First Class Trip Back to England

What a way to start our new year, with all five of us being sick during our visit to South Carolina.  I was exhausted.  When we woke up in the hotel the morning we were leaving, both girls got sick again, and Amelia was still running a fever.  The van was loaded, so I was already going through spare clothes for the girls.  In tears, I told Eric we could not fly back in that state.  He spent twenty minutes on the phone with the airline, only to find out that they give very little breaks for changing your flight due to sickness.  The man would waive the $250 per ticket change fee, but we would have to pay almost the full ticket price for each of us due to the change in fare price.  We had no choice.  We had to fly back to London.  I was prepared with medicine, plastic bags and extra clothes.  I prayed to God and we were on our way.

 

Eric is amazing when we travel.  He handled 6 suitcases and 2 carry-ons.

I had the big kids in the double stroller with Cora in the carrier on my chest.

 Yes, the top suitcase did fall off once, but we just had to laugh and keep going.

To top off our rough start to a long day of travel, our suitcases were too heavy.  This had never been an issue in the past due to Eric's status with Delta.  He does not have a weight limit on luggage.  The man who checked us in, however, said we could not have so many suitcases over the limit for an international flight.  Yes, they were jammed with Christmas presents!  To prevent paying the ridiculous charge on each suitcase, Eric went and purchased another suitcase.  Luckily, in the Atlanta airport, they have luggage stores before you complete your check in process.  Yep, we were "that family" by the check in with our suitcases open on the floor taking out the heavy things and repacking.  Somehow, we both stayed calm and smiled.

Our first flight to Boston went well.  The kids were troopers even though they were not feeling the greatest.  Finally, some good news came when we arrived at the gate.  We were upgraded to FIRST CLASS for our flight to London!  I could not believe it!  I have never flown in first class.  I did not even know children were allowed in first class.  It was such an answer to prayers for us.  We had so much space, and we were treated like royalty.  The seats could lay completely flat, so the kids got some much needed good rest.  I put my feet up and enjoyed a glass of wine.  The 8 hour plane ride seemed to go by very quickly.  No one got sick, and we were able to keep Amelia's fever in control.  

So much space!

Dylan enjoyed his orange juice and a movie.

My view

My feet could not even touch my bag on the floor.  Well, I had them up most of the ride.

A tired, but happy mommy and baby

Amelia loved the fancy glass, the small water bottles and the bag of toiletries just for her!

Enjoying our drinks

Such a good big brother

The flight was great.  The big question was, how were we going to fit all of the luggage into the car with TWO extra suitcases?  There we were again being "that family" with suitcases open on the ground of the parking lot. We emptied one suitcase and put the items on the floor behind the seats and placed that suitcase into a larger one.  Eric moved all of the seats forward to make enough room for the new suitcase to fit.  My knees were on the dashboard, but we made it home with everything.  It took us almost one week for the kids to adjust back to the time change and get over the flu.  Our time with family and friends made it all worthwhile.  Now it was time to get back to life in England....