Forget that - how about Journey halfway around the world with 2 kids and no husband! Yeah, you're right. It just doesn't have the same ring to it... But it's no less adventurous, I assure you. And for those out there who have done this before, all I have to say is how much I love video on demand. To a certain extent, international flights are much easier to bear than domestic ones. At least you're pretty much assured to have some sort of entertainment and food which work well as distractions. You're also guaranteed to have a pillow and blanket - which for us just means that we'll be sure to have plenty of stuff stacked up on the floor where I'd love to put my feet, but can't quite seem to manage.
Last Friday in the wee hours of the morning, we left Dhaka without Josh to head back stateside to attend my older sister's wedding. Anticipating significant jet lag after the experience we had flying to Dhaka, I planned to arrive a week before the wedding - hopefully we'll be able to avoid significant melt-downs. I think at this point (after 4 days of recovery) we're pretty close to normal. The flight itself was fairly manageable. The kids both behaved as well as can be expected in a close confined space for 20 hours. Our layover in Istanbul was extremely short - just long enough to walk from our arriving flight upstairs to the departure terminal and then walk quickly to our gate. Part of me really would have liked to stop in the food court and pick up some really yummy looking stuff, but I have a slightly longer layover on the way home, so maybe I'll take advantage of it then. We were in the middle row of 4 seats on both of our flights and happened to have particularly accomodating grandfatherly types occupying our spare seat on both flights - totally lucked out. In fact, the man who sat next to K on our first flight was also on our second flight. During his first bathroom break on the second flight, he saw K, reached for her, and took her back to his seat to play for a while. I suppose in another culture, I'd be concerned about this, but Bangladeshis really seem to love kids. B made a fast friend on the second flight convincing his seat-mate to play some of the on-board video games with him. Really, I couldn't have asked for more. It was perhaps even better than having the seat empty. Perhaps.
K is recently potty trained, so I was convinced we would have issues on the plane, but I'm pleased to say that things went fairly smoothly. Of course, they never had to pee at the same time, so I probably had to get up about 6 times per flight, but I have to say I was pretty pleased nonetheless that they both did so well. I got to watch plenty of movies - the second Sherlock Holmes movie, Moneyball, Eragon, and one other that clearly didn't make a huge impact plus about 6 episodes of Big Bang Theory. Very pleasant ride. The food was fairly decent as well. It might not have been quite as tasty as the food on Qatar Airways, but they definitely made every effort to produce healthy meals - grilled vegetables, fresh salads, fish... I was very pleased by the food presented and look forward to the return trip. The only real downside was that the provided headphones didn't really fit into the headphone jack on the armrest - it was shaped strangely and just wouldn't sit securely. Time number 12 million that I'm pleased that we bought airplane headphone adapters for $1 a piece off the internet. I was able to just use my adapters with the kids own mini headphones and everyone was happy. But really, what's up with an airline that provides headphones that don't even work??? That was kind of weird. I might bring some tape on the return trip just to hold the jack into the outlet.
We arrived apparently just after a string of tornadoes happened through the area, so there was no circling the airport endlessly waiting for our turn to land - we just made a straight approach and were done. Immigration was a bit strange. I haven't waited more than 5 minutes to get through immigration in any of our recent travels (which admittedly are not that extensive), but it was slightly frustrating to listen to the recorded announcement welcome me back to the states while I watched about one hundred US passengers all wait to see the two border patrol agents that were open in our line. At 5:30 on a Friday night. Naturally, there were other agents there - but they were having loud discussions about how they were all going on break. Thanks, guys. Could you maybe take that discussion elsewhere since I've been up for the past 27 hours with 2 kids and I bet you haven't?? I know, I know. I get cranky without sleep.
Our bags arrived with no issues, and we went out to meet my parents with no further ado. The kids were of course thrilled to see Grandma and Grandpa and after some minor discussion in the car promptly fell asleep.
We celebrated B's birthday the following day with all family minus one in attendance - beautiful weather for lunch on the deck! In fact, we've had great weather - if cold - since we arrived. I say cold, but really it's been in the 70s. I just feel cold. In fact, I've taken to wearing a sweater when I go outside, and then I just feel silly. Warm, but silly.
I've managed to do some shopping and knock a few items off of my page-long list of "things to bring back", but there's still plenty more to find at this point. I've only tried to drive on the wrong side of the road a few times, and I've done my best to actually pay attention to road signs, red lights, and lane dividers. It's so hard, though! Oh, Dhaka, you've totally ruined me!
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