I had a spectacular plan to avoid jet lag; sleep light the night before so I'd be tired enough to fall asleep on our 7pm flight. We'd be arriving in Zurich at 11am so I wanted us all to be ready to enjoy our reunion with Alex. It worked out well for the kids, but reality was that I didn't sleep the night before except for the 2 hr nap I took at about 8:30am. In addition, I failed to sleep well on the plane due to the same reason I stay up so late at home...because there were more interesting things to do.
Fortunately for me (and the children counting on me to get them there), everything else was far smoother than I could have imagined. I admit, part of what I envisioned was our demise on this flight - given we are clearly the first pilgrims ever to insanely blast over the Atlantic in a pressurized metal tube. So, going from death - to a punctual arrival at the airport, no line to check our bags, all of our bags actually weighing under 50 lbs, a lightening quick military (me) driven slide through security which impressed even myself, and leisurely boarding first on the plane were an absolute delight. Furthermore, the seating arrangement was great - the seats were 2, 4 and 2 in a row, so the kids all sat in the 4 section and I sat across the aisle by myself. Close enough to hold little A's hand, but far enough where it was easy to pretend I was getting some alone time.
A little risky if things went chaotic, but other than a few trips to the bathroom, the older one's were right there to take care of the little things for the younger one's and I didn't have to do anything significant for about 9 hours. That's better than if I was sitting across the dinner table or couch from them at home. Really, kudos to those kiddos of mine - they were amazing and the flight attendant went out of her way to tell me: 'Isa never had a nicer a children ona my flight! They, uh, say in leeettle voices... 'pleasea, may I have some orange juice' and 'dank-you' then dey make NO a noise!' Not sure if it was the on-demand movies, the melatonin I served them with their dinner, or the fact that they are just great kids - but whatever....it was a peaceful 9 hours.
My new friend 'Carol', a grandmother, who sat next to me and I were quite relieved to see each other. She made it no secret that she was glad to see her seatmate was a small friendly woman and not a big grumpy man. She informed me how they served complimentary wine on the flight and I taught her to use the video service. I helped her with her bags, she held my tea while I took kids to the bathroom - all before we knew each others names. : ) (though I think she cared far less about my name than the fact that I didn't cause unpleasant circumstances for her journey). After the meal, the kids went to sleep and ended up getting several hours of rest. Me, this is where I failed. I was enjoying the quiet there so much and had started watching 'Water For Elephants'. I didn't want to go to sleep until I finished it. Well, it spiraled into a bad cycle of me dosing off and then fighting my way out of sleep only having to restart the movie and fast forward to where I left off - probably about 5 times. This is the extent of my sleep on Friday night, after my 2 hrs on Thursday. Before I knew it, the lights were on again in the plane, the sun was rising and croissants were being served.....and I was on my way to get through Saturday after combining minimal sleep for 2 nights with the hardcore adrenaline rush of preparing the 5 of us for a 7 wk trip. Typical, but I'm glad I got to finish the movie.
Arriving in Zurich also turned out well. By that I mean that we managed to get off the plane alive, get through customs, find the baggage claim (despite getting separated from our fellow passengers since we had to wait for the stroller), and continue through the airport to Alex on elevators and trams with signs that became less and less English the further we got from the arrival gate. Only one dumb moment (or 10 minutes) as we struggled to get a cart to carry our bags. Our luggage was sitting there waiting for us sans other passengers or bags by the time we got to the claim. Now, here I am actually willing to pay a ridiculous amount for a baggage guy and none are in sight. Self-service it is. Since I paid $4.00 for a cart at O'Hare, I assumed we had to pay for one on the other end as well. We looked all over for the place to swipe the credit card. We dusted that sucker for a slot to put a foreign coin which we didn't even have. We pulled it, pushed it, twisted it, Alex kicked it, Maya embraced it, we looked at it with a microscope and finally I saw a group walk by who already had one. I was going to ask them how they got theirs but when I realized they were busily speaking some other language, I tried a different cart just for the hell of it. It pulled out immediately. It was free. It was easy. We had just beat ourselves up over a broken foreign cart and I'm ever so grateful the other people didn't have to show me how to simply pull on the handle to obtain a cart. But, whatever - it was FREE - WINNER....! We found our way over to Alex and got lucky by having a cab large enough for all of us and our stuff just sitting there waiting for passengers. Big sigh of relief.
