Oh beautiful... for spacious skies....
Can I just say WOOOO WHOOOOO!!!! Damn I love America! We got back to Oklahoma City on Wednesday evening and it was so good to see the family. It wouldn't come easily. Nothing in this process has thus far, why should this be any different!
Dave and I went to the US consulate in Germany on Tuesday to pick up my passport and that went fairly easily. It was amazing to me how tight the security was there and how many people were there that were trying to get in that weren't American. I don't know what I expected, but I always thought it was just a place for Americans. But I guess they handle immigration stuff too. Once we picked that up it was a race for the clock to get everything wrapped up that needed to happen to get the heck outta Germany.
Dave managed to clear the Army and get travel arrangements done all in one afternoon. It's amazing what one motivated man can do! :) We were leaving the very next day!
We had to be at Frankfurt airport Wednesday morning at 6:30 to drop the dogs off and then catch our flight to Amsterdam by 8:30. Frankfurt airport is about an hour and a half from where we were staying and since we shipped our car, we had to have someone from Dave's unit pick us up at 5am. This guy ended up getting lost and so we didn't leave until 5:30 and we still had to go to Dave's unit and sign him out on leave before we headed to the airport. This was gonna be tight.
Luckily this guy hauled some serious ass and we didn't have any traffic jams along the way. We get there about 7am and get the dogs dropped off by 7:30. We rush over to the main terminal and we see the line to check in luggage. OMG. I've never seen so many people. And here we are with only an hour to check our luggage and get to the gate. Dave and I both thought "whelp we're not making this flight. This basically sets the tone for the whole day.
Miracle #1 : An airport employee walks by and I asked her if there was another place to check in because we were going to miss this flight if we had to wait. She showed us another place to check our luggage. We managed to get on this flight with like 5 minutes to spare. That was too close.
I also found out just how hard it is to fly when you have a small child. You have so much stuff to carry around! You've got the stroller and the car seat along with your carry on baggage. Oh yeah, and the kid. There is a reason they usually let people with kids board first. It's hard to get all this shit down an aisle with people all ready in their seats. I know I hit a few people along the way to our seats. I know if daggers would have been allowed on planes I would have had a few in my back! LOL!
Then we find that our seats are not together. We found people to be accommodating once Collin started screaming. They gave up their seats with gusto. Collin was pretty upset at first, but he got over it pretty quickly. I think the thing he hated the most was that he couldn't get up and explore the cabin. So we get in the air. It only took about an hour to get to Amsterdam. Next stop was Chicago O'Hare.
So we're at Amsterdam airport and find out we've once again only got about hour to find our gate and get through security. We're thinking, this is alright. We don't have to get our checked baggage, no problem. Well, our gate was at the other frickin end of the airport. We finally get there with about 30 minutes to spare, but there was a counter we thought we had to check in at so we got in line. We wait and we wait and we wait. It's about 10 minutes till the plane leaves and I said "Maybe I should check with the security people at our gate if we really need to check in at the desk. (we already had our tickets in hand) So I ask them and they said no, you need to get over here and board now! I get Dave to come to the gate and the second we get to the gate, they close it and change flights. I said "WAIT...We're needing to board the Chicago flight!"
Miracle #2 = We made the United flight just in the nick of time.
They looked super irritated! So they rushed us through security and we got on that plane with a minute to spare. We get ourselves settled in for the 9 hour flight. The 9 hour flight from hell.
