It seems like a lifetime ago that we started the trek from the USA to Ukraine! What a trip! We left Dallas on Monday, February 13 at 4:45 p.m. With 33 suitcases and 11 carry-on bags (plus backpacks, diaper bags, etc…)
Night before we left, we had a Beignet party!
At about 11:00 on Monday morning, our friends, Kenny, Gus & Raymond came from Oklahoma to help us get loaded up (they brought a trailer for our luggage) and get to the airport. What a God-send. It would have been physically impossible without their help!
Did we really get everything loaded? Did we forget anything? At this point, does it even matter!??
Is everyone here???
"Yes ma'am, I know it's hard to believe, but it really IS all our luggage. And yes we really ARE taking it all to Ukraine with us."
If you didn’t read the story a couple of days ago about the great blessing of checking our luggage all the way through to Ukraine, please be sure and take a look. It’s about two posts ago.
That's a lot of luggage check tags!!!!!
And after all this...we still love each other. And even like each other a lot, too!
Matthew on the long-haul flight.
The long-haul flight was uneventful. Micah slept most of the way (after dinner). Matthew slept on and off, but was well-behaved. Ethan wanted to sleep the whole way but he had trouble sleeping sitting up. He would sleep a few minutes, then wake up and fuss a little. It wasn’t terrible like the last time he was on a plane. He was exhausted when we got to the hotel in London (but so were we all!!).
We got to London and just as they had told us in Dallas, we did not have to get our bags. Funny thing though, when we were walking to the area where the hotel shuttle would pick us up, we saw a lone bag sitting by a luggage belt. It was one of our’s! The zipped had been broken (thanks TSA) when it was inspected and was re-tagged to be picked up in London. How we were to know that, I have no idea! But thankfully, we saw it and took to hotel with us…spilling stuff along the way every now and then. Here’s what we had with us to take to the hotel… 7 back-packs, 6 duffle bags, 2 double strollers, 1 single stroller, 1 big suitcase with a broken zipper, coats and a bunch of very tired children! It was a feat to get it all on the shuttle, then off the shuttle and up to our room in the hotel (very small elevator and hallways that were just ALMOST wide enough for the strollers. :-) BUT…we made it.
We all crashed for about 3 hours (and slept like logs). Then we decided we would go downstairs for late lunch/early dinner. But the prices were just too much and there was really nowhere for us to sit. So we opted for a ten-minute walk down the street to McDonald’s. We were all VERY hungry…so it tasted GREAT!!!
Then we walked back to the hotel and gave baths. They really enjoyed this because the tubs were small, but very deep. They were allowed to play in the tub for about as long as they wanted…which is no the norm. At home, bath time is kind of in and out. We should probably allow them to really enjoy their bath more often!
We had early bedtimes…we were still so tired. And we had to get up at 4:30 the next morning to be out on the street for the 5:00am shuttle back to the airport. So it was Tuesday afternoon in reverse to get back to the airport. As Mary said…difficult moments, but not terrible all in all. Only this time, we had 4 extra tote type bags with the stuff from the broken suit case. :-)
Waiting on dinner at McDonald's.
Micah - expressing how we all feel. Tired from the journey thus far, and a bit apprehensive about what lay ahead.
Does this boy look tired or what???
Our crash pad for about 14 hours.
To be continued…
