The first legs

Sunday 1:00 pm
Wow, you don’t see that everyday. A guy in a sport coat, shorts and crocs! If I had a camera phone I would be so dangerous. I’m sitting in the Chicago airport watching people. I just got done changing my pants! I’m too cheap to pay for internet so I’ll just post this when I can. Not sure how long it will take me to get used to seeing guys in Capri pants.

It’s always interesting, flying out of a mid-sized city like Wichita. Most often I find myself in a so-called regional jet, otherwise known as a sardine can. It’s a good thing I was already intimately acquainted with the guy sitting next to me! We were really crammed in. Leave it to me to spill cran-apple juice on my tray. The tray flooded and the juice ran down into my crotch. Great. Just wonderful. I’m not sure when I’ll get to do any washing, but I’m down one pair of pants. After that the flight got bumpy. Then it got bumpier and weirdly quiet. I could hear the seats squeaking as we were jostled around. Glad that flight is over.

We both realized, as we were taking off, that this is the first time that we have ever flown on the same plane together! It’s not like we have never traveled, but just not on the same plane at the same time. This is also the first time in 19 years that we have been alone together for more than a few days. We never even had a honeymoon! I’m going to consider this a honeymoon of sorts as we are going to an exotic, albeit not tropical, location together for a couple of weeks. We are getting along well at the moment!

One thing for you adopting parents, the ticket agents in Wichita had no idea about declaring money. Really, they were clueless. We would have been wise to fill out this form before heading to the airport. Shockingly, I was not selected for additional security screening. Good thing. I didn’t need any more drama today.

Leaving the house was way more traumatic than I had anticipated. There was an odd mixture of tears and indifference. Rose was melting down because her church shoes were hurting her feet and she couldn’t find any tights to wear. Jordan was just weeping and clinging to me. Ruby was happy because grandma was there! Thomas was bent out of shape because I told Rose she could wear his flip-flops.
　
　
12:56 AM - (7:56 AM local time)
We just landed in Dusseldorf after a tortuous 8 hours in a packed airbus. Of course, I was stuck in the middle of the middle row for my first flight over the Atlantic. Oh, how I longed to gaze out the window!!! As hot and crowded and uncomfortable as the plane was, I will say that they kept the wine flowing for the first four hours! I had a couple of glasses with dinner hoping that it would help me relax and go to sleep. Nope. As hard as I tried, I could only pretend to sleep.
Man is it hot in this airport. There is not a whiff of cool air to be found. I nearly passed out in the bathroom.

We have two and a half hours before we board our final flight for today into Kyiv. We have the option of leaving the secure area to window shop, but I hate to have to go through security again. We did have to go through security again here after we got off the plane and headed for our next gate. I was expecting to be carefully scrutinized and even groped but no. We sailed right through!