We flew United and I must say I was impressed. The seats were roomy, they had seat screens and headphones for the inflight movies and the food wasn't bad either. I even had two empty seats next to me, so I had the lions share of pillows and blankets. Dave and Collin had two seats across the aisle right next to me. Things were fine until we get Collin strapped into his seat. At this point it's past his usual nap time and he's been stuck in a car seat or stoller all day. He's tired and hungry and generally cranky. I can't say I blame him. But there was nothing we could do about it until we were at cruising altitude. We did have plenty of toys which helped, but he got bored real quick. We decided he needed a little help getting him to sleep and gave him a dose of Dimatap. Big mistake. It did help him get to sleep and he did sleep for about an hour. But when he woke up, he was inconsolable. It was like the medicine intensified the groggy effect and made it harder for him to fully wake up. So he was in this inbetween phase of tired and groggy and that just pissed him off more. I felt so bad for him, because even though we did take him out of his car seat we still couldn't let him run around. Try entertaining a toddler for nine hours without letting him loose. It's mind numbing. I'd say he cried on and off for about five of the nine hours we spent flying. I felt bad for the people sitting around us, but they were pissing me off. They kept looking back at us with that "Would you shut your kid up?" look on their face. And with Collin, it seemed as though the harder we tried to find something to calm him down the more pissed off he got. So we got to the point where we had to ignore him and not even look at him. I felt like the WORLDS GREATEST MOM! Frankly, I wanted to punch this one lady sitting near us. She kept looking back at us and sighing, and looking at her watch. Thank god that we survived that flight. At that point, mommy and daddy's nerves were shot.
So we land at Chicago O'Hare and we find out that our flight landed about 30 minutes behind schedule. Once again we only have about an hour to get through immigration, customs and security before we catch the flight to OKC. We both came to the conclusion, we're not going to make this flight. But we were ok with it. We weren't happy about it, but atleast we were in the USA. If we had to get a hotel for the night, so be it. So we take our sweet time getting through immigration and customs and we get to the airline desk to find out when the next flight to OKC would be and if we could catch that one.
Miracle #3 = The flight we thought we had missed had been delayed and was leaving in 30 minutes. She said we could make it if we hurry. So they take our luggage there (we had to pick it up and recheck it for the next flight due to it being from an international flight) and say they are going to send it to the OKC flight.
So once again we have to haul ass to make the flight. If you've been to O'Hare you know you have to take the train if you've taken an international flight. So we get to the terminal and we have to take two elevators to get to the side of the airport we needed. We get to the security lines and they are long and once again we're thinking, we're not going to make it. We got through security and had about 10 minutes to get to our gate. It was quite a sight. I had Collin in his stroller and I had his carry on and my carry on and my purse, Dave had his carry on, the camera bag and car seat and we are running down through the airport. We make it to the gate just in time.
Miracle #4 = We made the OKC flight!
I can't believe we made it. We were sweating and out of breath, but we made it. LOL!
So we had to get Collin in his seat one more time. I think this time he was alittle more resigned to his fate at this point. This was by far the easiest of the flights. Collin pretty much slept the whole way. Poor guy. So we arrive at the airport about an hour late, but my family is there to great us. It was great! We were all pretty out of it, but grateful that we made it and that we were finally back in the United States. We could finally relax. Only one thing would make this moment more special....
A route 44 diet vanilla coke. Awwwhh. You know I had to stop at Sonic before we went home.
We got Collin his first slushy and he gulped it down with delight!
Dave went with my Dad the next day to pick up the dogs. They made it back to the states just fine. Then Dave had two job interviews yesterday. He's had a very busy week! He is doing everything he can to get us settled in as quickly as possible. He been working overtime to see that we got back and I just wanna say "I love ya honey...you did good!"
So that is pretty much it. Time for the next chapter in my family's life. I guess I need to think of a new name for this blog huh?
Dave and I went to the US consulate in Germany on Tuesday to pick up my passport and that went fairly easily. It was amazing to me how tight the security was there and how many people were there that were trying to get in that weren't American. I don't know what I expected, but I always thought it was just a place for Americans. But I guess they handle immigration stuff too. Once we picked that up it was a race for the clock to get everything wrapped up that needed to happen to get the heck outta Germany.
Dave managed to clear the Army and get travel arrangements done all in one afternoon. It's amazing what one motivated man can do! :) We were leaving the very next day!
We had to be at Frankfurt airport Wednesday morning at 6:30 to drop the dogs off and then catch our flight to Amsterdam by 8:30. Frankfurt airport is about an hour and a half from where we were staying and since we shipped our car, we had to have someone from Dave's unit pick us up at 5am. This guy ended up getting lost and so we didn't leave until 5:30 and we still had to go to Dave's unit and sign him out on leave before we headed to the airport. This was gonna be tight.
