Flying to America!

Well, this was our last round of round-trip tickets from Europe, which seems a bit crazy. On Oct 4, we all got up pretty early and headed to the airport courtesy of our good friend Kai who came early to our home to drive us to the airport. We made it there in good time and didn't have to wait in line at all to check our bags. We actually ended up on separate flights with separate airlines so that way Carsten and I could have non-stop each way because our original itinerary was getting ridiculously long. This meant that Andy would leave at 10:30 am from Zurich and stop in Paris on the way to JFK, while Carsten and I left at 1 pm and got to JFK a few minutes before Andy did (yay us!). Since it took no time at all to check our bags at each counter, we all went to the observation deck to play. I had a ton of fun relaxing and taking photos while Andy played with Carsten to give me a break before our long 9 hr flight. Here's photos from the observation deck:

Watching airplanes take off!

Look over there!

This just makes me laugh :).

Carsten did join in on the swing.

Love this :).

Really, really love this.

Love those boys :).

Carsten was the pilot.

Andy was his passenger.

Carsten and I were in the very back row of the plane in the middle (about the worst seats ever), but a plus is that the lavatories were in the middle of the plane, so we could walk in the galley without too many people around. Since it was naptime when we got on the plane and we had spent the morning at the observation deck wearing Carsten out, Carsten fell asleep pretty quickly and slept for an hour. We then spent the rest of the flight watching "Cars"and I spent a good amount of time trying to make sure he didn't kick the seat in front of him. The wonderful thing is that he was in a carseat since we had bought a seat for him (people kept trying to make me check it, but I made sure I hung on to it!). The flight was fine, but I can honestly say I will avoid the movie "Cars" for quite some time :).

Once again, when we landed, it took ages to get through immigration (why does the line always have to take 1+ hrs?). Carsten was tired, and we were both hot since I had him in our Ergo carrier on my back so I could handle a carryon and the car seat. So not fun. Our bags arrived and the only frustrating part was that I had trouble connecting with Andy as to his whereabouts and for the life of me, I couldn't find the Hertz desk which was our meeting point if I couldn't communicate with him. There simply weren't signs. I had to ask someone eventually, who pointed me in the right direction. Uggh. We finally found Andy who had already gotten the rental car because his immigration line was short (lucky!). Then we headed out to our hotel which wasn't too far away. Carsten fell asleep in the car, but pretty much stayed sleeping while we unloaded the car and transferred him to his crib in the hotel. Andy and I ordered some terrible take out (seriously, never order onion rings for delivery), and then proceeded to go to bed 'early'.

All in all, things went pretty smoothly, but man, it's always a long trip :).