Welsand's in London

We are in Minnesota!

After a slightly less than horrific departure from London, we arrived in Minnesota four hours late and much more jet lagged than expected. The trip started with us getting to the airport quite late due to our car service giving us incorrect information on how long it takes to get to the Gatwick airport from our flat. We arrived just 45 minutes before our international flight was to leave, but thankfully all the computer systems for Northwest had completely crashed and a lot of people were still waiting for to check-in (the manual system does take quite a while!) so that gave us a few minutes to breathe and be thankful we didn't miss our flight. Then we get through security where I forget my belt and a security guard tracks me down five minutes later to give it to me. Next, I go to change Sophie's diaper and the fire alarm goes off. I thought it was a drill or a mistake. I walk out the door of the bathroom to be in the path of all traveler's evacuating! I couldn't believe it! After I found Jeremy and we were walking to the evacuation area, Jeremy realizes that he left our boarding passes and passports on top of the security machine. So we find a security guard to go look for our slightly important documents and thankfully (for us, especially Jeremy!) the gentleman found them! Whew! Then we evacuated properly and then stood in line for security again. Once through, a second time, we got to wait on the plane until about 30 more passengers arrived slowly....

Ahh, then just 9 hours in the air with a child who was great, but didn't nap until the last 45 minutes of the flight. Nice! Of course we missed our connecting flight to Duluth because our London flight was two hours late. We had to wait four hours for the next one. Sophie did go back to sleep for another three hours, while we enjoyed some drinks, appetizers, and shopping at the airport. The flight to Duluth was only 30 minutes, which felt like nothing. Then we were greeted by both our families! It was so nice to be back home and see family after 10 months of international living.

I cannot believe how busy we have been so far and how bad the jet lag has been for us and Sophie, though it is getting better each day. I just hope Sophie doesn't continue the 5 a.m. wake-up as she has the last three days. I won't even attempt to list all the things we have gotten done/had to do since being home, but the most important addition to our family arrived earlier than expected. Baby Mitchell, Jeremy's sister's first baby has arrived safely though via emergency c-section, both are doing great!

Checking e-mail has been more difficult for me than I imagined, my European yahoo e-mail account is not being kind, so please understand if I have not responded promptly. It is best just to call us if you need to. Hopefully see you soon! Cheers--Chris

posted by Chris @ 12:21 AM