On Wednesday we "left" for Asia. I put that in quotes because instead of being in Asia at the end of the day, we only made it as far as Detroit. Michigan.
We flew from Vegas to Detroit. When trying to board the next plane, we found out that they really were serious that we needed the paper tickets for Odin since he was an infant in arms and we needed to pay taxes since we were leaving the country. We explained that we had just moved so we missed the tickets somehow. No problem. You just have to buy them again. But don't worry - when we find the original ones, we can just call and get a refund. Ben sent Adelyn and I onto the plane so we could try and get some overhead bin space. Odin and Ben got the ticket thing figured out. They got on the plane. We left the gate. Sat around for a while. Then we got an announcement that during their final check something came up. We had to go back to the gate for maintenance to get on and fix whatever. After a while, they announced that they hoped to have it fixed in an hour. So we sat some more. The children were great! They were busy entertaining themselves. They didn't seem to notice we hadn't moved at all. An hour passed. "It shouldn't be too much longer," we were told. After some more time, we were told that we needed to switch planes. As we left the aircraft we scanned our boarding passes to get vouchers. Odin and Ben got off before Adelyn and I did. When I got to the boys, Ben asked where the boarding passes were. I said that I had mine and Adelyn's. Did he remember to get his and Odin's passes and passports from his seat back? ... No... So, I went to the ticket agent and told them what we forgot. We had to wait for the entire plane to deplane before someone would go look for them. Finally, we got tickets and passports in hand. Then was the tricky part to figure out how to spend the vouchers. The lines were long and we didn't have a whole lot of time. And our stroller wasn't given back to us so we were carrying everything, including an occasional kid. We ended up with McFlurry's and a new travel pillow.
We got to our new gate and new plane right before boarding started. We got back on the plane. Got settled again. It was a bit chilly because they were loading up the plane with food, etc. right near us. We were snuggling with Mr. O and his blanket and the Delta blankets as the 30 degree air kept blowing around us. Well, they had loaded everything up, but there was still cold air blowing. And we were past our new departure time. Hmmm.... Yep. Sure enough, a little while later another announcement: they couldn't get one of the doors closed. Maintenance was coming. Great. So, we continued to huddle against the cold as we waited. And waited. A few more announcements and apologies later, we were getting off the plane. This time for the night. They were handing out hotel vouchers with your boarding pass. Ben grabbed as much as he could and got off as quickly as he could since we had heard that sometimes the first few off get a better hotel. I was left with the children. When we finally reunited (no cool hotel for anyone) I realized we didn't have my backpack. Back to the gate agent. By now we were on a first name basis. They were able to get my backpack for me. Then we got to wait outside for the hotel shuttle. After a few minutes, we decided to just take a taxi. There were so many people waiting that we were at least waiting for two more shuttle runs before we would get on one. And it was late. Almost 11. So we took a taxi so we could get settled in and try and get more sleep. Before we went to bed, we found out our new flight was at noon.
The next morning, we put our clothes back on and went back to the airport. Got on the airplane. And waited. But this time, the plane actually took off! The kids did great on the long flight. We decided to just let them do whatever as far as sleeping goes. Those with kids know that to keep them awake or get them to sleep is sometimes just not worth it. We got off the plane in Japan and got right back on. But for our last leg they upgraded us to business class! Adelyn was in her own little pod and she did great. She thought it was pretty cool that her seat turned into a bed. Odin slept most of that flight.
And finally, we were in the Philippines. Hooray!
We flew from Vegas to Detroit. When trying to board the next plane, we found out that they really were serious that we needed the paper tickets for Odin since he was an infant in arms and we needed to pay taxes since we were leaving the country. We explained that we had just moved so we missed the tickets somehow. No problem. You just have to buy them again. But don't worry - when we find the original ones, we can just call and get a refund. Ben sent Adelyn and I onto the plane so we could try and get some overhead bin space. Odin and Ben got the ticket thing figured out. They got on the plane. We left the gate. Sat around for a while. Then we got an announcement that during their final check something came up. We had to go back to the gate for maintenance to get on and fix whatever. After a while, they announced that they hoped to have it fixed in an hour. So we sat some more. The children were great! They were busy entertaining themselves. They didn't seem to notice we hadn't moved at all. An hour passed. "It shouldn't be too much longer," we were told. After some more time, we were told that we needed to switch planes. As we left the aircraft we scanned our boarding passes to get vouchers. Odin and Ben got off before Adelyn and I did. When I got to the boys, Ben asked where the boarding passes were. I said that I had mine and Adelyn's. Did he remember to get his and Odin's passes and passports from his seat back? ... No... So, I went to the ticket agent and told them what we forgot. We had to wait for the entire plane to deplane before someone would go look for them. Finally, we got tickets and passports in hand. Then was the tricky part to figure out how to spend the vouchers. The lines were long and we didn't have a whole lot of time. And our stroller wasn't given back to us so we were carrying everything, including an occasional kid. We ended up with McFlurry's and a new travel pillow.
We got to our new gate and new plane right before boarding started. We got back on the plane. Got settled again. It was a bit chilly because they were loading up the plane with food, etc. right near us. We were snuggling with Mr. O and his blanket and the Delta blankets as the 30 degree air kept blowing around us. Well, they had loaded everything up, but there was still cold air blowing. And we were past our new departure time. Hmmm.... Yep. Sure enough, a little while later another announcement: they couldn't get one of the doors closed. Maintenance was coming. Great. So, we continued to huddle against the cold as we waited. And waited. A few more announcements and apologies later, we were getting off the plane. This time for the night. They were handing out hotel vouchers with your boarding pass. Ben grabbed as much as he could and got off as quickly as he could since we had heard that sometimes the first few off get a better hotel. I was left with the children. When we finally reunited (no cool hotel for anyone) I realized we didn't have my backpack. Back to the gate agent. By now we were on a first name basis. They were able to get my backpack for me. Then we got to wait outside for the hotel shuttle. After a few minutes, we decided to just take a taxi. There were so many people waiting that we were at least waiting for two more shuttle runs before we would get on one. And it was late. Almost 11. So we took a taxi so we could get settled in and try and get more sleep. Before we went to bed, we found out our new flight was at noon.
The next morning, we put our clothes back on and went back to the airport. Got on the airplane. And waited. But this time, the plane actually took off! The kids did great on the long flight. We decided to just let them do whatever as far as sleeping goes. Those with kids know that to keep them awake or get them to sleep is sometimes just not worth it. We got off the plane in Japan and got right back on. But for our last leg they upgraded us to business class! Adelyn was in her own little pod and she did great. She thought it was pretty cool that her seat turned into a bed. Odin slept most of that flight.
And finally, we were in the Philippines. Hooray!
No comments:
Post a Comment