And amazingly enough, everyone survived!! We got into Baltimore late on Wednesday night (after a short detour to Richmond, VA, to get more fuel). We were exhausted, but I stayed up until close to midnight to do laundry.
I woke up Thursday morning with a headache (lovely!). We re-packed everything, ate lunch with a friend, and then headed to the airport to pick up Copper (he flew up separately from us). Since it was already check in time for our flight to Aviano, we decided to hang out at the airport.
Around 9pm they started boarding the plane. Like any airline, the seats were packed as closely together as they can make them and the passengers still be semi comfortable. The plane had 11 seats in a row: three on one side, five in the middle, and three on the other side. We were given the five seats in the middle (which made Alyssa mad…she really wanted a window seat)!
Since it was 10pm, by the time our flight took off, the girls passed out fairly quickly. And I must say, I envy young children. They can fall asleep anywhere in just about any position.
Shortly after they fell asleep, we were fed dinner. We had a choice between chicken and beef (of course!). One my tray was a “salad” (three pieces of lettuce and a cherry tomato); a dish with a slice of ham, an olive, and a piece of cantalope (not sure what this was supposed to be called!); some crackers and cheese; a “dessert” (I gave mine to Tony) and this was suppoesd to be chicken and mashed potatoes:
And yes, it tasted every bit as good as it looks.
They showed us two movies on the flight and I pretty much was able to watch both of them. I slept very little on the flight. Apparently, Tony did not have that issue:
Our first stop was Germany. We were only supposed to be there for about 2 ½ hours, but ended up being there almost 4. So, it was very late by the time we arrived at Aviano (the good thing was, we cleared customs in Germany and since both countries are part of the European Union, we did not have to clear again when we arrived in Italy. We finally checked into our Temporary Living Quarters around 7pm. All of us exhausted (thank goodness my office went shopping for us! We had the fixings for sandwiches and breakfast the next morning. We all fell asleep between 8 and 9 Friday night, however all of us were up again by 1:30am. I’m not sure when we fell back asleep, but we ended up dragging ourselves out of bed around noon the next day. So, we had trouble falling asleep Saturday night (really didn’t end up going to bed until sometime Sunday morning!).
Tomorrow we start our inprocessing. Hopefully, we can get a decent night’s sleep tonight! I’m not sure when I’ll be able to post again…we have no internet in the room (it’s been down for over a month!). Until then, enjoy this view from our room:
[…] or killed on the flight over. I’ll spare you the gory details. If you want to read them, go here . We have no internet access in our room. It’s been down for over a month and gives us our first […]
That view is gorgeous! Glad you all made it out there in one piece! 🙂
It is georgeous…Have a blast and get out and explore! I am sure that Davewould say it has changed a great deal since he was there. Keep in touch!
I must really love you all to be taking a trip to see you this year. 🙂
OMG, I was exhausted just reading about it. Wow. At least the view is breathtaking, although I’m sure after so many hours without sleep and the whole time difference, it would’ve been a while before I could actually appreciate it.
Ewwww to the airplane meal.
What’s the difference in time between there and here?
When do the kids get enrolled in school? Does school start the same time in Italy?
Oh, the airplane food! I feel your pain. I always take tons of food when we fly so we’ll have something decent to nibble on. Glad you guys all made it in one piece. You have a beautiful view. Good luck getting your housing and everything else taken care of. You made the flight though and that’s the worst part of the move (IMO).
Yay! Safe and sound. Hope settling in goes well
What a view!!!
I’m glad you made it, I bet you are very tired. Thank you for the update.
I am so jealous!!! You will have a wonderful time Sandie… 😀
So happy you arrived safety. We will miss seeing you guys at the dentist. You will love being in Europe. I loved living there. see all you can see. God Bless you all….