The rest of the day consisted of me being on the verge of tears trying to comprehend my temporary new life. It's amazing how alert I remained until another capable adult joined our party : ) Trying to understand a foreign tram system and grocery shop in German is not the greatest idea when one's brain is rapidly going numb from lack of sleep, and one's contacts are clinging to the eyes like a dry wet suit (hell, it may not even be a grand plan even when one's feeling spry). Sure, it can be done *I guess* - but not with a giddy smile. At the end of the day, Alex reminded me how lack of sleep is actually used as a form of torture. I'd say it must be a successful one. Though, I do have to add that after several short naps throughout the day - oddly come 'midnight' I was full of energy, organizing and wiping down every surface of the apartment. : )
Fortunately for me (and the children counting on me to get them there), everything else was far smoother than I could have imagined. I admit, part of what I envisioned was our demise on this flight - given we are clearly the first pilgrims ever to insanely blast over the Atlantic in a pressurized metal tube. So, going from death - to a punctual arrival at the airport, no line to check our bags, all of our bags actually weighing under 50 lbs, a lightening quick military (me) driven slide through security which impressed even myself, and leisurely boarding first on the plane were an absolute delight. Furthermore, the seating arrangement was great - the seats were 2, 4 and 2 in a row, so the kids all sat in the 4 section and I sat across the aisle by myself. Close enough to hold little A's hand, but far enough where it was easy to pretend I was getting some alone time.
A little risky if things went chaotic, but other than a few trips to the bathroom, the older one's were right there to take care of the little things for the younger one's and I didn't have to do anything significant for about 9 hours. That's better than if I was sitting across the dinner table or couch from them at home. Really, kudos to those kiddos of mine - they were amazing and the flight attendant went out of her way to tell me: 'Isa never had a nicer a children ona my flight! They, uh, say in leeettle voices... 'pleasea, may I have some orange juice' and 'dank-you' then dey make NO a noise!' Not sure if it was the on-demand movies, the melatonin I served them with their dinner, or the fact that they are just great kids - but whatever....it was a peaceful 9 hours.
My new friend 'Carol', a grandmother, who sat next to me and I were quite relieved to see each other. She made it no secret that she was glad to see her seatmate was a small friendly woman and not a big grumpy man. She informed me how they served complimentary wine on the flight and I taught her to use the video service. I helped her with her bags, she held my tea while I took kids to the bathroom - all before we knew each others names. : ) (though I think she cared far less about my name than the fact that I didn't cause unpleasant circumstances for her journey). After the meal, the kids went to sleep and ended up getting several hours of rest. Me, this is where I failed. I was enjoying the quiet there so much and had started watching 'Water For Elephants'. I didn't want to go to sleep until I finished it. Well, it spiraled into a bad cycle of me dosing off and then fighting my way out of sleep only having to restart the movie and fast forward to where I left off - probably about 5 times. This is the extent of my sleep on Friday night, after my 2 hrs on Thursday. Before I knew it, the lights were on again in the plane, the sun was rising and croissants were being served.....and I was on my way to get through Saturday after combining minimal sleep for 2 nights with the hardcore adrenaline rush of preparing the 5 of us for a 7 wk trip. Typical, but I'm glad I got to finish the movie.
Arriving in Zurich also turned out well. By that I mean that we managed to get off the plane alive, get through customs, find the baggage claim (despite getting separated from our fellow passengers since we had to wait for the stroller), and continue through the airport to Alex on elevators and trams with signs that became less and less English the further we got from the arrival gate. Only one dumb moment (or 10 minutes) as we struggled to get a cart to carry our bags. Our luggage was sitting there waiting for us sans other passengers or bags by the time we got to the claim. Now, here I am actually willing to pay a ridiculous amount for a baggage guy and none are in sight. Self-service it is. Since I paid $4.00 for a cart at O'Hare, I assumed we had to pay for one on the other end as well. We looked all over for the place to swipe the credit card. We dusted that sucker for a slot to put a foreign coin which we didn't even have. We pulled it, pushed it, twisted it, Alex kicked it, Maya embraced it, we looked at it with a microscope and finally I saw a group walk by who already had one. I was going to ask them how they got theirs but when I realized they were busily speaking some other language, I tried a different cart just for the hell of it. It pulled out immediately. It was free. It was easy. We had just beat ourselves up over a broken foreign cart and I'm ever so grateful the other people didn't have to show me how to simply pull on the handle to obtain a cart. But, whatever - it was FREE - WINNER....! We found our way over to Alex and got lucky by having a cab large enough for all of us and our stuff just sitting there waiting for passengers. Big sigh of relief.
The rest of the day consisted of me being on the verge of tears trying to comprehend my temporary new life. It's amazing how alert I remained until another capable adult joined our party : ) Trying to understand a foreign tram system and grocery shop in German is not the greatest idea when one's brain is rapidly going numb from lack of sleep, and one's contacts are clinging to the eyes like a dry wet suit (hell, it may not even be a grand plan even when one's feeling spry). Sure, it can be done *I guess* - but not with a giddy smile. At the end of the day, Alex reminded me how lack of sleep is actually used as a form of torture. I'd say it must be a successful one. Though, I do have to add that after several short naps throughout the day - oddly come 'midnight' I was full of energy, organizing and wiping down every surface of the apartment. : )