30 Hours

Okay, so I'm sure no one even knows this (who is reading my blog, of course) but Ava and I are in Pennsylvania! Curt was set to deploy for the last few weeks of the squadron's tour and because of how close his return date is to our planned vacation we decided that it would be best of Ava and I were with the ones we love. I'm so bummed that I had absolutely NO time to say "goodbye" to my friends but I chose to look at it this way; my military family is so fabulous because we all know that we will see each other again. Whether it be in a few weeks, a few months, or a few years. We live in a surprisingly small community and thanks to the wonderful world of blogspot and facebook, I'm only a click away!

I wanted to give you the highlights of my last 30 hours in England and my trip over the Atlantic. It was quite eventful!

1. Curt and I bought plane tix for Ava and I at 1030 p.m. on Monday night and I departed Heathrow at 1 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon. I had essentially one day to go through 4 years of stuff and decide what I would need for next 8 months where I will be living with my parents. Yes. IT WAS HARD.

2. Curt and I spend all our time packing and planning Tuesday. He is loving on Ava a ton which was super cute and made me break up into tears more times than I would like to remember. Separation is so much more difficult now that Ava is in the picture.

3. Curt drops Ava and I off at Heathrow and we had the most difficult time checking into US Airways with our e-tickets and small assortment of luggage (more on this later). Oh, the language barrier between us and the woman at the ticket counter is one I will never forget.

4. As I walk through security I hear a loud scuffle, a wave of gasps and small shrieks from about 20 yards away, all followed by a man yelling and screaming at the top of his lungs as police come out from every direction to tackle him to the ground. Yes-scary. All airport employees started to move people quickly away from the scene which only added to the hysteria that was already in place. I didn't have a good view but apparently someone tried taking some prohibited items through security. It's unfortunate that in this day and age something like that is so frightening. What did he have? A knife? Explosives? Do I run in the other direction? Geez. I'm already a nervous flier. Thanks to that jerk my anxiety was off the charts from this moment on. He was arrested and carried off by his arms and legs all while screaming (in another language...).

5. Carrying around a car seat with what I can only imagine is now a 35+ pound daughter (exaggerating, of course), a diaper bag filled with as much stuff I could shove in there, and a purse is HARD WORK. Oh my gosh, can a girl get a travel cart??? I was exhausted by the time I sat down on the plane two hours later. Yes-we checked in super early as we always do.

6. I did some airport shopping and bought a ridiculously cute dress at French Connection. Ava screamed the entire time I tried it on and as soon as I left she fell asleep. Naturally.

7. I take my "assigned" Mother/Infant seat on the plane only to look around and see that I am surrounded by other families with children under the age of 1 and a few disgruntled travelers who can't believe their "good" luck as they too are sitting near all these tiny tots for their 8 hour non-stop flight to Philadelphia. I will let you know that all babies on board (including Ava) were fabulous travelers. Phew!

8. About half way into the flight a grumpy flight attendant tells me that I have to MOVE because there are 5 people (3 adults and 2 babies) sitting in a row of 3 seats and we only have 4 oxygen masks, which hopefully we don't need, but you never know. Here's the kicker, she didn't even OFFER to get me a new seat. She basically said, "go find an open seat, there are a few in the back". ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!???!!!??? I had to abandon all of my travel bags in the overhead bin because the flight was 99% full and there was NO ROOM for my stuff anywhere else. I felt like Forrest Gump as I walked through the aisle with my 6 month old daughter saying to people, "Is someone sitting here?" only to get the response, "Yes...yes...yes...". Eventually a young boy sitting alone was kind enough to let us join him in already close quarters for the last 5 hours of our flight. Bless his heart.

9. I am now one of those people that has to wait for the entire flight to leave the plane before I can start to gather all my things and head to customs.

10. Best part of my trip. NONE OF MY STUFF HAS MADE IT TO PHILADELPHIA. US Airways, you SUCK! I got nothin'. Best part? They have no idea where the heck it is as it was NEVER SCANNED in Heathrow. Remember that language barrier I mentioned earlier? It's now all I can think about and the possibility that my stuff is now on it's way to say, I dunno, Bangladesh or something. I'm exhausted and crying. Horrible.

11. Fast forward 2.5 days. STILL NO STUFF.

12. I love you Edgar. He was the only person to give me a response not ending in "I'm sorry ma'am, you will have to wait" or "We still have nothing for you"....blah blah blah. He went looking for my stuff and low and behold, it was finally on a flight over here.

13. Last night, 1:30 am the phone rings and a delivery service has my things and are sitting in the driveway. YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

14. Oh wait. They only have 3 out of my 4 bags. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously US Airways, you will NEVER, and I repeat NEVER get my business ever again. It was, without a doubt, the worst customer service I have ever encountered in my whole life. I have never been so frustrated. Ugh. I get so angry just thinking about it. Their reputation is horrible and now I see why. I am filing a formal complaint when all is said and done. At one point they actually said to me, "Well, they will send your stuff over when they FIND it and when there is ROOM on the fight. BUT I'M ALREADY HERE!!! SEND ME MY STUFF!!!!!!!!!!!!

15. It's now 6 a.m. Saturday morning and I have been up since Ava woke me for some 5:30 grub. I have already called looking for my stuff only to get the standard response, "we will call you back". UGHHHHHHHHH.

So-there you have it. That was my last few days of craziness and although there were some great things that have happened, I will have to save them for another post when I'm not so pessimistic. I've had a whirlwind of emotions running through my head ever since I "moved" back to the U.S. and those too will have to wait.

I'm off to unpack!