July 4, Tuesday
As grateful as I was to go on this trip, I'm so exhausted and
I haven't been getting enough sleep and I'm so grateful to be going home today.
It's kind of weird to travel home on the Fourth of July. They even had US flags
displayed at the airport at the American Airlines counters, and there was one
as we walked into the line for the bag drop and it was upside down so that was
weird. Anyway, we did pretty well this morning. I got up at 6:45 AM. Our goal
was to have everything down in the lobby by 10:15 AM because our taxis
were coming at 10:30 AM. I was dressed and ready for the day and almost
completely packed by 9 AM so that was good. The kids met us in the hallway
outside our room and we had a quick prayer and went to breakfast. The bakery
had more stuff today and a lot more people. Bakery counters aren't set up
to make an order for six people, but I don't know how else we would've done it.
We finished our breakfast and went up to our rooms and finished packing.
Michael was very concerned about the weight of our luggage and made sure to
weigh all the checked bags. The only one that was overweight was his and he
distributed some to mine and that worked out fine. All of our suitcases were in
the lobby and ready to go by about 10:20 AM. I checked out and had to pay for
the pathetic breakfast we had the other day. The hotel, the EXE Paris Centre,
was fine and the people were nice and it was super convenient to have them
store our luggage on our way to Normandy and go there on the way back from
Normandy because the train station was just steps away from the hotel. However,
it was so tiny and there was no place to put anything. There was no closet,
just a little rack to hang your clothes and it had a safe hidden underneath it
and a cabinet. It did have a desk but there was no shelf space in the
bathroom. At least, we got hot showers. The other thing I didn't like about
that hotel is that because it was so close to the train station, you could hear
the trains arriving and departing, almost constantly. So even though it was
convenient to be close, it also made it so we could hear all the train noise.
Oh well. The first taxi driver was right on time at 10:30 AM. I really think we
probably could've got all the luggage into the bigger van that came a few
minutes later, but it was too late to figure that out. The first guy had put
all seven of our carry-ons in his trunk before the van even arrived. It
would've saved us money but we just had to go. We were at the airport in half
an hour. That was lucky because the passport line at the airport was
ridiculous. We were able to get our luggage tagged and get checked in fairly
quickly and drop off our bags. Security was also pretty quick. Our boarding
passes said precheck but that didn't help us because there was no pre-check
line. Once again, all the boys got pre-check but Emily didn't. We've
decided that it must be because they are minors and that Emily should apply for
TSA pre-check. We headed to our gate which was B-12. There was a man stopping
people from walking to the gate and saying to get in the line on the left. We
didn't understand what he was saying and we thought maybe he meant that the
line on the left was actually people getting onto a flight and so we were
totally confused. But then he said in order to go to the B gates you had to get
to the line on the left. We looked over at it and thought that was odd and
walked over to get in the line, but the line kept going and going and going. It
was ridiculously long and we were so confused. Why would you have to stand in
line to go to your gate? Well, it turns out that passport control is right
before you enter the B gates where we needed to go and we had to stand in that
crazy long line. The line did keep moving, but we were in it for an hour. The
line was so long that it went past all the shops and restaurants and then
finally came to a Disneyland-type line where you weave through and it just took
forever. They had people who were going to miss their flight so they would hold
up the sign for certain flight numbers and let those people cut the line and go
ahead as it got closer to the flights. I was frustrated because we wanted to
use the restrooms and get some food for lunch. I'm pretty sure it was
12:05 PM when we got in the line and 1:05 PM when we finally got through it.
They just checked our passports and stamped them and let us go through. Some
weird lady behind us cut at the last second and it was very bizarre. As we were
standing at the window to have our passports checked she started coming up with
us like she was part of our family. It was just weird. Then of course there was
a line for the bathroom. We went past a Pret a Manger so we were able to get
some food there to take to the plane. We barely had any time to eat it. By the
time we got to our gate, it was almost time to start the boarding process
because they put us on a bus and drove us over to the jetway. After getting the
food, we had to take stairs down to the gate. They changed the gate from B-12
to B-11. Then they put us on the buses. Then when we got off, we had to carry
our suitcases up more stairs and go on the jetway. We were pretty relieved to
get on the plane. It was a long morning and we still had a lot of traveling to
do. This was the flight where we couldn't get seats across the aisle from each
other so Andrew, Daniel, and Michael sat in one row in the middle section and
Emily, Jonny, and I sat behind. It was a pretty nice flight. I wish I had known
that they were going to feed us a full lunch, a snack for dinner, and even ice
cream on the flight. However, they didn't start serving until about 4 PM so I
guess I'm glad we all got something to eat. I'm really proud of Jonny for the way
he's been eating the food that they've been serving us. I think he's finally
learning to eat what he's given and not be so picky. When we landed in
Philadelphia, we were right on time and we went to the customs line. I wish I
had time to put our information into the Mobile Passport Control app and it
would've been quicker but the line wasn't bad at all. We used the machines and
took the printouts to the customs agent and headed to pick up our baggage. Our
luggage came out pretty quickly. For some reason, we had to go all the way back
through security again. When we came out, we were at terminal C and there were
no signs. We weren't sure where to go and Michael talked to a guy who said that
terminal A was for international travel. Another person said that terminal C
security was only for TSA precheck so we had to exit the building and walk down
to terminal B. It was so weird that we had to totally redo that process. The
line for security at terminal D was better, thankfully. By the time we got to
our gate it was almost time to board so we went to a little snack shop and
paid a fortune for overpriced food. On the plane, it was me, Jonny, and Michael
on the left and Andrew, Daniel, and Emily on the right. The only bummer was
that we sat on the tarmac for quite a while because it had been raining and we
had to wait for somebody to push the plane. So, we were delayed by about an
hour. The flight was pretty uneventful so that was good. Michael says the plane
passed over Kansas City and they were able to see fireworks from the plane. He
said it was as if the whole city was lighting fireworks at once.
We landed about an hour late but it didn't take too long at
the airport. I volunteered to take my carry-on and go to the car and drive it
to the terminal to pick them up. They were ready to go long before I got there.
It was quite a crowd going to East Economy so I'm glad we did it that way. It
was difficult to get all the suitcases in but Michael and the boys got it
figured out pretty quickly and we went on our way home. Emily mentioned that
we've basically been up for 24 hours. Even though there was rain tonight in
Philadelphia, that's the only time we ever had to deal with the rain so I was
thinking what a blessing that was because none of our excursions or sightseeing
plans ever got ruined by the rain. That's a beautiful tender mercy for us.
There have been so many on this trip. So many things that I worried about
turned out to be just fine. Just today, I worried that we would miss our
connection in Philadelphia and that all worked out fine, even with having to go
through security again. I worried that something would be wrong with the house
when we got there but everything was fine. I'm just so relieved that there were
no major problems.
It was the trip of a lifetime and we are so grateful we got
to go!
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