International Travel

Well, we made it!

We checked in at the United desk at KCI and one of our 10 checked items weighed 56 pounds. So we rearranged a bit, taking some stuff out of the big bag and putting it in various smaller bags until that one did not weigh over 50 pounds anymore. I was able to get boarding passes for all three flights at KCI which was very helpful. Then we returned the rental car and took the shuttle back to the terminal. Our plane was late taking off from Kansas City and we did not leave KCI until 6:50. We landed in Chicago at about 8:15. Myles had written out detailed notes for me to get from the terminal we landed in to the international terminal. It was a good thing he did because that is a complicated mess, especially with four kids in tow.

International travel is not my favorite process. We showed our passports and boarding passes at KCI, went through security with our 10 carry on items. Each kid had their school backpack and a rolling backpack.

I had a rolling backpack, a computer bag and a fanny pack with all of our passports. We had to all take our tennis shoes off, jackets off (it was 80 degrees in KC yesterday so we were wearing them tied around our waists), take our two laptops out and then run 10 pieces of carry on luggage through the security. At KCI we had plenty of time.

When we get to Chicago we had to go to another terminal very far away from the one we landed in. I followed Myles' instructions and we took a tram to the international terminal. We got to security for our flight to Warsaw right at 9:00, which was scheduled to leave at 9:55. We had to go through security again because it was an international flight. So we take off our shoes, jackets, take out our laptops, show passports and plop all of our backpacks on the x-ray machine. It was very crowded and folks did not take a liking to how we held up the line. I think we were cursed in quite a few different languages. So we get through security, get everyone back in order and head to our gate.

There was a thunderstorm in Chicago last night. As we were sitting waiting for the Warsaw flight, we saw lightning and big gusty winds out the window. They delayed our flight until after the storm and we got going at about 10:45. I was hoping that the kids would get on the plane and go right to sleep (a mom can hope!). That was not to be. The plane had two aisles. There was a set of three seats in the middle for each row and then a set of two seats on either side of the aisles (by the windows). The seats were smaller than normal airplane seats. I'm not sure why it was like that, but people were packed in right on top of each other. It was so uncomfortable. My knees and Ben's knees were in the back of the seats in front of us. There was no space to move. The aisles were so skinny that we could not roll the kids' backpacks. We had to lift them (with all their school books!).

The flight was bumpy to begin with so the kids were nervous about that. Then at midnight they served dinner and turned on cartoons on the movie screen. Trey was laughing so hard at the cartoons that the people around us were laughing at him. Trey ended up falling asleep around 2:00 a.m. and slept for most of the rest of the flight. He is little enough that the cramped space didn't bother him too much. Ben, Natalie and I each managed to get a couple hours of sleep. Abbie did a little better and probably got about four hours on the plane. The flight ended up being on time which was great. We had about 90 minutes between landing in Warsaw and our flight to Gdansk.

At the Warsaw airport we got to do the security check again for the third time. That just about wore me out! We did get somewhat efficient with it, but it is very labor intensive for about 15 minutes and people did not like being behind us. Oh, well, we did the best we could.

In Warsaw, they are doing construction at the airport and the planes are currently unable to reach the gates. So when it was time for our flight to Gdansk, we all walked outside, got onto a bus and they drove us to our plane. That flight was only 45 minutes. That plane was very roomy and I noticed that there was at least six more inches of leg room than we had on the international flight. The Gdansk airport is very small. They pull steps up to the plane and you end up outside. Then you go into a small room for luggage. Out of about 25 pieces of luggage coming off the belt, 10 were ours! And Myles was there waiting for us right outside that room.

He got a cab (minivan much like the rental I just had) and took us to our new home. This house is really cute! I don't think the pictures do it justice. It is small, but there are lots of rooms, so there are places to get away and study or read or whatever. There are televisions in each bedroom. Trey came downstairs and told us that he did not want to watch tv because his tv only speaks Polish!

We brought all the luggage into the living room but have not unpacked at all. That is on the agenda for our first full day tomorrow. Myles, Ben and Abbie walked to the neighborhood grocery store and brought home some pizza for dinner. It was different than pizza they are used to and they didn't really like it. I'm afraid their palates are in for a rude awakening!

The kids are in bed. It's 11:00 p.m. here but it's 4:00 p.m. at home. I wonder what time they'll wake up. It's going to take some time to get settled. We are not doing much school wise until Thursday to give them a few days to get their bearings. We are going to start in earnest on Monday with our regular school schedule.

Myles has meetings this week to prepare for classes to start next week. We'll head out exploring tomorrow!