Flying Off To The Friendly Skies...

Today, I'm feeling and sounding a tad better than I have in a week.  My voice is finally coming back.  You'd think I was having a wild time on the island--I had fun, but no late night screaming and dancing under the moon at midnight.  Wait..  I take that back--I did that once... :) 

Anyway, I am able to share some pictures with you today.

The hardest part about leaving Oakland of course was saying goodbye to the husband.  I knew I would be missing him, but I don't think it really hit him until we said our goodbyes.  He could not wait with us at the gate, so we had to say our goodbyes in front of the security man, after we checked in our bags in front of security.  I don't want to do that again any time soon. 

After we said tearful goodbyes, we proceeded down to security where we were instructed by many Asian women dressed in what appeared to be traffic guard uniforms to take off our shoes and put them in the provided baskets, along with our belts, jackets and carry-ons..etc..  I could not understand one word they were saying, and I could sense they were becoming frustrated with me because of this.  "Jacket in biscuit..jacket in biscuit.."  There was one of them that was particularly nasty.  One of the others apologized for her.  Some people just get to much into their jobs it seems.  Give some people a crossing guard vest, a plastic badge, and they think they are all that and a bag of chips! Of course, my family was the one who they chose to search while others just walked pass through in their socks. 

It never ceases to amaze me WHY the mother of 3 always seems to be the target of alleged terrorist activity. Do they really think I'm hiding a weapon in my 3 year old's Finding Nemo's backpack?  Only crayons, coloring books, and travel games.  One major benefit with traveling with children under 4 however, is they will allow you on the plane before anyone else.  We experienced great joy when we proceeded to move up in front of the line before the very long line.  Of course we heard some rude comments of why we got to go first behind the handicapped guy in the wheelchair, but who cares.  Rude people, unfortunately, rule the planet.

My three gangster kids at the gate waiting for the plane to come in.  Destination:  Terceira, Azores.

Nicholas held his stuffed bunny, who he calls affectionately, "Bunny" during his whole trip.  His "Bunny" and his box of Dots were constantly by his side.

My first major concern, before embarking on my trip, besides the passport dilemma of course, was how Nicholas would behave in the plane.  I would hear constant news reports of people delaying their trips because of passport delays, and unruly children getting kicked off of planes.  Wonderful I thought.  My concerns and unneeded stress proved to be unjustified.  Nicholas was a perfect angel on the plane.  I did not have to resort to giving him cold medicine either as was previously suggested.

My two boys sleeping on the plane.  My daughter and I barely slept a wink.  Notice the old woman behind my daughter wearing the hat.  That woman wore that crocheted hat the entire time of the trip.  Strange woman.  There were other strange people (passengers) lurking around the aisles that made it impossible for me to sleep.  They showed two movies, but I didn't really hear it because my ear phones were not working and there was this most irritating woman standing above me who had the most obnoxious chicken sounding voice, talking to the woman in front of me.  I could not help but over hear what she was saying.  After 10 minutes of her conversation, I could tell this woman was not "well".  I concluded that she had some compulsive disorder of some kind--she just went on and on and on talking about different unrelated stuff about various people. First she spoke about her daughter, then the neighbors, then her new car, her husband's shoes, the cat she left behind...etc..etc..  I started to give her the evil stare, but she it went unnoticed.  Nope, I didn't sleep a wink of all 10 hours of the flight. 

The flight was smooth--hardly any turbulence whatsoever. Of course the kids were getting a little restless after awhile; especially after our one stop in Hamilton, Canada.  Where is Hamilton, Canada, you ask?  Good question.  I asked my Canadian relatives and even they didn't have an idea.  Apparently it's really close to Ontario, right above New York and past the Great Lakes. 

Well, the plane stopped there to get the toilets cleaned by two very strange looking  individuals wearing the same traffic guard looking outfits the Asian women were wearing at the airport in Oakland, California.  They passed through the plane with their bright yellow vests and matching rubber gloves with toilet cleansers and plungers.  I noticed other passengers on the plane thought them strange, and we both exchanged looks and couldn't stop laughing. 

Overall, the flight experience to the Azores was rather enjoyable.  The food wasn't too bad, and they did offer little mini wine bottles at dinner.  The stewards all spoke Portuguese (I flew on a Portuguese airline-SATA, sister of TAP, Azores Express) and they were very polite and attentive.  Most of them were men.  One of them called my daughter, "Princesa" (Princess).  One in particular looked like a Portuguese version of David Hasselhoff.  Lizzy found this very entertaining, especially when the guy accidently dropped some garbage in front of my seat.  She said he did this on purpose so I could see him as he bent over to pick up the cup.  According to her, he was giving me the "eye".  Yes, he was after me, no doubt-I'm so sure. 

"Cha.."  (Tea)

"Cafe.."  (Coffee) 

Up and down the aisle the stewards would go asking if we wanted tea or coffee.  It must drive them crazy doing that for hours non-stop.  They didn't walk slowly either--they always seemed as if they were dying to get to the other side of the plane to use the toilets.

We landed in the late afternoon on the island.  Everyone clapped, even Nicholas.  It was all very surreal.  I couldn't believe I was there.  After a walk down from the plane, we were greeted by a shuttle, that we all piled into.  The shuttle did not have enough seats, so a lot of us had to stand up and hold a hand rail or grip.  Not fun.  Nicholas held on to my leg.  Afterwards, back into another line where we were waited like cattle to through customs.  Of course when I got there, I had to explain why two of my children had a different last name than myself and my other child, but other than that, no missing luggage.

We were greeted at the airport by my mom and a bunch of cousins.  More tears-but tears of joy of hellos..  Very surreal.

 

Cousins in my mom's kitchen.  Lizzy and Andrew are in the background.  I look at this picture, and I just sigh.  Yeah, I miss them.  :(

My cousin Manny even brought over a cake! 

More later..