Getting There

We're headed to England for our three year adventure overseas. We arrived at the airport with nine large--all over fifty pounds--suitcases, a giant car seat, three carry-on suitcases, and three backpacks. Fortunately the pillow pet fit into one of the carry-on bags. I would hate to see what a stir that thing might cause going through the X-ray machine. I don't think unicorns like to be frisked. The wonderful lady at the ticket counter checked us all the way through Heathrow, and we were on our way.

Flight 1

(side note: To avoid a big, fat pain on the other end of the journey, please ship everything that does not fit into one suitcase prior to your departure. You'll thank me later. So will the porter at the arriving airport.)

 

Making sure we were safe at the beginning of flight 2

Our long flight over the water was an overnight flight--I highly recommend this option. While it made for an uncomfortable night of not-great sleep for the parents, we did not have to entertain an active four year old for nearly eight hours in an area the size of my high school locker.

(detail: One of the flight attendants looked like Olivia Newton-John. Another sounded like Mary Poppins. I kind of wanted her to sing me to sleep.)

We arrived at London Heathrow airport and surprisingly enough, so did each one of our bags. We found a porter with a giant cart that thankfully hauled at least 500 pounds of luggage across the 3000 acre airport. (Yes, I looked that up, and yes, we gave him a huge tip.) The lady meeting our flight helped us get situated with a bus shuttle that was large enough to carry us and all of our stuff.

I would like to say that I gazed dreamily at the English countryside on our two hour bus ride to our temporary housing, but after a two hour night of sleep on the plane, I slept through the entire bus ride. I would have to see it later.