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After two months in Europe, we’re lastly residence! 💕 (Effectively, residence till Sunday, after which we’re off as soon as once more!)
Heath and I’ve been touring collectively for ten years and we’ve skilled all of the ups and downs that include it—operating via airports, getting misplaced in prepare stations, boarding a bus and realizing we hadn’t purchased tickets, trying a decent flip and pinning our RV and tow dolly towards one another…
It’s all made us an awesome touring workforce.
However getting stateside from Europe was a saga.
It began the day earlier than we left the US after I realized that the children and I had been booked to return to the states on June 18th…
And Heath was booked on the seventeenth.
I child you not, we talked to TEN totally different brokers at Delta over the course of two weeks earlier than somebody might get us all on the identical flight residence. It was insane and demanding and price $1,000.
As soon as we lastly received that flight sorted, we checked out our calendar.
Fly from Italy to Texas on the 18th, drive again to Colorado after just a few days visiting household, Heath flies to a enterprise convention on the twenty second, and we depart for Mexico on July third…
On paper, all of our journey plans labored, but it surely didn’t give us a lot time at residence to reset earlier than our subsequent worldwide journey.
So we rescheduled our flights to June ninth, which magically saved us $600 of the $1,000 we simply spent and gave us again 50,000 miles. Sensible!
(For the file, we had truly tried to do that earlier when rebooking Heath’s flight, however the Delta agent that day stated “there are NO days in June that may match all four of you on the identical flight.” 🤷🏻♀️)
Flying is loopy proper now.
You’ve in all probability heard that on the information or seen it from buddies’ posts on-line or possibly even skilled the loopy your self.
We skilled a lot loopy as we simply tried to guide and reschedule flights. It made us that rather more prepared to simply get residence.
On the morning of June ninth, we awoke with every little thing packed. All we would have liked to do was fold up Eli’s journey crib and carry his automotive seat out to our rental automotive.
Dwelling was two flights away.
I noticed Heath’s cellphone gentle up on the nightstand as I walked towards the lavatory one final time to test one final time if we had been leaving something behind.
“Delta: Your flight has been canceled. See app for extra particulars.”
I finished in my tracks and groaned.
I had simply sufficient diapers and child meals left for someday. We had been able to be again in our own residence after hopping round Airbnbs and accommodations throughout Italy. We had been so shut.
In a flurry, Heath and Ellie headed for the airport since we nonetheless had a deadline for returning our rental automotive whereas I stayed again within the lodge with Eli. We booked one other night time to offer us a spot to remain whereas we found out after we might get a flight residence.
After an hour of limbo ready for America to get up so we might speak to customer support, we received the notification that we had been mechanically rebooked for the next day…
ON DIFFERENT FLIGHTS.
And as soon as once more, nobody at Delta might get us on the identical flight.
Heath and I had been sitting on the ground of the hallway exterior our lodge room with my purse propping the door open. The youngsters napped within the room whereas we balanced laptops on our knees making journey plans. Our suitcases had been piled up subsequent to the door ready to go someplace.
A number of lodge staff got here by asking if we would have liked a baggage cart or assist to get someplace.
Sure, we might use assist getting someplace.
Type of appears unattainable in the intervening time.
It was readily obvious that there was no solution to get us residence any time quickly. In between replies from Delta, Heath and I began interested by our choices.
We might muddle via extra frustration in rebooking return flights, or we might change our strategy.
“You understand what?” I texted Delta—which is the one perk of coping with flight bother in 2022. You possibly can simply textual content brokers. “Simply cancel all four tickets.”
We had been already in Europe. We had already endured a lot flight drama. We would have liked a brand new strategy. A clear slate.
We determined our new journey rule was that if our flight will get canceled leaving us semi-stranded in another country, we prolong our journey and do one thing enjoyable to make up for it.
I shortly discovered low-cost last-minute flights to London and used lodge factors to seize a free three-night keep close to Huge Bend on the River Thames.
Heath was thrilled when he came upon you may prepare to Paris from London AND fly instantly from Paris to Dallas, so he booked us prepare tickets to France.
And with our new last-minute journey plans, he discovered a room for 2 nights at Disneyland Paris on Expedia.
Fish and chips. Curry. Hyde Park. Eiffel Tower. Ache au chocolat. Disney. Macarons.
Heath and I clearly journey with meals within the forefront of our minds 😂
For the following week, we went full vacationer mode exploring London and Paris earlier than spending three days at Disney.
(Three days as a result of within the Uber midway to the Paris airport we received the alert that our flight was delayed 12 hours, so why not return to Disney Village and probe for yet another day? The flight drama by no means ends.)
That final, spontaneous week was the spotlight of our journey.
When our flight out of Italy received canceled, we had been at max capability with stress.
We’d already been via the wringer with journey drama that week—like how the rental automotive firm gave away our automotive and had zero vehicles left leaving us stranded in a small city with no cabs and a thirty-minute stroll to the closest transit station. (A 30-minute stroll with a three-year-old, a child, a automotive seat, and all our baggage, thoughts you.)
Journey was kicking our butts large time.
Sitting within the hallway of our lodge in Florence, we knew that even when we magically received on the identical flight residence, we might be leaving on this sour observe of every little thing going mistaken.
That additional week value us more cash. It was unexpectedly thrown collectively and a bit demanding with us reserving lodge nights the identical day we would have liked them and reserving flights residence 48 hours earlier than boarding.
However we ended on a excessive observe after a very enjoyable week.
It feels so good to be residence!
No less than till Sunday, after we head off to the Pacific coast of Mexico.
Our son could have visited 4 international locations earlier than he’s even a yr previous. Heath says if we stick with it, we are able to get him as much as 100 international locations earlier than he graduates highschool 😂
Who is aware of, possibly our flights residence from Mexico will probably be canceled too and subsequent you hear from me we’ll be exploring Central America, making lemonade out of lemons 🍋
