Leaving on a Jet Plane...A German Experience

Guten Tag!!

Sorry this post has been such a long time coming. Those of you who know me know that technology and I don't get along very well. Needless to say, getting my computer set up with this router....well, you can probably figure it out. It took a while.

Any of you who might have wondered just what all is involved in travelling internationally with small children....this one's for you.

Here are our checked bags. Just for the sake of detail...they weighed 48 and 49.5 pounds. Our particular airline (us airways) doesn't charge bag fees (under 50 pounds) for international flights. For now. So, one for me and one for them.



Then there is the holy cow I'm gonna be travelling ALL DAY with these crazy kids I'd better carry on everything I can think of...

Yes, I carried most of that by myself. Nevermind that I carried Piper in the pouch and pushed Fisher in the stroller too. Part of the time anyway.

A cute Denver airport shot. We had just made it through security. Which took FOREVER.

On the flight from Denver to Philadelphia.

They stayed awake that whole three and a half hour flight. Which really kinda freaked me out as it was naptime. But they behaved VERY well. I had gotten a new DVD player (Piper broke the old one two days before our roadtrip from hell) and a brand new (they had no idea I'd even gotten it) movie. Tangled. Which they LOVED! SO not just a chick flick.

Dinner at the Philadelphia airport.

We got all ready for bed at the Philadelphia airport. Vitamins, medicine (they had that terrible cold), teeth brushing, and a clean diaper for Pipey. That whole "no sleep on the first flight" thing kinda worked in my favor because this was Fisher even before we took off...

Here's Piper not more than an hour behind him.

That one was an eight hour flight! They woke up about 45 minutes before we landed. Piper did get up once for a bottle somewhere in the middle. She was particularly frustrated with the seatbelt being around her while she slept. I wouldn't say I got to sleep very much. I woke up at every twitch and snort. Terrified that my run of good luck would be up and they would scream the rest of the flight. But that never happened. They. Were. Awesome.

And the reward after a very short customs line...

Daddy!!! Kisses and hugs. (not a super great picture - but essential to the story)

I've got a couple pictures that I feel accurately show jetlag. It can be hard to describe with pictures. But I think I've done it.

The first one.

This is the one that really drives it home.

That's EXACTLY what it feels like. But we did eventually get over it. Thank goodness! So all total my travel day included...

1) An hour and a half drive to Denver (thank you very much Carly and Johnny!!)
2) Two hours through Denver airport security and onto the plane.
3) Three and a half hour flight to Philadelphia. With no naps.
4) A three hour layover at the airport.
5) An eight hour flight to Frankfurt
6) Short customs line and a quick ride to our apartment.

Whew! That was a LOT!

Three days of jetlag later and we were ready for the weekend. Which I'll show you in the next post. We couldn't be happier to be with James again! We missed him so much. And we've been having one adventure after another since we've been here. (which I'll share with you of course!)

Love,
JKFP

P.S. I miss Bob. He would love it here. There are dogs everywhere. Trains, shops, even in the restaurants. Really.