For that plane, the seats were 3 groups of 3 across the plane. So, I had the kids in the far right 3 seats. My seat was across the aisle and slightly in front of them (as the rows are staggered). Dalton had the window, Easton in the middle and the Goose right across from me.
Each seat had it's own TV in the headrest which we knew about from Jason and knew they'd get to choose their own programming as well. So thankful for those. After the flight instructions and such, and even though it was, like, 9:30 at night, each kid got into their own show. Dalton chose The Lego Movie, Easton picked Muppets Most Wanted, and Autumn settled for Alvin and the Chipmunks. She had wanted Frozen which was an option when Jason flew last week but I warned them the choices might change and apparently they did. As the kids were doing well on their own, I started Divergent with the ear bud in only one ear. :)
After we reached cruising altitude, the beverage service came through. Beer, wine, and spirits were free as well, but I passed because of my big job ahead of me. My adorable children spoke for themselves and ordered juices from the flight attendant. I got the ol' airplane standby of ginger ale.
Not too long after that, the kids took their melatonin. Easton takes a half tablet every single night but for flying I gave him a whole one and the other two had halves. And, because we were "special meals", our food came before everyone else. The kids had child meals and I got vegetarian. Dalton didn't touch a single thing on his tray other than his water. Easton ate his Greek Honey Vanilla yogurt and Autumn had a few bites of the same. It came with a pack of Ruffles, a tiny Twix, and bottles of water which I shoved in a backpack in case we needed it later, but my kids don't typically eat that "junk". It also came with a bowl of grapes, celery and carrot sticks with ranch, and a roll. The "main" dish was soggy broccoli, chicken nuggets or fish sticks (one can't be too sure) and some shells and cheese looking business. For the typical kid, this would have been great! I ate Autumn's grapes and picked at her macaroni and broccoli. It was making her gag to even look at her tray (she especially hates looking at big grapes) so I had to snatch it off of there real fast and put it next to mine.
My vegetarian tray had some sort of raviolis on it, they didn't taste too good. Also a salad which I ate, some lemony dessert which I did not, and a roll for me too. They didn't give real butter, of course, so I didn't eat it. :) We were long finished before the people around us even began to get their "vegetarian lasagna or chicken curry with rice". So then it took FOR-EV-ER for them to come back through and collect the trays. Autumn was getting snoozy and eventually fell asleep with the small blanket we had packed and mini ladybug pillow pet, Easton also gave it a go but had a hard time with it being so light in the cabin and the man behind him asking him to put his seat upright (I think he was still eating?), but Dalton was wide awake and into his movie.
Dalton had already started on some TV programming as well by the time they turned off the lights in the cabin. It was after 12:30 a.m. before I forced Dalton to try and get some sleep. He was like, "But my show's not over" and I said, "It'll save your place, you need to try to sleep". So he did. Once he was finally asleep, I felt like I could safely shut my eyes a bit as well. I had not slept well the night before with so much to think about and do, so I was tired.
I didn't get more than about an hour and a half of sleep before Easton was awake again. :( He tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't. Autumn wasn't far behind and was also having troubles. So, after awhile they both turned movies on again. With them up, I stayed up. Even though I hadn't finished Divergent, I turned on Anchorman 2. I also liked to watch "Your Journey" display with maps and times and temps and speeds and such just scrolling through. It was weird to see so many adults asleep throughout the seats and my small children wide awake. I took Autumn potty once, Easton took himself a while later. Dalton actually stayed asleep.
The sun had already come up outside as we were flying east but they keep the shades shut tight for the travelers, but Easton slid D's open for a split second (with my permission) and blinded himself. :)
As the end of flying time came around, they turned the lights on and came through with what they called "a continental breakfast". Again, our "special meals" got served first. The kids all got a gluten free blueberry muffin and I got a very small bowl of fruit. I ate it up, minus the honeydew, and also ate Easton's muffin. He loves blueberries, but not blueberry muffins. Autumn ate up her muffin, and once Dalton woke, he had a few bites of his. He was NOT in a good mood. Not at all. He was snapping at me and weepy. When the flight attendants came through for water or juice with "breakfast" my cute girl was all, "Do you have any chocolate milk?" as she starts every day with chocolate milk. :) But, of course, they didn't. So she asked for orange juice and they gave her apple. The boys passed and stuck with their waters. I got a coffee but they didn't include creamer in my breakfast pack like they did in everyone else's. And it's not like they come through all the time to check in but I was gonna need that coffee so I just drank it anyway.
