It's an Adventure! Longest Post Ever, From Longest Trip, EVER!

We've had some big changes in our lives this year. It's taken us on journeys we never would have dreamed, and to places that not too long ago, I would have been fearful of going.

The year started with so many uncertainties. The twists and turns landed us in a far away world after months of preparation, and planning. 

The getting here part, well, that was an adventure in itself...

I had to sell 2 homes, while I cared for 2 toddlers, and navigated life with 3 teenagers, by myself, while the hubby had already arrived ahead of us to our new home.  Pulling all the details together, and closing up housekeeping in our home country was so much work.  One of the kids graduated, the other finished her first year at University, while our youngest teenage daughter finished her Sophomore year with honors. We left behind a church we loved dearly, family, and friends, and eventually our oldest 2 children.  :(  I had to pack, store, ship, organize, situate and all the tying up of loose ends that you can imagine.  It's been quite a ride.  That part of the ride led to the next phase of our journey...

A long drive.
A reunion with my oldest daughter after she returned from a mission trip overseas.
Time with family.
A reunion with my hubby after he had been gone for 4 months.
And eventually, the flight overseas...

It was supposed to be long, we knew that, but, we had planned for 25 hours, and that turned to 31, very loooooooooooooooong hours.

The morning started at 4am, and we were in the car heading to the airport by 5, for a 7am flight. We had 9 bags to check, and two car seats. We had carry on bags, a stroller, sleepy toddlers, a grumpy teenager and an annoyed line of people behind us because of our large lot of goods we were taking with us.

Enter the grouch in the line, yelling around about having to stand and wait after she had paid for her checked bag online.  She was a barrel of fun! That was just the beginning of the adventure that awaited.

Enter the baggage Nazi's with the rules and charges that weren't supposed to be. We left thinking we were going to have to pay for one bag, since we were supposed to have 2 bags free per person. We should have had this, but, NO, didn't matter what our paperwork said, it wasn't so.  We left that counter frustrated and less a small fortune (with irritated travelers, tired of waiting behind us), on to security, which was the best part of our entire trip, at least at that airport...

The flight left on time, arrived on time 2 hours later, and we found a play area, thanks to the travels and good eye of my husband a week before us. The kids played, and we waited for 4.5 hours for our next flight as I realized the mistake I had made that morning by getting dressed in the dark and pairing a dark bra with a light shirt... That was exactly the look I was going for!  Hah! We found a place to grab a bite, and while the kids waited for the order, I walked down to the counter to get our boarding passes, and found our flight was delayed. Nice, right? Again, keep in mind, I am traveling with toddlers and a surly teenager.

First an hour delayed, which left me with 30 minutes to get to the connecting flight at a very large airport. 

Hour and a half delayed. I walk up to the counter and ask what can be done. I stand at the counter for 2 hours. TWO HOURS, people! They finally get us re-routed, to London. When all was said and done we were at this particular airport for 12 hours. The youngest of us, at just 2 years old had had enough of our day and ended up laying face down on the floor of the airport in his tired despair, and would not get up. He was literally FACE DOWN, on that dirty floor. I felt like I was about at boiling point by then too, and wished I could show my dismay in the same way as my sweet toddler. Oy!

Finally, 9.5 hours later, we landed after a very loooooooong and uncomfortable night of little ones sleeping on Mommy, rendering me unable to move nearly the entire time.  Oh man, was I ever happy to get off that flight. :)

We had 3 hours in London.  We saw nothing but the inside of a bus, security (for an hour and a half) then another ticket counter that didn't have our seats assigned because of it not being "released" from the other airline, whatever that means.

After what seemed like forever, I left the ticket counter with little confidence that our bags would make the flight after the ticket agent said they hadn't been sent to the plane. With tickets in hand, we head up the stairs, stand in line, board the plane, only to realize we are NOT seated together. 

Again, traveling with toddlers, and NOT seated together! I got back to the section and realized we were all (4 of us) seated in middle seats, one behind the other for 4 rows!  How's that going to work?? I am at my wits end at the this point, and still irritated with security for throwing away my facial cleanser, because it was too big, and standing in line and waiting yet again as people seemed to continually not know what they were doing. 

I voiced my concerns to the flight attendants as they asked me to be seated in our seats, with big smiles on their faces... I however, was not smiling. In fact by the time our conversation was just nearing the middle of this problem, I was not just not smiling, I was CRYING! haha  :)

What pray tell had me tears?
This simple comment: Ma'am, I'm sorry you weren't seated together, you can ask if there might be someone who is willing to move. 

They asked me to figure out our seating?  Me, who had just been through the longest 24 hours of my life at this point, with the biggest mess of ticketing and re-routing, traveling without my spouse to move to a foreign land, with 3 kids, all who were exhausted, and ready to be done.  They wanted me to fix their mess.  By the time the conversation ended, a couple of the flight attendants
were in tears along with me, and they finally assured me, they would figure it out for me, because, who in their right minds are going to switch to take middle seats in a row of 5, in the middle of a plane traveling another 7 hours to our destination.  Oh my!  I felt like such a mess at this point, and like a walking zombie. 

(Maybe, just maybe this zombie apocalypse I hear my teenage daughter speak of on occasion is just exhausted, fed up with life, moms, who've heard one too many stupid things said to them after zero sleep?)  ;)

Anywho, this was handled, and we ended up in the back of the plane with seats that did not recline.  They made it okay by giving me a candy bar.  I was good with that. 

So, 7 hours later, at 1am, in hot, humidity, we arrived with, you guessed it....

NONE of our bags!  Oh joy of my life.

The littles were happy happy to see their daddy, and I was happy to know I was done with that part of this journey.  

Hahah!  Longest post ever, doesn't even do justice to the feeling of the longest trip ever.  Not even maybe. 

8 days later, I seem to have mostly recovered.

Stay tuned, more crazy coming your way.