3 kids, 3 and under.
3 countries.
3 planes.
Over 24 hours.
The kids did great. Adults did pretty great too.
Sofia Airport: It is insanely busy on a Friday morning at 5:30. INSANELY. I know you can just bop around Europe pretty easily, but still - wow. That's a lot of people! Other than that, nice airport.
First Flight: I almost puked from nerves, despite the fact that it was a very smooth flight. I had to pass Jack off to mom to close my eyes and pull myself together. Ry and I tried to play Phase 10 dice to get my mind of flying, but the seemingly French mom & adult child couple in front of us were quite angry at our dice rolling. The flight attendant told me to be careful of the lady in front of me "because she has a problem". I know there was a huge language barrier there, but still - she was quite rude, and we had moved the dice off the tray table so it would stop shaking his chair, and moved it to the empty chair in between Ry and I. But honestly, I didn't care. My nerves had won flight 1. Niko just looked out the window, and Jacky just wanted to nursey-sleep. Ana had her beloved Ipad (she gets to use Gramm & Grandad's Ipad on trips!) so she was a happy girl. We landed in Paris after 2.5 hours and a pretty significant plane dip going in for a landing, that caused me to yell out "What is this fool doing?!" That was also rude. Whoops.
Paris Airport: Not our favorite, and by that I mean one of the worst. We got off the plane and waited for our stroller which had been gate checked - we had 4 hours here, so we had time to wait. After multiple attempts by the French to convince us that it was completely checked and we couldn't pick it up, dad got it. We proceeded to the bus, which took forrrrever to get to our area. We then tried to find some lunch, but the food court we found had like 3 options, none of which were good or Gramm friendly or toddler friendly, so we moved on. Finally found a little cafe-ish thing, which ended up costing most of an arm and a leg. It was pretty good, and Ana surprisingly ate a quesadilla with olives and tomatoes in it (we told her it was extra cheesy lol). While we were eating, Ana fell off the chair backwards. Grandad, with his cat like reflexes, caught her by her legs before her head hit the floor. Expecting crying because her hands hit the floor pretty hard and, let's be honest, the fall was pretty scary, Ry and I held our breath. But, instead of cries, we hear "OH NO!! MY APPLE!!" as she's reaching for her apple that's rolling away on the floor, as Grandad is still holding her feet up. We all busted out laughing, cleaned off her apple, and let the girl finish her food. Boy, she certainly knows how to get us giggling! We then gate checked our stroller again, and were one of the first to board (thank you early family boarding).
Second Flight: We sat in the 2nd row this time because we were told there was a baby in the first row of bulkhead seating already. NO BABY SHOWED UP, so 3 very comfy adults sat in front of us, and the 5 of us struggled to be contained. Gramm and Grandad sat in a 2 seater next to our row. The kids did great, and a flight attendant got Jack a bassinet that attached to the wall in front of mom & dad so he could lay down and kick, and Ana and Niko got pretty comfy in their respective chairs. Everyone on the flight loved the kids, and we got to share Niko's story to some - we even had some Italian ladies pray for us! We were surrounded by sweet people. Even when Niko threw his horse train and it hit someone's chair pretty hard, the lady just smiled back. Another lady played peek-a-boo with Jack multiple times throughout the flight. Grandad and Ana made "alien princess crowns", and Ana & Ry paraded them around our section of the plane, with everyone smiling on. The flight was great - it was an older Airbus (still had the little metal openings for cigarette butts) that made sounds I didn't particularly like, but the flight was fairly smooth. At 4 hours left, we were all very ready to get off, but we obviously survived the whole 8 hour flight.
Detroit Airport: We had 4 hours to spare, but knew we needed it. We had to get our luggage through customs, then get Niko's paperwork to border control for him to become an American citizen! As we waited, and waited, and waited for our luggage we were finally told it didn't make. All 8 of our bags were stuck in Paris (I had been warned that Paris was notorious for losing luggage!) and supposedly even my stroller didn't make it, despite the fact that it was gate checked. Unfortunately, Paris officials took our stroller claim stub, so we didn't have our stroller number. We're still not sure if we'll ever see it again - thank goodness I didn't take my beloved double with us! While we were lining up for customs, someone let us go into the "global entry" line, which had no one in it! 3 little kids help us get pity at just the right times! We handed the man a gigantic stack of papers that were sealed specifically for the people in Detroit and we were led back to the passport interview rooms. We waited there for a couple minutes, until a lady perked up and said "ok - you're good to go!". Niko was a U.S. citizen, and it was a pretty painless procedure! We then found a McDonald's that had very American food options (which we loved - the most delicious cheeseburgers ever!) but, as I was looking for a very normal Diet Coke, we saw that Detroit is a PEPSI ONLY AIRPORT. I now hate the airport as a whole. I tried to drink some pepsi, but gag-a-maggot. The big kids napped on the floor while we had another 2 hours at our gate to wait - they had officially crashed. Jack eventually dozed off in the sling as mom paced around our area.
Flight Three: We boarded at about 8:15. Jack, Dad and I sat together, Mom & sleeping Ana sat together, and Ry & Niko sat together. They originally forced Niko to sit in his seat alone, since he is technically 3, but Ry moved him to his lap during take off since he was crying. Ry, Niko, and Ana slept almost the whole 50 minute flight. I did pretty well on this one - I think I handle flights much better if my dad is next to me. I told him he'll just have to accompany me on all my trips from now on :) The sunset was beautiful - went from red in the rainbow all the way to purple. The flight was quick, but the landing was a little rough. Dad later told me he heard that the copilot was flying this flight - I did not want to be a guinea pig! But, I'm obviously a flight snob.
Louisville Airport: The most beautiful airport in all the world. Despite the construction and the empty seats, it was glorious. Louisville airport meant we were home! We had quite an entourage waiting for us, which was so great to see. Niko loved giving "finger love" to everyone, and we were so happy to see all our family there! We filed our luggage claim (hopefully will get our luggage within the next week) and then headed home. Dunkle & AuntE had brought our van there for us, so we popped all 3 into their respective seats, came home and put everyone to bed. They all woke up around 7:30, so there's a chance we may be on Louisville time already! That's what being up for 24 hours will do to you!
Overall, it was an amazing trip. We got our guy, and had some fun along the way. But, there's no place like home and we are so happy to be here, without any trips planned in the near future. We've just got some doctors to get to, and some growing to do.
Thank you to Gramm & Grandad for making the selfless trip to BG with us - it would not have been possible to do it without them. Their help was absolutely invaluable, and we are forever grateful.
Thank you to Dunkle and AuntE for taking care of our pup and our home - they really loved on us from afar and made coming home so easy for all of us.
Thank you to Poppy & Nana for making sure there was food in our fridge for when we got home - we've already dug in and are so thankful there was good food waiting for us.
Thank you to Vests & cousins - you made our night with your sweet signs and all your smiles. I know Ana was beyond excited to see her favorite cousins! And special thank you to Erin for helping answer questions and find resources for us while we were in BG.
We've got the absolute best support team and couldn't have made it through the process without our village and your prayers. We still have some post-adoption requirements ahead of us, and some obvious obstacles to overcome here at home, so we will continue to post about what adoption looks like once you're home. Again, thank you for the love. It means the world.
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