After only a few hours of sleep and staying up until 4am, I finally finished packing our ten boxes (500 lbs) this morning. Gosh, I hope we can fit all of these in the van!
We drove to the airport early to check our boxes. I had a wonderful, wonderful visit with my mom, and left her at the airport to standby for her flight back to Arkansas. We always hold our breath until our boxes are checked, but we didn't have any problems checking all 500 pounds!
We drove back home to park our van in the garage, lock up, and clean our house. There's always stress at this point... trying to remember to do everything before we leave... not to leave any laundry, empty the dishwasher, clean all the toilets, put the keys away, lock everything, throw out any perishable food, go through all the mail, turn off the answering machine, turn down the thermostat... so many things. And then we wonder if we'll all get seats on both of our flights, and if we don't, where our boxes will go, and if we do, whether our boxes will make it all the way, and will anything spill in our boxes, will a box break, will things fall out... the questions never end.
We finished cleaning the house, and then hitched a ride back to the airport with our dear friend, Dave Lowry. It looks like we should all get first class to Frankfurt, and then we'll fly on Luftansa to Dammam. When we got to the gate, we were surprised to find that there were only four seats in first class and one seat in coach. Because it was oversold in coach, I guess they upgraded a lot of people in order to have enough room. Since Jordan has to go back for school, and Bruce for work, I knew I was staying behind. I'm not in a hurry, and it's the same price whether I sit in the front or the back... so I chose to stay behind and wait for a first class seat (some people are so spoiled!) Brooke wanted to go ahead and Reese wanted to stay with me. The gate agent told me that I was crazy to give up the seat because it would be the same tomorrow. At least she told us that Reese and I could leave our boxes at the airport and come back for them tomorrow -- that was a relief! I would hate to carry four of those boxes back and forth! So Reese and I took a taxi back home in order to figure out what to do next.
Bruce, Jordan, and Brooke had a wonderful flight to Frankfurt, were allowed in the Delta Sky Club, had a nice flight to Dammam, and even received all six of their boxes. They had one weekend day in Saudi to switch time zones, and then went back to school and work. Once the week started, Brooke had to stay home alone and do her school work all by herself. Bruce came home for lunch, but she says she really didn't mind it at all.
Back in Tyrone, I spent hours on the computer, trying to find a first class seat to Dammam, but couldn't find anything. I started to worry that I had made a mistake by giving up my seat in coach. Reese didn't waste any time running next door to spend the evening with her buddy, Hope. We had unfortunately thrown out the milk and didn't have a lot of food that we could eat, but we scrounged in the freezer and found enough for our dinner. Next time I'm putting the milk in the freezer too! I found some forgotten potatoes in our pantry... those would have been really scary when we returned in the summer. I hope I didn't forget anything else! I squeezed the potatoes into my carry-on.
Thursday, January 5
Today, I spent the entire morning on the computer searching for a way to Dammam. And then I remembered a secret wish Reese had shared with me only a few days ago: she told me that she wished she and I could go to Paris and see the Eiffel Tower. When I remembered her wish, I thought it wouldn't hurt to see if there were any flights going through Paris... and sure enough... it was the only way to get to Dammam in first class for a few days! So we decided to fly to Paris tomorrow afternoon.
Reese and I had a Mommy & Me day in Georgia. We had our last Mexican meal for a while and then went to see a dollar movie (Puss in Boots.)
Friday, January 6:
As soon as I woke up this morning, I checked the computer to see how the flights were doing and I became afraid that we wouldn't make it from Atlanta. So we called our ride, Brian Newman, to see if he could come a couple of hours earlier. He did, and we made it to the airport in time to check on our boxes (which had unintentionally been left there for two days!) I was very concerned about our boxes since they had basically been abandoned two days ago. In the Delta baggage office, I was assured that they would be put on my new flights. Uncomfortable with their quick answer, I waited in line at International check-in, and was told the same thing. I don't know how they could know to put the boxes on the Paris flight instead of the Frankfurt flight, and how could they know whether to put them on Luftansa or AirFrance if I don't even know myself on which flight we will be from Paris to Frankfurt? But everyone seemed so sure of it, that I accepted it. I was a little worried about what I was to do with the boxes once I arrived in Paris, but I definitely didn't want to take 200 lbs. of luggage on the Metro with us! I decided that I would not claim them in the Paris airport and hope that they would be okay when we caught our flight the next day.