Luckily this guy hauled some serious ass and we didn't have any traffic jams along the way. We get there about 7am and get the dogs dropped off by 7:30. We rush over to the main terminal and we see the line to check in luggage. OMG. I've never seen so many people. And here we are with only an hour to check our luggage and get to the gate. Dave and I both thought "whelp we're not making this flight. This basically sets the tone for the whole day.
Miracle #1 : An airport employee walks by and I asked her if there was another place to check in because we were going to miss this flight if we had to wait. She showed us another place to check our luggage. We managed to get on this flight with like 5 minutes to spare. That was too close.
I also found out just how hard it is to fly when you have a small child. You have so much stuff to carry around! You've got the stroller and the car seat along with your carry on baggage. Oh yeah, and the kid. There is a reason they usually let people with kids board first. It's hard to get all this shit down an aisle with people all ready in their seats. I know I hit a few people along the way to our seats. I know if daggers would have been allowed on planes I would have had a few in my back! LOL!
Then we find that our seats are not together. We found people to be accommodating once Collin started screaming. They gave up their seats with gusto. Collin was pretty upset at first, but he got over it pretty quickly. I think the thing he hated the most was that he couldn't get up and explore the cabin. So we get in the air. It only took about an hour to get to Amsterdam. Next stop was Chicago O'Hare.
So we're at Amsterdam airport and find out we've once again only got about hour to find our gate and get through security. We're thinking, this is alright. We don't have to get our checked baggage, no problem. Well, our gate was at the other frickin end of the airport. We finally get there with about 30 minutes to spare, but there was a counter we thought we had to check in at so we got in line. We wait and we wait and we wait. It's about 10 minutes till the plane leaves and I said "Maybe I should check with the security people at our gate if we really need to check in at the desk. (we already had our tickets in hand) So I ask them and they said no, you need to get over here and board now! I get Dave to come to the gate and the second we get to the gate, they close it and change flights. I said "WAIT...We're needing to board the Chicago flight!"
Miracle #2 = We made the United flight just in the nick of time.
They looked super irritated! So they rushed us through security and we got on that plane with a minute to spare. We get ourselves settled in for the 9 hour flight. The 9 hour flight from hell.
We flew United and I must say I was impressed. The seats were roomy, they had seat screens and headphones for the inflight movies and the food wasn't bad either. I even had two empty seats next to me, so I had the lions share of pillows and blankets. Dave and Collin had two seats across the aisle right next to me. Things were fine until we get Collin strapped into his seat. At this point it's past his usual nap time and he's been stuck in a car seat or stoller all day. He's tired and hungry and generally cranky. I can't say I blame him. But there was nothing we could do about it until we were at cruising altitude. We did have plenty of toys which helped, but he got bored real quick. We decided he needed a little help getting him to sleep and gave him a dose of Dimatap. Big mistake. It did help him get to sleep and he did sleep for about an hour. But when he woke up, he was inconsolable. It was like the medicine intensified the groggy effect and made it harder for him to fully wake up. So he was in this inbetween phase of tired and groggy and that just pissed him off more. I felt so bad for him, because even though we did take him out of his car seat we still couldn't let him run around. Try entertaining a toddler for nine hours without letting him loose. It's mind numbing. I'd say he cried on and off for about five of the nine hours we spent flying. I felt bad for the people sitting around us, but they were pissing me off. They kept looking back at us with that "Would you shut your kid up?" look on their face. And with Collin, it seemed as though the harder we tried to find something to calm him down the more pissed off he got. So we got to the point where we had to ignore him and not even look at him. I felt like the WORLDS GREATEST MOM! Frankly, I wanted to punch this one lady sitting near us. She kept looking back at us and sighing, and looking at her watch. Thank god that we survived that flight. At that point, mommy and daddy's nerves were shot.
So we land at Chicago O'Hare and we find out that our flight landed about 30 minutes behind schedule. Once again we only have about an hour to get through immigration, customs and security before we catch the flight to OKC. We both came to the conclusion, we're not going to make this flight. But we were ok with it. We weren't happy about it, but atleast we were in the USA. If we had to get a hotel for the night, so be it. So we take our sweet time getting through immigration and customs and we get to the airline desk to find out when the next flight to OKC would be and if we could catch that one.
