This is going to be a post with no pictures. Because when traveling solo with 3 kids, the last thing on my mind is taking pictures. Granted, I did think of it. But the camera wasn't handy. My phone was available, but it was too dark for it to get a decent picture. So I will have to use my words to describe it.
But what can be said about a journey that includes a 14-hour plane ride? There were inevitable delays. Which of course prompted Becca to have some travel stress. Our plane going into Detroit was delayed almost 40 minutes and made our connection for our Detroit-Shanghai flight a little tighter. Even though we had plenty of time, my girl worried about it the entire plane ride to Detroit. But then that flight ended up being delayed so it wouldn't have mattered. At one point during her worryfest, I gave her the worse-case scenario. We miss our connecting flight. Since it the airlines fault, they would put us on the plane the next day going to Shanghai and it would work out. I think sometimes she needs to hear the worse case to realize that even that is doable.
And then our long flight? Was long. And had no individual TVs. Be patient with me because I am going to rant for a minute. I just don't understand how the airlines can get away with showing movies that are inappropriate for children but then not giving any other option. This alone is the reason that I like the individual TVs so much. Because every single movie that was shown on the big screen was PG and most of them were PG-13. Thankfully, none were R. But even a PG-13, has more violence and inappropriate sexual content that I don't want my 5 year-old to see. I had to ask the kids to look away at several points. Because I know that if they were to see what was shown then it would bother them and possibly give them nightmares. And how can one of the longest flights you can take not have individual TVs? On our return to the US, one of our flights was 9.5 hours and we not only had the TVs, but they were on demand. Meaning we could pause and skip ahead in movies. But then this flight that was almost 5 hours longer really had no option for my kids. Just. So. Frustrating. Alright, rant over.
A friend emailed once we were back to ask how the flight went. I quickly replied, "OK." And then later remembered that one of my kids got sick twice almost at the end. But since that is a usual occurrence for that particular kiddo, I guess I just thought of it as no big and nothing out of the ordinary.
We are in the midst of battling the evil jet lag monster. But I have hopes that we will be victorious in the next day or two. Our first morning back Tori woke up at 2:30 AM and was up for the day. She had climbed into bed with us, but didn't really sleep anymore that night. During the afternoon as they are lagging we head for the pool and then after dinner we attempt to keep them awake with movies with doses of tickling as needed.
This time around either the flight (with its pressures changes) or jet lag or really the evil combination of the two gave me a two-day migraine. I was totally out for the count. I am so thankful that Andy was already on China-time and didn't have his own jet lag to deal with because he has been crucial in helping and taking care of the kids. I love that man. And just for the record, we are SO GLAD to be back with Andy. 26 days apart is a long time.
We now have a week to get back into the routine before school starts. Can I just say. . . it is great to be home!
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