Susan’s mom flew up from Alabama on Saturday. The kids were very excited to see her, even our two-year-old, who mainly knows her through phone calls and Skype, being too young to remember his visit to her house last summer. She came bearing gifts and promises of smoothies and other fun things to spoil grandchildren. I prepared some care instructions for her, as well as a calendar of the kids’ many activities over the next three weeks (which includes the end of school, field trips, etc.). The care instructions have become something of a joke around here, because they run 32 pages, single-spaced (well, in 14 point type). But if you think about it, there’s a lot to tell—safety information, medical information, contact numbers, and the toddler’s basic schedule. Kids need routine, especially in a time of change. I also prepared a map of Winona and a list of fun things to do around town.
On Monday night, the night before our trip, we took the kids out for a celebratory ice cream sundae at the Lakeview Drive-in and put them to bed with promises to see them in three weeks. Each of the older kids expressed at least a little anxiety about our departure; our youngest daughter expressed a lot, eventually crying herself to sleep.
Last-minute preparations kept us up past 11 again. Then our oldest daughter woke up at around midnight complaining of nausea. (She actually stayed home from school the next day.) And then I woke up at 4 because of pre-travel nerves, which meant going into this trip on less than four hours’ sleep.
At around quarter after five we were picked up by our friend and neighbor, Todd—one of half a dozen people to offer to do that for us (thank you all!). We had a gorgeous ride to the Cities on Highway 61, which runs along the Mississippi River, and a good conversation besides.
 |
| Todd and Susan ... obviously morning people! |
 |
| On the flight to Grankfurt |
 |
| A TV for every passenger makes for a very quiet plane. Here Susanis tracking the progress of the flight. |
We flew United Airlines from Minneapolis to Neward on a tiny little puddle jumper (we did get an exit row), then had a three-hour layover in Newark. We tried connecting with the kids on Skype but all of our technology kept going haywire, which was disappointing. The TSA screening, which we had to do twice (once in Minneapolis, once in Newark due to a change of terminals), was its usual unpleasant self. In fact I was wishing I had my camera out because we witnessed a YouTube moment when a TSA officer completely flew off the handle, shouting at a woman who refused to go through the full-body scanner. “Okay, you just wait there until you cool down, lady! You enjoy waiting, Have fun!” And then to her colleagues: “She’s a bit crazy, that woman is!” Funny, the only person acting crazy was Ms. TSA. The woman in question submitted to a pat-down without any fuss, but the TSA folks made sure to make it into a public spectacle, yelling, “Female opt out!” and stuff. In fact, there was one guy who seemed to be the designated yeller, because he kept yelling at the top of his voice to everyone in line.
The security process in Frankfurt was an interesting contrast to this—calm, orderly, quick, and quiet. No one so much as raising their voice. Hmmm.
After the frustration trying to Skype the kids, we realized that our travel agency FAILED when it came to ensuring we got exit row or bulkhead seats for my 6’7” frame. They told us to request at the gate; turns out you have to reserve online 24 hours in advance. By the time we got to the gate, the exit row seats were all taken. That meant spending the next seven hours crammed into a tiny seat—and definitely no sleep.
On the upside, the service on Luftansa was excellent. The flight was on one of those jumbo jets…our kids will think it’s cool so I included some photos. (Everyone gets their own movie screen!) They served a delicious dinner and breakfast.
We swung through Frankfurt, where I got pulled out of line for a random security check. The guy who did it was very calm, joking around…it wasn’t a problem at all. We spent our short layover in Frankfurt at McDonald’s, which had huge windows looking out onto the airport. Huge windows with lots of early morning light is just the ticket when your body is wondering what the heck you’re doing up and around at 1 in the morning.
I’ll write about our arrival in Alex’s home country later today. Right now, we’re off to the adoption appointment!
No comments:
Post a Comment