The Journey Home

All good things must come to an end, and so did our trip to Paris. We awoke at 5:30 AM to get ready and clean the apartment. That is the only disadvantage to renting an apartment, but it only took about 30 minutes and was worth not being in a hotel. We then headed out and took the train to the airport. I must admit that a train ride is much nicer than driving to the airport. The only drawback was the drunk man running around trying to keep his pants on. It is in times like these that I appreciate even more having a big strong husband to take care of me. :)

Everything at the airport went smoothly and before we knew it we were on our way. The first flight was quite pleasant, but what 45 minute flight isn't? We even got a little nap which is impressive for such a short flight. We then enjoyed a little time in Zurich, Switzerland and well, it is just awesome that we have now been to Switzerland as well, even if we didn't ever leave the airport. And the best part about Switzerland is that they served Swiss chocolate on the flights . . . mmmm . . . yummy! Security was a bit of a pain as we had to go through several checkpoints and even take our shoes off again. Ugh! But by the time you got through the final checkpoint, which was right in front of our gate, we were able to just board which was nice.

The flight to Chicago is about 10 hours which is definitely not something one looks forward to but is all apart of the experience. As we boarded, a couple was being helped out of wheel chairs and onto the plane. They were an older, eastern European couple that seemed to be the couple that no one would want to sit next to. So, of course when they were asked where they were sitting our ears perked up to make sure they were no where near us. To our dismay they were going to be sitting right next to us--to be more specific right next to ME! I'm a pretty tolerant person, but they (mostly she) pushed just about every button I had. I'm pretty sure if James had been sitting next to her the next 10 hours would have passed very differently. It is good that I was the buffer. She began by asking the flight attendants for cooling gel and something to drink. It only took those first few minutes for the flight attendants to learn to avoid our row. She finally sat down and settled in and it seemed that she would sleep through the flight. If only I were that lucky. I'm not sure if she was claustrophobic but she seemed to be having a hard time with the amount of room afforded her in her seat (and about 1/3 of the room in my seat as well). Then, the worst thing imaginable happened . . . the lady in front of her put her seat all the way back. Now we all know that this is something we hope doesn't happen to us but it pushed her (I will now refer to her as crazy lady) over the edge and she started hitting the seat in front of her telling the lady to put her seat back up. And I thought sitting next to her was bad! So, the lady actually put her seat back up. I was a little surprised but very grateful. I was not surprised, however, when the lady put her seat back again while the crazy lady was in the bathroom. At this point I wanted to laugh but used every ounce of control I had to focus on my movie. When crazy lady returned she managed to get back in her seat but began hitting the seat in front of her again. The lady in front, however, had decided to ignore her. The joy of head phones . . . you can pretend not to hear. But then when crazy lady's husband got up and went around she had no choice but to acknowledge them. She was not happy about it all but moved her seat up a little. I know you can't imagine this being a true story but I promise it is! Shortly after this one of the flight attendants became involved--thankfully! Crazy lady wanted her remote turned off (the one in the seats that controls the TV) which he, of course, couldn't do. Then, she wanted to complain that the lady in front of her because she keeps putting her seat back. He then tried to explain that she could put her seat back to compensate. Unfortunately, her legs were too short for her to feel comfortable this way, so she kept her seat up and the flight attendant told the lady in front of her that she could put her seat however she wanted. And she did. It was pretty fun to hear the flight attendant tell the lady that she was in coach on an airplane and that this is how it is. If she doesn't like it, she shouldn't fly. Sadly, I fell asleep shortly thereafter and by the time I awoke crazy lady had moved to a different seat as did her husband. There were not many empty seats, so they were no longer able to sit together, but I now had an empty seat next to me. I felt that was my reward for not telling her what I really thought. You should all be proud. It was crazy but with a few movies, a couple of short naps and a little Sudoku and even a little Tetris (technology on planes is amazing) we made it home!!!

We had decided to check luggage, so we could bring fun things home, so we then went to wait for our luggage. After a few bags had come through an airline employee called out for a few passengers. It is times like these that you do not want to hear your name, but alas, as the day has shown it was not my day and I was called. My suitcase was still in Switzerland. :( It took about an hour to get James' suitcase and then file the paperwork to have my suitcase mailed to me-hopefully Monday? By this point we were ready to be home. Unfortunately, we still had a 3 hour drive home. The drive wasn't bad but by the end we were very tired as we had now been up for about 21 hours. Then, about 10 miles before the Galesburg exit a car full of young people decided to play tag with us making inappropriate gestures every time we passed them. Did we do something wrong? If we did we did not know what it was. But I was just too tired, so I left my cruise on and ignored them. By the time we got home we were so happy to be there!

Michael and Joshua were still up, so we got to enjoy a few minutes with them. We were glad to hear that all had gone well. It is not easy leaving your children for a week, but I was glad to see that we could do it and all was well. Even though it was a long, crazy trip home we survived and are glad to be home with our boys. It was a successful trip and one I would be willing to take again-maybe even with the boys. But for now I plan to enjoy a normal week and then head out to Utah on Saturday!