We have the alarm set for 5:30 AM. None of us slept well as our steward didn’t
put Paige’s bed down last night so we all slept in the same bed. They had only been in bed a couple hours too
which didn’t help. I went outside but
couldn’t really see anything but there were lots of blue lights around the
port.
We dress and head to the room we are to meet in. They had coffee and pastries there but none
of us were quite interest yet. We will
eat when we get settled at the airport.
We were only there a couple minutes when they started moving us down to
the gangway and off the ship. It looks
like it is raining but the kids say they have hoses below us so I don’t think
anything of it until we are almost in the building when the sky opens…it
definitely was raining! If it had to
happen, I guess today is the best day but we had all packed our raingear and
had nothing. We find our luggage and
head out to the buses. I told the guy
directing us that the tickets for the shuttle were in the front pocket of my
luggage which was not on the bus and he ways just to go and get on. By this time we are all dripping wet. The girl checking tickets inside the bus didn’t
like us not having tickets even though she had the list of names and cabin
numbers…duh. Two more times she would
come through counting and asking us for the tickets. We finally leave the terminal and they
explain there will be two stops and Delta would be at the first stop. What they didn’t say was that instead of
dropping everyone in the middle of the terminal, they drop us at the end. Delta is at the other end…so off we go
dragging the luggage. The Delta counter
wasn’t even open yet but the employees were there and getting set up. We wait in line and the kids are tired and
irritable…me too. After we get it all
checked in and counted we have to go through Customs/Immigration and then
security.
Interesting that all the shopping and restaurants are on
the bottom level of this building. We
take the escalator down and find a place selling sandwiches, pastries and
coffee/drinks. We get a bunch of
different things and it was all quite good.
Feeling more human now we head to the gate where we still have an hour
before we board. The flight was full
with several toddlers seated around us….hmmm.
Maybe the emotional comfort dog was better than the toddlers. The answer is yes. You have to feel sorry for the kids as this
is a horrible flight for adults. Over
nine hours in a tube is a long time. We
had some short periods of turbulence which had Lindsay holding my hand scared
to death. She said it scared her because
we were in the middle of the ocean…I get it.
Again, you nod off for short periods but you just can’t rest. We watch movies, they feed you and give you
snacks to try to pass the time.
When we land in Atlanta we are sent to E concourse. I have not come in here since the new
International Terminal was built (F concourse).
Well, I hope I don’t again since they now make you walk all the way to
concourse F which if making a guess is about a mile walk down endless hallways
to get to the Customs/Immigration area.
When we get there, the room was packed with people and we were hustled
to a corner and put in lines waiting to get into the lines in the big room. Yikes.
Luckily, we moved through all of that in less than an hour, got our
luggage and went to wait for the shuttle.
We stopped on the way home and got dinner and the
Kendrick’s headed home to unpack. For
the first time ever…I didn’t unpack but the kids were going back to school
tomorrow so they needed their things and wanted the souvenirs they had
purchased. It was good to be home but
hard to believe it was over. I will post
some final thoughts and photos (or hope to) tomorrow to summarize the best family vacation we have
ever had..
