We made it! Thirty hours, three planes, two cars, one almost missed flight and lost luggage later we touched down in Puglia. But you know I won’t let you off that easily. I of course will make you relive our long journey!
But, before we start, I have made it through a few long haul flights with kids with no one getting arrested. So I am an expert and here are some tidbits I have learned. A big one is I always select our seats in advance and I make sure we are sitting two together and then two behind. This means that when Malcolm is kicking someone seats or putting the tray up and down a million times it’s a family member’s seat and not some cranky traveler who might not see his cuteness. I also bring ALOT of snacks. However many snacks I think I need, I double it and pack that. I pack a lot of edible treats, this time that included chocolate eggs with a spiderman inside, a ton of gummy bunnies (I use the gummies for when we’re taking off and landing- thanks mom for sending!) and the old standby for when things get really hairy- a candy necklace. I also pack a few new toy treats. This time it was a couple of these: Toob toys/ I was confused about these but Malcolm’s teachers told me he LOVED them and it’s true. Malcolm is still clutching his.
Oh and most important of all on these 30 hour trips- no rules apply. They can watch shows or play on their kindle the entire time if they want! They can eat a million gummy bunnies and sleep whenever and wherever they want. This trip is long for anyone and any way you can get through I count as a success. If your child wants to dip their french fries in chocolate you let them. After all you will never see these people traveling with you again so who cares if they’re judging your parenting.
Our trip started with us heading to the airport at 5 p.m.
New batman and spiderman headphones were a big hit and helped with the hour of traffic we faced in Manila just getting to the airport.
Our first flight was a short one to Hong Kong, 2 hours- piece of cake!
A short layover in Hong Kong and we boarded our 13 hour flight to Rome. A women I recently met said the main fear for taking these long flights is mental. I tend to agree with her. Once you’re on it’s never as bad as you feared. The boys were also great. They slept for half of it and watched movies for the rest.
We landed in Rome and dragged our bags and babies off the plane. Here is where things got dicey. Instead of the 6 hour drive to Puglia we decided last minute to book a 45 minute plane to Brindinsi and then drive for 45 minutes. But our plane landed at 7:30 in Rome.
We had to get through customs, get out luggage and recheck in. Easy peasy right? Well, we thought so, but I don’t think we realized how much harder it is to face these challenges after traveling for over 20 hours. We managed to lug our kids and all the accompanying crap off the plane and somehow convince a non-cooperative Italian airport customs officials to let us cut the customs line that was 100 people deep. All our luggage was off early and we headed out.
We ran out and struggled through elevators and escalators, made harder by two tired toddlers, three suitcases and a double stroller but managed to reach the departures floor only to be told we were in the wrong terminal. We literally ran to the next terminal and made it in time to check in, with a whole 15 minutes to spare.
This is where things started to unravel. The embassy travel agent had booked us tickets with no luggage…which we definitely had. After immediately agreeing to pay any and all fees to get our tickets, 15 minutes passed where they typed some stuff in and we waited. Finally Randy asked if we were going to make out flight and the lady very politely told us of course not. I think this is the point where Randy and I hit a wall. Adam and Malcolm were fighting over the above mentioned Toobs toys (yes mom, there were two) Adam wanted Malcolm’s toy, Malcolm wanted Adam’s toy- should have worked out but it didn’t and tears ensued.
Well, the tears worked people. The Italians must have taken pity on us. They booked us on our flight, escorted us through security and to our gate and we made our flight! We had four seats spread around the plane, none together but we didn’t care (note to self don’t let travel agent book your tickets and not pre-select your seats!)
We landed in Puglia refreshed and ready for our last step, which was a 45 minute drive to our house where showers and naps awaited us all. But our luggage had not been so quickly escorted through security and of course did not make our flight.
We hung around the airport for a while, eating pizza and getting our rental car and looking for our luggage and eventually gave up and headed to our house, which was amazing!
Oh and our luggage arrived later that day. My wonderful husband even drove 45 minutes each way to pick up!
While some may argue that the loooooooong trip is not worth it, I have to disagree. Yes, it’s a long trip but once I arrive I have never, not once ever regretted traveling. And I think that the more you travel with your kids, the better it gets. You get used to it, they get used to it and at the end of the day you’re in Italy!
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