Travel Home

What time should you go to the airport for an int'l trip home? The question of the day! Mary from our group said she had read 3 hrs which sounded good, but then the hotel said 7am (2hrs before our flight) would be early enough. Since we couldn't check in and get our boarding passes the night before (internet and printing was VERY expensive at the hotel), we decided to go down to the lobby around 6:15am and catch the shuttle. Good thing we got down there because we had to get in line for the shuttle. Ron and Mary were there before us, and the shuttle they were waiting for filled up. We all managed to get on the next shuttle around 6:40am. The Delta line was PACKED when we got there. Couldn't use the self check in counters because it was putting our seats all over the plane. Got to spend alot of time at the counter because they overbooked the flight and already had most seats reserved. Ended up split in to 2 areas of the plane. Carter and I ended up in Row 41 - the last row in the middle section on the left side of the plane, and I got an aisle seat which I was happy about. John and Addie ended up in row 56 - second to last row on the opposite side of the plane. Victoria was in row 57 right behind Addie. Took us awhile to get through security, get to the gate, and find some breakfast. But here's something I do not understand about international travel. While in China, we never had to take off our shoes, and they had us pitch the water at security just like we did here. When we went to China, we obviously had the shoe check, but we were able to buy water in the airport after security and board with it. Thought we could do that going home to. NOPE! We dumped water at security AND at the plane entrance. So, it was okay to not check our shoes, but not okay to to buy water after we passed through security. That SUCKED! Especially since Carter and I were both sick and needing fluid! Our first shoe check was when we got to Detroit - had to go back through security when leaving customs.
The plane itself was awesome! Only 3 months old, and had a wonderful tv system on the backs of each seat. Tons of movie, game, and tv options with pause and rewind available. We all got to watch whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. Since I was cruising w/ Carter, we hung out, talked to the nice lady beside us, and watched alot of movies. I also found the water that the flight attendants had so the lavatory behind me was very convenient! Apparently during one of my movies, Addie decided to throw a fit. But, since I was a cabin away and had on my headset, I missed the whole thing! John said she didn't want to put her seat belt back on after the light came back on. She did the full body stiff, fighting, and screaming. Good thing dad's had experience with this before and knew he couldn't give in once the fuss started! One thing I've observed on our two international flights - the flight attendants tend to get grumpy about 1/2 way in to it. It's like they wish they could pass out Tylenol PM to all the passengers. They tend to perk back up right before landing. Our flight took us north across China, Russia, and the arctic circle. It was pretty neat to watch it on the moving map and look out the window when we were over all the ice. Daylight for the entire trip.
Detroit went fairly smoothly. We weren't really sure what to expect while going through customs, immigration for Addie, etc... but the security people were very helpful and moved us to short lines where possible. Had about 1 1/2 hr wait time once we got to our gate. We were all pretty wiped out. Found out that Addie really likes Fudrucker's fries. All of us were ready to pass out when we got on the last flight, but it was only 52 minutes long.
We got home around 4pm. The dogs went crazy - so excited to see us. Addie was terrified. Very interesting panic screams. But, we are at least being able to start differentiating between her cries now that we're starting to hear them. She clung to me as I was trying to introduce her to the dogs. By evening, she was starting to tolerate them being in the same room with her. John started to unpack, and I just looked at him like he was insane. Normally, I'm the one all gung ho about wanting to get stuff put away, but I told him I wasn't helping and it could wait until morning. He ended up just checking on the stuff we bought to make sure it survived the flights. We got everyone tucked in to bed by 8:30ish. Up for over 27 hours!