Autumn got super motion sick as we were landing. I truly thought she was gonna lose her muffin. We had her barf bag out and she was whimpering and pale like she gets. I was stretched across the aisle trying to "be there" for her. But she held it together. As soon as the seatbelt sign was off, she was in my lap. We were nearly in the back row of the plane, maybe 3 rows behind us so we had a very long sit. We let everyone go in front of us anyway. I got several compliments on my "perfect children" or "they were so good!" from fellow passengers. As the 4 of us made our way off the plane, we learned we had landed out on the tarmac and had a flight of stairs to get down and a bus to catch over to the terminal. Oy! The woman in front of Autumn offered to help so I just told her to walk and Autumn would follow her. A male employee of some sort held Autumn's hand down the metal stairs, Easton carried a carry on suitcase and I carried the other three. Yes, three! Impressed with me yet? ;) We were the very last people to get on the bus and squished all in. Autumn still wasn't 100% so she leaned on Dalton and some strange man who was very nice about it. We got to the terminal and stopped in a handicap accessible bathroom so the four of us could be together. Then we didn't have boarding passes for our next leg. I didn't misplace them, I just never had them. So, we had to get those and then we had to go through security again. I had the kids throw away our waters from the plane and we made our way through. Autumn's bag got held aside. I had forgotten about the waters I stuck in there with the chips and Twix. My bad! But they just took them out and threw them "in the bin" and we were able to pack the rest back up and move on. Right then, Easton went, "Mom, have you had your coffee yet?" and I thought it was a joke at my forgetfulness about the waters but it was really because there was a Starbucks right behind us. So, we went to stand in a very long line for coffee. The kids parked themselves in some seats with their phones while I waited and waited. I got them a bottled strawberry banana smoothie like they drink at home all the time, only this one was lumpy and pulpy and one sip told Easton he wasn't gonna be able to drink it. So I drank that and my coffee. All the kids had iffy tummies anyway and didn't want anything to eat or drink. After I finished my coffee, we made our way over to the play area we knew was there. I looked back and reminded the kids to "follow me". Autumn said, "I'm not following you, I'm following my dreams!" I must've given her a look because then she said, "And my dream is you!" ;)
There was also a free charging station near the play area! Hooray! My phone battery was super low and I was worried about getting in touch with J when we landed in Berlin later. The kids played up until they announced the gate where our flight would be and then we made our way over. Autumn was feeling "goopy" again so we stopped for a water which grossed her out after her first sip and then we got on the plane. I had told Easton back in Denver that he could have the window for that flight because it would be light but at this point I had to warn him that if Autumn was feeling sick again, he'd have to switch so she could see out the window. He agreed. This time I had Easton in the window, Autumn in the middle and me on the aisle with Dalton sitting across the aisle from me. He did great and the man next to him was helpful if he dropped something or needed help with his tray table. He colored and folded up some Minecraft paper crafts I had surprised them with. Autumn also did well but we kept making sure she was looking out the window and not at a screen the whole time. There were no TVs in the headrests this time but the flight from London to Berlin was only about an hour and a half. They came through with drinks and things like "biscuits" or "crisps" which we like to say in our British accents about cookies and chips. Dalton opted for the crisps but the rest of us had the shortbread biscuits. They were all "real" ingredients only, so I was happy to see that for my kids' tummies.
Soon we were on the ground in Germany!
We got out at the tiny airport and produced our passports right off the bat. The people were not speaking English to me at all. But we got our stamps and went to wait at the baggage carousel immediately behind. I knew we'd need a cart for our 8 suitcases but didn't know what to do about it. I saw some, had no clue how to get one. A little angel noticed and asked her significant other for something and then she said, "excuse me" and gave me the cart! I was like, "How did you do that?! Thank you!" They said, "it's just a Euro coin" (which I did not have anyway). I thanked them again and again but they said not to worry about it. I pushed it over to the carousel and we began the long wait for our bags.
Once I had them all, I loaded them onto my cart stacked super high like something out of Dr. Seuss. We maneuvered around the carousel heading for customs. As soon as the sliding doors opened, Jason was standing there snapping our picture. No one from customs gave us even a second glance . . . we were through! We all stopped at the potties again and then headed outside where Jason was going to rent us a taxi van. They radioed for a bigger one that even had car seats for Autumn and Dalton!!! Wow! We loaded up our bazillion bags and Jason spoke a little German to the driver with directions to our flat and we were off! It felt like I could've been in Texas, it wasn't feeling very "foreign" just yet. We told tales of our journey, heard about Jason's first day at work that day, and before long we were at the curb of our building. Together again!
Whew! Just this update made me tired! So glad the flight is behind you- I'm always SO relieved when the flight is behind us when traveling with the kiddos. Lovin' the blog!
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