Throughout our lives, we experience a variety of attitudes toward travel. Today most kids have flown by the time they are 5. I never flew on a plane until I was 16 ... and then it was only because I was out of state with the family I babysat for and came down with mono.

When I was in college, the main mode of airline travel for the poor college student was called People Express. Who remembers that? Looking back, it was the most bizarre organization. First of all, no matter where you were going, you went through Newark. So if you were going from Miami to Atlanta, you first flew to Newark, changed planes there and made your connection to Atlanta. The second thing that was really bizarre was that their prices were extraordinarily low. I think there were times when you could fly one-way for $59. And most bizarre of all was that you had to fly at the oddest hours…like 2:30 a.m.  I lived in central New York, so the destination of choice for Spring Break was Fort Lauderdale. We would fly out of Syracuse, fly to Newark and then sit on the floor, herded like cattle, waiting for our next flight. There were no seat assignments, so you just hoped to get close to the front of the line so you could get a good seat. And finally, you didn't pay for your flight until you were in the air! The flight attendants would come down the aisles with cash boxes and credit card machines and collect the fare from each passenger. It was crazy. But we were poor college students, studying in the frozen tundra of northern NY, desperate for a week of sunshine!

Once I got out of college, I would book flights to go home for Thanksgiving or off to visit a college friend in another city. Then once I got on the plane, I would cross my fingers and hope that the flight was overbooked and that they would start offering free round-trip tickets to get off this flight and get on the next one. Schedules were not essential, and whoever was on the other end of your flight completely understood if you called and said you were going to be arriving a few hours later than originally planned.

For some of us, the most memorable (and maybe not in such a good way) phase of our travel experience was when you started traveling with our infants and toddlers. You would hope beyond hope that the baby's nursing schedule and the plane's departure coincided since everyone said the best thing you could do to avoid excruciating pain in your baby's ears was to nurse upon take-off and ascent. Inevitably, you would get on the plane only to find out that there was a delay at the gate and when you finally left the gate there was a 20 minute wait because you were 10th in line for departure.

You cringed every time the baby cried and slumped down a little lower in your seat whenever your toddler kicked the seat in front of him or decided that moving the tray table up and down was the best form of in-flight entertainment. You really tried to keep the kids in check, having multiple forms of entertainment, several back-up pacifiers and yes, perhaps a dose of Benedryl for your child who had no signs of congestion. But you also started to get a little angry when you saw the rolling eyes of the other passengers. You knew they were judging YOU for your child's behavior. And you SWORE that when you were no longer traveling with children, you would be empathetic and kind to anyone traveling with small children.

Guess what? That becomes a distant memory when you are fortunate enough to get a weekend away, with your kids safely in the hands of your parents, your neighbors or your friends. You get on the plane, see that there is a woman traveling with an infant and a toddler sitting directly behind you and you inwardly (and maybe just a little outwardly) groan. And yes, you do roll your eyes. You quietly approach the flight attendant to ask if there is ANY possibility of changing seats. There never is. You think fondly of the book you brought to read in the quiet of the plane and know you are never going to be able to concentrate and that you are going to be constantly disturbed by the little brats behind you. And you ARE going to judge the mother! I know…you can't imagine it…but you will mentally list all the things that mother SHOULD be doing to keep her kids from annoying you. Groan. Can't she dose that kid with some Benedryl? If that kid kicks my seat one more time… Can't she put a plug (oh, I mean a pacifier or a bottle or a breast) in that baby's mouth to shut him up?

Diane appears Wednesdays on TriangleMom2Mom. Read more about Diane on her blog Live and Let Di.