We made it!!

Well, it only took us about 2 full days to get here, but we made it. I made it!! I traveled across the Atlantic Ocean by myself for the first time...

Ok, so not really by myself because I had my 2 little girls with me...I just meant without Eric guiding me everywhere. I can't tell you what an exhilarating feeling it is. I feel so blessed and so proud of my daughters. I always knew they were good travelers but never in my wildest dreams did I think they were gonna be THAT good.

The plane trip itself was 18 hours. We left Phoenix on Sunday around 1 PM, went through Chicago, barely made the connection since i only had an hour an a half. By this time the girls had gotten no naps, but they kept themselves entertained while watching a movie on their DVD player.

The trip from Chicago to London was a little over 7 hours. Audrey ended up falling asleep in my arms and by this time she was so tired she barely even moved. She slept a little over 3 hours.

Maile took a lot longer to go to sleep, but once she did, she was great. Once we got to London, again we only had 1 hr and 15 minutes to make our connection to Bucharest. I was completely shocked when I got off the plane and realized that my double stroller which I had gate checked, had been sent on the plane to Bucharest because supposedly they were too full to fit it on board of the plane.

Wish they'd told me that before they actually did it. Needless to say, at this point I am starting to worry that I am not gonna make it. The airport in London was just HUGE and even though I didn't have to change terminals, I still had to take a train to get me to my gate, go through security yet again and all that. We literally made it just in the nick of time.

I didn't get a chance to take a whole lotta pictures on the plane, just because I kinda had my hands full, with either one or the other girl sleeping in my arms. Either way, I honestly could not have imagined this trip to be easier in terms of how the girls did. They only slept for a little over 3 hours during the whole trip, and yet they never once had a meltdown, no aching ears upon take off....nothing.

The first night that we made it to Bucharest, we spent the night in a hotel before getting up the next day and getting on another 5 hr train ride to Barlad, the city my parents live in.

I put the girls to bed that night around 8 15 PM and all three of us slept until 11 PM that night and that was it. After that, it was like...hello there!! The girls were up and ready to play...have breakfast...heck for all they knew, it was breakfast time in America.

By the time we were ready to get on the train that next day, I could just tell the girls were both so exhausted. Here are some shots of them on the train to Barlad.

The girls and I decided to grab some McDonalds for lunch before we got on the train.


Did you ever know that if you wanna order "Meal number X" at any fast food place in Romania, you would actually say..."Please, may I have "menu" number X?" I never realized how funny that sounds until I met Eric 8 years ago and we went to one of the fast food places in Bucharest together. Nowadays, that just cracks me up? And did you also know, that while you're sitting in line waiting to sumbit your order like a good "almost American citizen", there's probably at least 3-4 "fellow Romanians" that will try and cut in front of you?

Yeah, I knew I was "home" the minute that happened to me...oh and what about having to pay for your grocery bags at the store?? Yup, I had to do that too today. It's amazing the things that we take for granted in other countries, America included. I know I am often guilty of that.

But anyway, that was totally unrelated,,,I did just have to throw it out there however, because it cracks me up.

Anyway, we made it to Barlad yesterday afternoon, and not even 30 minutes upon arrival, auntie Dana had taken the girls out for a walk.

Next thing I know, Maile is out there making some new friends. It was so great to see her going out there and despite the language barrier and her being BEYOND exhausted at this point, just really trying to reach out and make the best of this vacation.

As of today we are still trying to get over the jet lag but I am happy to say that the girls got about 10 hours of sleep last night and again 4 hour naps this afternoon and so did I. Hopefully we will soon be back to our regular routine and schedule and ready to embark in new adventures.