Miracle #3 = The flight we thought we had missed had been delayed and was leaving in 30 minutes. She said we could make it if we hurry. So they take our luggage there (we had to pick it up and recheck it for the next flight due to it being from an international flight) and say they are going to send it to the OKC flight.
So once again we have to haul ass to make the flight. If you've been to O'Hare you know you have to take the train if you've taken an international flight. So we get to the terminal and we have to take two elevators to get to the side of the airport we needed. We get to the security lines and they are long and once again we're thinking, we're not going to make it. We got through security and had about 10 minutes to get to our gate. It was quite a sight. I had Collin in his stroller and I had his carry on and my carry on and my purse, Dave had his carry on, the camera bag and car seat and we are running down through the airport. We make it to the gate just in time.
Miracle #4 = We made the OKC flight!
I can't believe we made it. We were sweating and out of breath, but we made it. LOL!
So we had to get Collin in his seat one more time. I think this time he was alittle more resigned to his fate at this point. This was by far the easiest of the flights. Collin pretty much slept the whole way. Poor guy. So we arrive at the airport about an hour late, but my family is there to great us. It was great! We were all pretty out of it, but grateful that we made it and that we were finally back in the United States. We could finally relax. Only one thing would make this moment more special....
A route 44 diet vanilla coke. Awwwhh. You know I had to stop at Sonic before we went home.
We got Collin his first slushy and he gulped it down with delight!
Dave went with my Dad the next day to pick up the dogs. They made it back to the states just fine. Then Dave had two job interviews yesterday. He's had a very busy week! He is doing everything he can to get us settled in as quickly as possible. He been working overtime to see that we got back and I just wanna say "I love ya honey...you did good!"
So that is pretty much it. Time for the next chapter in my family's life. I guess I need to think of a new name for this blog huh?
posted by Brandi at
Saturday, June 24, 2006
10 Comments:
I thought your mom was going to have Sonic waiting for you the gate!
By
Grubesteak, at 10:14 AM
OMG, you will have to change the name. Hmm, Overstressed in Oklahoma??
Man, I am stressed now after reading your post. Now I know why I don't fly....or at least another excuse.
Poor little pumpkin.
By
Anonymous, at 10:29 AM
I'm tired just reading your blog, but excited that you are finally back in the States. I bet Sonic never made a more delicious DVC as that one! :)
By
The Big Fat Project Management Team, at 10:34 AM
I just looooove transatlantic flights. Ok. I'm a little behind here. Dave is out of the military now? You're not going back to Germany right?
By
Pat & Reg, at 11:29 AM
Eric- I thought she was going to have one waiting for me too. But I guess it worked out since we were an hour late. I got mine fresh!
Leighnn- I'm not stressed anymore! Alittle jet lagged, but not stressed.
Keoka-I am super excited! I've already been to Sonic a couple of times now...it's so refreshing!
Reg- The flight would have been awesome, had I not had a screaming toddler! LOL! Dave is now out of the military and we are not going back to Germany. Atleast not until Collin is older and wants to visit where he was born..
By
Brandi, at 12:26 PM
Wow. You must have been exhausted. I was tired just reading about it. It really does sound like a miracle. Welcome home.
By
Gary, at 3:46 PM
OMG Welcome home!!!!
I wish you had a list of names and addresses for the idiots on your flights. I'd smack 'em silly. Who can control a toddler on a flight? You do what you can and then just breathe!
I'm just so happy you all made it home safe and sound. Here's to a few nights of sleep and relaxation!
By
Mouthy Girl, at 9:39 PM
Oh yeah. Welcome home!
By
Pat & Reg, at 3:15 AM
Welcome Home! Glad things ended up falling in line for you on the way home, even though it was so stressful, flying with kids is the pits baby! You did a great job!
Hope all goes well with your husband's interviews!
lots of love,
lil'sis
By
Anonymous, at 2:22 PM
Welcome back to the states, girlfriend!
By
Dre, at 6:22 PM
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