We leisurely caught a flight to Chicago and sat in the Sky Club for five hours, waiting for our flight to Paris. We were so happy to find out that the flight to Paris had several empty seats in first class. We had a wonderful (but short) flight from Chicago to Paris (half the time it takes when we fly from Atlanta to Dubai!)
Saturday, January 7:
We arrived in Paris early in the morning with only an hour or two of sleep. I hope we make it through the day and get to see the Eiffel Tower! I've decided not to claim our boxes and hope that they will be okay when we return to the airport tomorrow morning.
We have finally figured out what train to ride and where to buy our tickets. Here we are on the Metro at 8am. We look a little tired!
Here is a lady that came from another car while the train was moving and just started belting out a beautiful song on our train! I guess there's always a way to make a living when you're creative.
Here we had to change trains and got on the train going in the wrong direction and had to switch back.
Here is Reese's first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower... she's so excited. Never mind that we don't know where our hotel is, it's raining, and we're pulling our heavy carry-ons! Reese was a trooper. I'm glad I didn't get our boxes!!
She's so happy... she can't believe she's actually looking at the Eiffel Tower!
First we walked the wrong way, but we eventually found our little neighborhood hotel after asking several people and walking several blocks with our suitcases. We checked in, rested for an hour, and headed back out to climb the Eiffel Tower.
Here we are standing directly under the Eiffel Tower.
Waiting in line for tickets to the elevator.
Now we're on the elevator going up.
This is the first stop on the elevator.
Various views.
Now we're on the elevator heading to the very top!
It was very cold and windy.
This is a window where you can see the people below.
This is an ice skating rink on a lower level.
Now we're walking along the street, looking for some food before we head back to the hotel to crash. We haven't eaten since we were on the plane.
I really wanted to sit in a French cafe with Reese, but she was exhausted and I didn't think she'd really appreciate the food, so we found a tiny table in a corner of the crowded Subway and bought her a sandwich.
Here is our hotel room... very tiny, but clean, warm, and nice.
This is the view from our window.
We had a hard time sleeping the entire night since we went to bed so early, so we watched a movie in bed at 2am and then fell back asleep. We had a nice continental breakfast before walking to the train station in the dark morning.
My train ticket didn't open the bars to let us in, so I ran back to the hotel to see if I had thrown away the wrong ticket, but I got disoriented on the dark street and couldn't find my way back to the hotel. After trying two ways, I gave up and ran back to the Metro station and we snuck through the bars. Here we are heading back to the airport on the Metro.
We made it to the airport, but our flight is filling up... I sure hope we get on it.
At the airport, I was told that if our boxes were in Paris, they would be loaded on our plane. We flew to Frankfurt and were able to get Bruce's laptop from lost and found, which he had left in security a few days ago, and then had a nice lunch at McDonald's.
They had a fabulous play place.
We arrived in Dammam at midnight. I don't know if it was nice to be back, but it was nice to be able to stop traveling. Here we are waiting in line at customs.
None of our boxes made it, so we filed a lost baggage form and will wait for them to be delivered.
Bruce drove us home and we were happy to see Jordan and Brooke when we awoke the next morning. We were especially happy to see Shadow again.
Reese and I had an absolutely wonderful adventure. I really had no desire to go to Paris, but because Reese had a secret wish to go there alone with me, I was thrilled to get to do it. And what impressed me most, was how our loving God allows us to do things just because we desire them. I know God loves us so much, and it was so fun to watch him bless Reese and give her just what she had been wishing.
Thanks for stopping by!
- Pattie -
