Journeying home

Journal entry from Tuesday, August 13, 2019:
3:32pm, sitting on the Eurostar train between Paris and London: Au revoir, belle France! This morning as we were leaving, I think I passed two unofficial language tests: at the gas station outside of Paris, the cashier asked me (in French) if I had turned off the lights in the bathroom, and I understood her! (I went back and turned off the lights.) Then while my family waited at the train station, I went out into Paris to two restaurants and ordered lunch-to-go for all six of us by myself, all in French. I'm not anywhere near fluent, but it felt good to test my wings a bit!

Jeff says he feels like he passed a big test too-- his driving in France test. Stick shift: check. Narrow roads: check. Impossible parking: check. Massive traffic circles with unmarked cobblestones and random cars crammed in all directions: check. Our route to the car rental place aslo took us past the Eiffel Tower, right along the Seine. It was the most pleasant part of our in-Paris driving. Outside Paris, earlier this morning when we left our Civray-de Touraine Airbnb house at 7am, the lush rolling fields of the Loire Valley were bathed in golden early morning sunlight, mist hovering over the rivers and clinging to the plants. It was an ethereal and fairytale-ific landscape to say farewell to.


7:50pm London time. We have begun our journey home and it is lengthy and not nearly as much fun as the outbound journey. I am so tired and we haven't even made it to the airport yet--that's tomorrow. Today was a 3 hour drive from Civray-de-Touraine to Paris, plus a 5 hour wait at Gare du Nord (Paris train station) plus a 2 hour train ride.

Jeff's ribs/back are hurting him and he's on the mental health migraine edge because he hasn't run in a week, so his sense of humor is running short. Wahoo. Somehow we still love travel, although right now it is feeling a bit flat. Actually while we were waiting in the Gare du Nord for 5 hours in Paris today, Jeff and I started talking/dreaming about our next winter date-trip, haha. We can't get enough of adventuring, although we did discuss destinations with fewer time zones to hop, haha.

We arrived at London St. Pancras a little before 5pm today, walked the 1-2 blocks to our hotel (Central Hotel) and then walked to find dinner and a park for the kids to run around. Now we're back in our tiny weird nasty hotel room: 4 beds crammed together and a TV dangling on a broken mount in the wall and a miniscule bathroom. With spring-popped mattresses. Whine whine. It's fine. We will survive. I didn't expect too much from this hotel. Downtown budget hotels are never excellent, although since this hotel is costing us over 200 pounds just for one night a non-broken TV and/or mattress would have been nice. Dear ole expensive Britain.

Wednesday, August 14, 2019
At 5:30am, London time (1 hour earlier than France time)--I woke up and got ready to run. Jeff had a sudden concern about our Seattle hotel booking (we were planning on staying a night in Seattle before Grampa Dan came to pick us up), so I looked it up. We discovered that I had booked it for the wrong night! Because we were arriving Thursday Aug 15th at 1am, I used that date--Aug 15th--as the check-in date when I reserved the hotel months ago. But check-in doesn't begin until 2pm, so I should've reserved a room for the 14th, even though we would have arrived after midnight that night. Confusing!

When I checked our Seattle hotel booking, it said I had an hour and a half left for free cancellation. WHEW! I cancelled it. We couldn't find another worthwhile affordable hotel so we decided to just...see what happened? Beg Dan to drive all night to pick us up? We didn't have a concrete plan at that point because Dan was asleep (time difference) and unable to respond to our messages.

At 6:20am I went on my run around the Outer Circle of Regent's Park. I was feeling quite weak and depleted from our month of travels, particularly the last week of which we were farther from restaurants and kept going to a gross grocery store for food, AND I had some tummy discomfort that week. All of that combined to get me in a bit of a calorie debt and I felt hollow while I ran--a bit like a feather. I would have loved to run down by the River Thames again, especially because it was a beautiful sunny morning in London Town, but I simply didn't have the energy to navigate the twisty turn-y city streets. London is an exceptionally difficult city to get around--the streets are not in any semblance of order. So I played it boringly safe and did a simple park loop. It got the job done.

Anyways, we ate breakfast at our hotel, packed up, and headed out. Here's where the tired mindnumbing travel really set in. I wrote this list the day after we got home, in a haze of exhaustion, and added it to this journal entry.

Journeying Home:

