Leave on a high note, people!