29 Jan

Day 1 – On Our Way!

Our flight was leaving at 6 p.m. and we were landing in London around 7 a.m.  Our goal was to get a few hours of sleep on the plane although we knew that would be hard.

We started out the morning by meeting the landlord at the house and turning over our keys.  We were officially without a home.   Chase was supposed to arrive back in town at noon, so we picked him up and all went to lunch.  We stopped by FedEx to print out some things I needed for the cruise but didn’t get printed before the printer was packed.  Then we were off to our friends who were taking us to the airport. 

With everything happening leading up to the cruise I just didn’t quite get it all done!  I was knocking little things off my to-do list but I still had like 8 things on it! 

I didn’t plan on checking email a single time while I was gone, and I didn’t.  Missy was handling my clients and I knew they would be well taken care of.  Getting everything ready for me to be gone was a lot though.  I saved a couple of things to do at the airport figuring I’d have an hour of good Wifi there before we left.  Fail.  We couldn’t connect to save our lives.  I frantically texted Missy and Jenell and they took care of the last things for me.  

Here we are in line!  First instagram photo!

Here’s the first official (read -non iPhone) picture of the trip. My mom. She had no idea what was in store for her.

Here’s the second picture. One of us had graduation money burning a hole in his pocket and found a place in Dulles to purchase the headphones he’d been wanting.

Selfie!

Finally, we were boarding. We had a crazy long flight ahead of us. Stephen was actually on a separate flight from us, he was flying on miles. The rest of us were on British Air.

I couldn’t get a seat next to the kids, but the check in agent assured me someone would switch with us, which is what I figured. I had a window seat a few rows behind them. When we got on, I asked the man next to them if he would mind switching with me. Nope. He was happy where he was. O-kay.

So I went back. The two people next to me didn’t want to move forward because one of them was trying to sit by her sister. I went back to my parents who talked the person next to them into moving and we took that row while my parents went to the kid’s seats. It was convoluted to say the least.

Yay! Sitting with my kids!

I did like British Airways though! There was a little packet in front of us with a toothbrush, among other things! Genius!

We had a meal and a croissant the next morning, with multiple drink services. We each had our own TV screen with a ton of movies to pick from. Chase saw the list and immediately declared that he was not sleeping. He started a movie and made it a grand total of 15 minutes. He woke up as we were descending into London.

The flight attendant was very worried about him. He offered to bring him a meal later, to give me extras, everything. So nice!

Chase slept on me for a good deal of the flight. This is why they shouldn’t sit next to a stranger:

Here was the dinner he missed:

One of the movies he missed:

I got about 3 hours of sleep and watched two movies. Not too bad!

Now the goal was to stay awake in London all day before we flew to Barcelona that night! It’s a brutal adjustment to the time change, but an effective adjustment. Up next, a day in London!

Our 19-Day Mediterranean Adventure – Greece, Turkey and the Search for Free Wifi

Day 0 – Crazy Days Before Departure! 
Day 1 – On Our Way! 
Day 2 – London Layover 
Day 3 – Embarkation!  
Day 4 – The Beauty That is Monaco 
Day 5 – La Spezia aka the Road to Pisa or Florence 
Day 6 – Rome Baby!
Day 7 – Sea Day Fun! 
Day 8 – Introducing The Pneumonia 
Day 9 – Athens and the Inside of the Hospital Onboard!
Day 10 – Turkey 
Day 11 – Mykonos and the Start of a Countdown to Get Back to Mykonos 
Day 12 – Sea Day and Palo Dinner 
Day 13 – Segways in Malta! 
Day 14 – Last Day Onboard 
Day 15 – Disembark and Barcelona 
Day 16 – Travel to London
Day 17 – London Baby! 
Day 18 – Harry Potter Heaven