Flying from Seattle – Dublin

Well, we did it. We flew 5,470 miles from Seattle to Dublin (with a stop over in Boston) with our 8 gigantic suitcases, 7 carry-ons, two car seats, a double stroller, and of course 2 children. My parents saw us off at the airport and after teary goodbyes, we were on our way. The boys did incredibly well on the flights, thanks to a good amount of sleeping (for Rafi) and a good amount of iPad watching (for Isaac)…thanks, Grandpa, for downloading How to Train a Dragon…he must have watched it about 6 times! We took Jetblue to Boston and then transferred to Aer Lingus, the Irish airline. We got our first taste of Irish accents and friendliness. The flights are pretty much a blur, but once we landed, we headed to customs and immediately got to skip the long line (because we had children I think?) and met the friendliest and least intimidating customs officer ever. Once she stamped our passports, we gathered our many bags and went off in search of the driver who would be meeting us to take us to our temporary housing.

Anthony, our driver, was not happy to see us. Well, he didn’t mind seeing us, but he was unhappy to see how much luggage we had. We had told Jeff’s work relocation contact that we would have many bags, as well as two car seats, and so they should send a large enough car (van), but apparently the van taxi Anthony had was still not big enough. He decided he would take Jeff with half of our bags and drop them off, while I waited with the boys in the airport. There was a nice cafe right in the arrival area, so we found a table and got some breakfast while we waited. An hour later, Jeff and Anthony arrived to pick us up, so we loaded the rest of the bags and ourselves and headed for our temporary apartment. Once we got there, we had planned to immediately crash and then wake up and shower, but when we walked into the place, it was clear it had not been cleaned since the last tenants. We called and found out the cleaners would be there in 20 minutes, so we struggled to keep our eyes open and wait until they arrived. Post-cleaning, we napped, showered, and then headed out to get a bite to eat. We found a Thai restaurant called Thai Orchid and decided to go there. I think it was dinner, but who the heck knows what time zone we were in. In any case, the boys slept through the meal and Jeff and I felt like zombies. Once we ate, we headed back home and all crashed. Isaac slept for 14 hours and Rafi for 15! For those of you who know my children, you will know this is a small miracle. They are not from the sleepers. Perhaps we should fly across the world every day?!