Thankfully our return trip to Samara was uneventful. The boys were really amazing on this trip. What helps is having your own personal entertainment center......including a "kid" channel which kept both boys entertained. On this trip we had 3 different flights. We did LAX to Denver which was a 2 hour trip. We had a 1 1/2 layover in Denver which gave us enough time to check on our seats and get a tag for the stroller. Then it was off to Frankfurt, Germany which was a 10 hour trip. Obviously this is the hardest leg of the flight but both boys did so well. They both slept the last 4-5 hours of the trip. Josiah actually slept on the floor giving Nathan an empty seat for him to lie down. I got to watch 17 Again and some sort of Indian Bollywood movie which was actually fun. I think I even dozed off for an hour. In Frankfurt we have our longest layover which was 10 hours but we get a day hotel room and we are able to sleep for about 5 hours which is a huge help. We do this every time and waking up is so hard to do. Your eyes are just on fire. Then we make the last leg from Frankfurt to Samara which was 4 1/2 hours. God was so good to us because we got bumped up to business class. I really don't know what they were thinking considering we have two small children but Nathan and Josiah didn't even say a peep. Since there was an empty seat between Nathan and I, he just laid down and fell asleep. I got to do some reading from Newsweek and got caught up on world events. It was the European version of Newsweek and wow, there is so much going on in this world that I didn't hear one peep from when I was in the States. This was my first time in business class and you really get treated so well. The part of the trip that makes me the most nervous is when we have to go through passport control in Samara. I am always afraid that something is going to go wrong and we're going to get sent back to the States. Then there is the anticipation of whether or not all our suitcases made it. Then there is customs and these officers are so scary......think KGB type of scary officers. We actually got stopped and they went through 3 of our suitcases but I was extra friendly and Russians love kids and the lady officer kept asking me questions about the boys and so I went with it and put on the southern charm......wait a minute, I'm not from the south. Our friends Pasha and Vadik were waiting for us and we made the 1 hour trip to our place without any problems.
Here's Josiah giving me a Billy Idol look.
Poor Nathan looks so tired in this picture.
This is in Germany.
The very first thing Josiah does is tear into his toys......every single time. He also does this when we go back to California at my moms.
Yep, 1 huge duffle bag (which I fit inside of), 2 plastic crates, two suitcases, and 5 more suitcases not pictured plus 1 photo bag, a big purse, and two kid's backpacks.
So, by the time we leave from California to the time we arrive at our apartment in Samara a period of 34 hours have elapsed!
1 comment:
what a trip!! but i'm so glad that it went so well. and how cool that you were transferred to business class!!
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