1. From the Central Hotel in London, walk 2 blocks to the King's Cross tube station.
2. Ride the Picadilly Line from King's Cross to Heathrow (roughly 1 hour, 10 minutes)
3. Switch tube trains when we realized our train wasn't going all the way to Heathrow.
4. I got stuck in the Underground ticket barrier while helping Amber through and those British machines really GRAB you--the two electric doors pinched me hard and I could not move!
5. While we were on the tube, Jeff realized that once again we had been using the wrong flight information for our plans. We used his email address when we booked the flights and he never forwarded me the email with the updated flight times. Our correct flight left an hour later than our old one--much better than on our outbound journey when it left an hour and a half earlier! 
6. Walk from the tube to the check-in at Heathrow
7. Airport security line: not too long
8. Walk 15 minutes to our gate.
9. Wait 4.5 hours at our gate in Heathrow (eat lunch, walk, read, kids play iPad, etc.)
10. During boarding, I was selected for additional security screening. I went behind a wall and they inspected my bag minutely, swiping various surfaces with a special cloth. The funny British security lady thought I was German based on my looks. That was a first!
11. 3:50pm London time: our 8 hour flight to Chicago departed.
12. Roughly 6pm Chicago time: rough scary turbulence and then land in Chicago O'Hare. Upon landing, we discovered that we had ONE HOUR till our connecting flight departed!
13. Customs/passport control: BIG LINES EVERYWHERE. Cue the stress, amplified by sleepless sluggish brains.
14. After customs/passport control (and working our way through 3 separate lines total) we had to ride a BUS from the international terminal to the domestic terminal. Everyone on our bus had a tight transfer like us and we were all anxious on the edges of our seats! During the bus ride, my backpack tipped off my lap and hit poor Amby in the head, giving her a cheek-bruise.
15. Once we exited the bus at the correct O'Hare terminal, we had to go BACK through security. Thankfully it was a very short line because we had used up most of our time in the passport control lines! 
16. Power walk to our gate, and right when we arrived at the gate, boarding was announced. We had no time to get food.
17. 8pm Central time: we sat on the runway for half an hour, probably waiting for the turbulent weather to clear and for the line of planes to thin. I was so concerned about turbulence based on our rough landing in Chicago because my stomach was empty and I'm always a little queasy when I'm hungry anyways--additional turbulence may have put me over the barfy edge. We didn't have time to get food while we were in Chicago though, so we had to tough it out hungry with just complimentary apple juice (not even any pretzels!) for our whole 4 hour flight.
18. 8:30pm Central time: takeoff on our flight from Chicago to Seattle. Flight time: 4 hours. Amber was asleep long before takeoff, sprawled across her center seat. Luckily we were sitting next to a very patient kind man who let Amber flop onto his arm rest off and on throughout the flight. 
19. 10:30pm Pacific time (which translates to 7am the next morning France time): land in Seattle--miraculously no turbulence! (I prayed desperately for no bumps on this flight because I was so hungry and tired I was worried I'd puke if there was turbulence)
20. 11:30pm: Patient, saintly Grampa Dan picked us up at the Seattle Airport, driving our own excellent spacious minivan. He drove us all the way home, 3 hours. At midnight we stopped at McDonald's in North Bend for some drive thru egg mcmuffins, or Maguffins as the kids have started calling them. 
21. 3am, Thursday Aug 15th: HOME SWEET SUNNYSIDE! I don't think my bed has ever felt so soft, cozy, and welcoming.
22. Bed-to-bed time gap: 30 hours. After we woke up in London on Wednesday morning, it was a killer 30 hours before we were able to go to bed again.

[end journal entries]

The kids were such troopers on this long journey and nobody threw up--successes all around! Amber was so desperately tired by the time we landed in Chicago that I carried her through the entire large airport, with my backpack on my back and my heavy sleepy-limp sack-o-taters Amby in front (Jeff's hurt ribs were not up to the task of carrying Amber). After carrying Amber for that long, my arms were so shaky and maxed out that I could barely hold my book up to read on our next plane! On our Chicago-to-Seattle plane, Amber fell asleep before takeoff while we were still on the runway. Jay and Rose slept a lot on the second flight too. Even I dozed for most of that last 4 hours. Rose was pleased that this was her longest day of her life, because when we arrived in Seattle it was still Wednesday after more than 24 hours.

The jet lag was much more reasonable to us on this end of the journey. Yes, all five of us were awake for the day by 3am for the first two or three days, but then our sleep deprivation and post-trip fatigue swamped us and made it easier and easier to sleep long hours. We got home 8 days ago and even though we are still tired, it has mostly subsided into manageable levels. The kids had so much fun being jet lagged at home! It was cute and unexpected. Every morning for the first few days at home, Jay and Rose would compare notes about when they had woken up and what they had done to pass the time until dawn.

 All loaded up and ready to drive to Paris! That car was so small! 

It was a beautiful morning for a drive through the peaceful scenic Loire Valley. 

It was weird to drive through Paris in a car--we followed the Seine to the car rental return and hello, Tour Eiffel! 

 Ho hum, just riding in the car past the Eiffel Tower.

 The Budget car rental place was underneath the Madeline--this big classical building. Weird! 

Playing on the floor at the Gare (train station).

Their beloved souvenirs: knights on horses. After a month of hundreds of pictures, it was nigh impossible to get this picture of them. 

My family, huddled on the train station floor, poised to snag the next available bench. 

Post-lunch-ordering triumph, with the Gare du Nord in the background. 

LUNCH! We snagged a bench with a secluded swath of floor and claimed it for our own.

I love train stations. 

 Riding the train with my Amber--London here we come!

The bucolic French countryside flashed past at a shocking speed.

 Hello, London St. Pancras Station.

 After dinner wiggles: this park had the most massive tree--it clearly survived the Blitz! The branches had to have been at least 30 feet long, stretching out over the park.

 Elegant lamp post outside of Regent's Park, London--taken during my run.

 Always happy to see signs like these.

 St. Pancras in the morning light.

 King's Cross is right next door.

 Lounging while we can, in the hotel room.

 This girl was a handful on the tube ride to Heathrow airport. She climbed all over the train and swung/danced on the poles. Thankfully it wasn't too crowded so we let her be a little wild in preparation for the next 24 hours of cramped plane and airport time.

 Dancing in the tube.

 Mind the gap--we had to explain to Jay and Rose what that beloved phrase meant.

 Because I'm a tourist.

 Rose felt quite elegant entering the Queen's Terminal at Heathrow.

All buckled in and ready to fly! Jay was behind us with Grama Leslie, Amber and Jeff were in front of us.

We chased the sun all the way home--it was just barely setting above the clouds as we took off in Chicago.

 We had the post office hold our mail for our 30 day absence, and this was ALL we had waiting for us. I guess we didn't really need to put a hold on the mail after all!

Chomping PBJ for lunch--going without peanut butter for a month was arguably one of the hardest parts about our trip!

We love France, but it is good to be home.