Expat: transatlantic travels

I have been without consistent internet connection for the last week (the hardship!) so I have a head full of blog posts that I now want to try and catch up on! The first instalment will be our journey back to the UK for a rather short holiday…

After seven months in the US we decided to head back to the UK for a week during the boys February vacation week.

When we moved over to the States we booked return flights as it was significantly cheaper than getting one-way tickets (?!) and we picked a return date far enough ahead that we might actually choose to use it.

The date of the return flights drew closer and in our usual last minute fashion we made our final decision to use them a few weeks in advance. Cue some frantic organisation of flights back to the US, flights between Scotland and Ireland so that hubby and I could both see our families, booking of hotels and hire cars, and arrangements made to see the various friends and family.

We’ve done a fair bit of travelling with the kids so the thought of flying with them doesn’t really phase me too much, although the move from two to three and the resulting lack of hands does make it a little more interesting!

Our flight back to Edinburgh was via Heathrow, leaving Boston at about 9pm. In an attempt to get the wee girl to sleep for a bit before we got on the flight, we headed to the airport early. I had managed to get us all packed with the minimum amount of stress, we left the house on time, I was pretty confident that we hadn’t forgotten anything. All good so far.

It took about 20 minutes to get to the airport and we were feeling pretty good about the start of our journey. Until we were two minutes from the car park and two out of three children were car sick…

Bearing in mind the weather we’ve been having and the fact that it had snowed again during the day, it was pretty chilly in the car park. Not the ideal place to strip two small children – but unavoidable once the extent of the damage was assessed – there was no way we were getting them into the airport without contaminating everything we were wearing and carrying…

So hasty changes of the 3yo and wee girl were made, emergency clothes used, new emergency clothes unpacked and vomit covered clothes wrapped in many layers of plastic before being put into the bags. All the while I am saying a silent thank you for the washing machine awaiting us in the apartment in Edinburgh :)

We made it into the airport, gave the 3yo a travel sickness tablet (yes, I know, stable door and all that) and made it through security with no more fuss.

We did manage to get the wee girl to sleep for a bit before we got on the plane, and she did fall asleep again on the plane for a couple of hours – very little screaming all in all, so that will go down as a success.

The 3yo fell asleep before we had even taken off and had to be woken when we landed at Heathrow. Another success.

The 6yo watched a bit of TV and then fell asleep for about three hours. Not too bad..

Mum and dad, well, I think hubby managed to get an hour or so of sleep. Me – none at all!

We landed in London in that dazed and confused way caused by the body being convinced it’s 3am while everyone is telling you it’s actually 8am. It never ceases to amaze me how long I can function (albeit at a rather reduced level) without sleep. That’s what comes of being a mother :)

We had three hours to kill before our Edinburgh flight, so had a nice breakfast and let the kids run around a bit. The flight to Edinburgh was (nearly) on time, and we got out of Edinburgh airport nice and quickly, picked up to the hire car and we were in the apartment by about 2pm. Hubby and I managed to keep us all awake until a sensible bedtime – and then we all slept for 12 hours!

We’ve had a lovely busy trip and now need another holiday to recover. I’ll save the stories for another post…

Tomorrow, we get to ‘travel with children’ again, flying from Dublin back to Boston. Fingers (and toes) crossed for a vomit free journey :)