Getting Overseas

 Well, we are back!! And I am now writing this blog in the past tense, today's post more than 3 weeks after it actually happened. It doesn't feel like it was that long ago, and yet at the same time it also feels like a different lifetime. 

Over the next few days, I plan to add posts for each day, each adventure, bit by bit. I probably will also come back to posts to add more details as I remember them, or add stories from my family members' perspectives. We took thousands of pictures, and I am struggling to figure out how to include those in my posts, so please be patient as I figure this out and as my "style" changes from post to post!

I also realized that I can change the "published" date on posts, so while this post is indeed written in July, all following posts will appear to be published in the past - on the day they happened. oooooo...it's like a time-traveling blog, now! 

And now, on to the juicy details!

Phase 1 - Getting Overseas

Our family had never flown anywhere other than Orlando, Florida before. (I personally have flown many times between the US and Canada and many destinations within the US, as well as one trip to Belgium about 12 years ago. My husband also has many flight hours under his belt, but not within the last 20 years). There was not a small amount of anxiety going around between the four of us, what with Covid testing requirements, airport changes since 911 and Covid, and the additional layers of Customs and Immigration controls to pass through. Curt and I did a lot of pre-reading about airport procedures, as well as people's recent travel experiences through Newark, Heathrow, and Charles De-Gaulle airports. We felt as prepared as possible, and also agreed as a family that each and every "hiccup" would be met with as much humor and "que sera, sera" attitude as we could muster. 

A few days before our trip, the US removed the requirement for a negative Covid rapid test result to return home. I was thrilled! We now have over 15 "wasted" home tests sitting here, but at least that saved a massive amount of space in our baggage! It also relieved any need for a "Plan B" to get stuck in France should any of us have tested Positive before coming home.
I started obsessively checking the United app about 3 days before departure, feeling better each time I saw the green "On Time" bubble. At the 24-hour mark, I checked in for our flight. I'm so glad I did, because the afore-mentioned change in the Covid testing rules had wiped out all the prior paperwork I had already completed! After another half-hour of uploading Passport info for everyone, and signing all the e-documents, we had our electronic boarding passes and checked in our luggage. This put us in the "fast lane" for check-in at the airport, but we had no idea what that meant. LOL! The app just said to "look for the purple signs".

On June 15th, we finished all the packing, cleaned the house, said goodbye to the pets, and waited.

Bags ready to go, with cat saying "What's up?"

Ann picked us up from the house around 2pm, with plans to be at the airport by 4, which was 3 hours before departure time. We had no traffic delays, arrived at the airport on time, and waved goodbye to our sister-slash-Disney-travel-agent.  As we walked into the airport, we easily found the "big purple sign" for dropping off our pre-checked luggage (at the exact opposite end of the terminal from where we were - of course!) and hiked ourselves on over there. Less than 5 minutes later, we were done and on our way through security. With our Nexus clearance, we have TSA Pre-Check, and were through security in a matter of just a few moments, too. After we made the long walk to our gate, we had over 2 hours to kill before boarding! Well...we always say we'd rather wait at the airport than miss our flight!

We spent a few minutes wandering around the airport, trying to figure out how the tablets were used to order food, and finally found a table and got some dinner and drinks. We then planted our butts in some waiting chairs, and killed time. Boarding was mostly smooth, but some confused passengers caused us to have a delay in getting off the ground. I attempted a family selfie on the plane, with minimal success. 

Dinner was served on the plane - an Indian spiced chicken dish that no one in my family particularly enjoyed. 

I was glad we'd eaten already, but I also knew this would be just the first of many times my kids would eat just barely enough to survive. After the food was collected, it was "lights out" time. The plan was to sleep on the plane, as much as possible. I don't think any of us got more than a few minutes of a light doze, despite our best attempts to find a comfortable position. We at least had these cool panels in the seats to watch movies, listen to music, and track our flight progress:

Six and a half hours into the flight, we just gave up on trying to sleep, and ate the provided breakfast, hoping the coffee would fuel us through the rest of the day. A few minutes later, we got the announcement that we were landing, and I peeked out of the window to see London below us! 

There it was - the Thames river! Famous bridges and buildings I had only seen in movies or pictures! Familiar and yet entirely new to my eyes! I don't know how everyone else felt, but at this precise moment, I nearly cried at the realization that everything I had only believed was a fairytale fantasy was in fact real and was actually happening to me.