Schlink Attack: DCA->MIA->REC

Thursday, September 4, 2014

DCA->MIA->REC

2:51 am: Move To Recife Day. Call us paranoid, but we weren't up for another Romanian repeat and instead slept with one eye open and rolled out of bed 9 minutes early. It was enough time to load up the porch with 1 dog, 1 kennel, 1 stroller, 2 car seats, 4 carry-ons, and 7 bags before rousing the kids. It was enough time to double check the house, turn off the lights and leave our keys on the kitchen table. It was also enough time to realize our 2nd taxi would not show- necessitating a sweaty game of Tetris to get everything and everyone inside the minivan. Kids in laps, we hightailed it to the airport only five minutes behind schedule. It was at the check in line where I dared to breathe- but a moment too soon because I realized here that my wallet was gone. Now: trying to slyly rummage through your bag that is stuffed with nothing but bribery suckers, diapers, wipes, and dog food to locate a missing wallet with out your husband noticing can't actually happen. Nor can you hide the fear and rising stress from your kids.

I could have sworn it was in my back pocket. But crazy things happen at 3am and I've been known to do silly stuff in the past. I will spare you the details, but my mess-ups usually involve clothes... I rummaged through a few other bags and called the taxi company but to no avail. It was gone. Sheepishly, I sent a friend a 4:30 am text requesting should he have the time to invite himself into our unlocked apartment and see if I managed to put my wallet in the freezer or something. Mark assured me the world wouldn't end today and continued onto Miami.

Our flight was uneventful and we arrived to the bright sunshiny Miami airport where we would shack up all day in MIA's terminal airport to wait for the midnight flight to Recife. Due to pet regulations with American Airlines, we knew we couldn't travel if the temperature would be warmer than 85F. So we decided to split our trip in half. It worked out reasonably well: concierge let us check in early with "free" breakfast and we splurged for a suite order to facilitate naps better. Signs of melt down arrived faster than anticipated as Margo absconded with jelly packets, exploding them all over the table (and us) and took off running with sticky hands grabbing anything in sight. Dang! She's quick and refused to go down easily. Eh. Can't say I blame her.

A few hours later, I received a phone call from my friend who had relieving news: no, my wallet was not in the freezer but the maintenance guys found it! It was laying in the grass just on the other side of the porch. I realized it must have fallen out of my pocket when I heaved my ass over the fence. Because what normal person would use a door? My friend was gracious enough to "pouch it" aka- mail it to the Consulate in Recife. So Tim, if you are reading this please tell me your shoe size! I have a pretty little package to head your way soon!

Too excited to sleep.

We ate expensive airport food, watched cartoons and took Jim outside to play in to closed off parking lot to pass the time. All the while the temperature reading 86-88 degrees. Deets was too excited to nap all day, so when the time came to head down to check in for the final leg at 9:45pm he jolted Margo awake by shaking her bed and yelling at her to get her "lazy bones out of bed." And the journey continued. My amazing, and burly yet tender husband took one for the team and sat with the kids on the planes (again) whereas I sat alone and hardly made it out of the gate with my eyes open. I feel like we travel enough to warrant the ridiculous neck pillows, but knowing how a) useless it would be since it would guarantee ill behaved children and b) how much Mark would make fun of me, I just can't go there. So instead I slept with my mouth wide open, head lobbing back and forth in the twilighty half-sleep. Like an ugly crier, I'm also an ugly sleeper. I fear the day someone takes a picture of my drooling double chinned self. And posts it.

Alas, the flight ended and masses of people crowded the aisles, frantic to grab their lampshades and duty-free goodie before anyone else could. Classic to Margo form, I had to change her incredibly dirty diaper in the airport bathroom and this is where I knew I had finally arrived: no soap, no towels, no changing table. Just like the good old days. And clearly looking like we needed help, the porteiros came to the rescue, offering extra hands and expedited entry through customs since we had the only dog who needed inspection. It was awesome.

Ten minutes after leaving the airport with Mark's work sponsor and locally engaged staff all who were lithe, helpful, and super friendly we arrived at our new home...