Yes, we have left Edinburgh and we're now in Lisbon, Portugal. It's a little sad to have left Edinburgh, but we're all looking forward to being back in FL soon. Only six more days. Wow!
I'd like to say that the trip here was uneventful and that we're well on our way to transitionally smoothly back to the states, but that would be a lie. First, we had to start by waking up at 4:30 in the morning. This was a bit difficult since we don't have cell phones (or mobiles) and there are no clocks in the flat. But, we were able to use my new running watch and Cole's iPad and were able to get up easily enough. We showered, woke up the girls, got some food, and deflated Claire's air mattress to bring with us just in case. Cole shuttled suitcases outside and did a quick check of the upstairs while I made sure the girls were all still with us.
The cab was supposed to be there at 5:30. By 5:35, there was still no cab. So, Cole ran back inside to call them, and they had no record of a cab coming to Davie St. Argh! A cab shortly arrived and we all commented on how we might not be able to put all of our bags and kids in the same car! But, we managed. We got to the airport with plenty of time for check in. When they asked how many bags we had, I said, "Seven." But, we only counted 5. Oh my goodness!!! We realized that we had left 2 bags at the flat! I had put them in the closet to keep them out of the way, but forgot to move them out while Cole was taking bags outside. And, since they were in the room that Claire was sleeping in, we didn't get much of a chance to check that room! The bags we left were 1: my clothes, Claire's clothes, a toddler air mattress, air pump, and everyone's swim suits and 2: miscellaneous gifts for people, a little Scottish money, some stray clothes, and other assorted items.
What a wonderful way to start our trip! We figured that we could always buy some more clothes for me. Claire could wear her sisters clothes if necessary. We were fortunate enough to pack the extra air mattress just in case we needed it. And, we needed it now! The other items are a big disappointment. We hope we'll be able to get them back, but if not, it's not the end of the world.
We had to take 3 planes to Lisbon. The first one was about 1.5 hours. It went smoothly. The girls had fun playing together and were fascinated by being in the air. Then, we got to Brussels, and we had to check in again. This time, we did it at the gate. Fortunately, there was someone there. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to have any record of our tickets! Cole stood there for what seemed like 30 minutes. At the end, Claire was screaming and almost fell asleep. Then, it was time to board the next plane! Now Claire was back awake, it was lunch time, and we had no real food for the girls. There was food on the plane, but it was expensive! So, we all ate some granola bars and cookies. This seemed to be fine. We were also fortunate in that Claire fell asleep on the plane without having to scream first! She slept most of the 2.5 hour trip, and I think I dozed off a little as well. We landed in Madrid, happy that there was only one short flight left. There was one part of this flight that made us all laugh. We hit a bit of turbulence when landing. A few people gasped in surprise. Katie whooped in sheer joy! Cole was sitting next to her and he said that she was so excited because she felt like she was on a roller coaster and she wanted to do it again! The people around that heard what was going on couldn't help but laugh.
Once again, there was a problem. We had our five tickets. However, 3 were together, and the other 2 were in different locations on the plane. Cole waited at the check in line for a long time only to have someone finally show up and a man pushed right in front of him and started asking questions. Ah, Spain. When he was able to talk with the lady, she said to ask the flight attendants to help us out since the flight was full. Fortunately, the flight attendant was able to talk to people and work it out so that all 5 of us were sitting together. Dani got to sit with Cole and I sat with Claire and Katie. We tried to put Claire and Dani together, but realized that wasn't a good option!
We arrived in Lisbon, Portugal after about 13 hours of travel. We got our bags and got a taxi to our hotel. The first room we got had only one large bed. Ooops! So, we had to switch rooms. Fortunately, we got the room adjacent to it and didn't have to work very hard at moving our luggage. We found a mall, the Colombo, that isn't too far away and were able to get swim suits for the girls and a few items for me. The girls got dinner (pizza with no sauce) at the mall and then the 5 super tired Smiths returned to our hotel. The girls crashed quickly. It had been a long day with no naps and it was already past their bed time. Cole and I ordered some room service and shared a bottle of wine. It was a good way to end the night!
The trip was full of drama and problems, but everything did end rather fortunately. I'm not excited yet about visiting Portugal. I feel more jet lagged here than I did when we arrived in Edinburgh. I think I'm too excited about returning home and to "normal." But, Cole's done A LOT of research on the cool things that we can do here, and I'm sure we'll wind up having a lot of fun!
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