Getting Here

The trip here was an adventure in and of itself! Jerrod is NOT a flyer...which is why we always drove to Minnesota to visit his parents...and has only flown internationally once before (for our honeymoon). Because of this, we knew it would likely be stressful, but we were unaware of exactly how stressful it would be!

Saturday night, we spent the night at my parents'. We went to bed early, knowing that our 4am wake up call would quickly arrive. We loaded my Dad's truck with luggage and my mom's car with people and headed to the airport. The company had mistakenly booked the children as unaccompanied minors, so we were unable to do early check in, resulting in all four seats being separate on all four of our flights.

Austin to San Francisco - 4.5 hours Sunday - The agent was able to switch our seats so that Jerrod and the kids were together in the very back row, and I had a middle seat a few rows up. It was a nice plane with charging ports and in-seat screens with multiple game and movie options. Other than the fact that I waited an hour for the lady in the aisle seat next to me to wake up so I could finally go to the restroom, that flight went pretty smoothly.

San Francisco to Honolulu - 7 hours Sunday - After racing across the airport to find our departure gate and Emmy spilling an untouched beer (an expensive accident), we were able to switch our seats to two and two. Jerrod and Jonathan sat mid-plane and Emmy and I were in the very back row. The back row was a blessing in disguise, because we were the only two seat row and we were right next to the bathroom. However, there were no charging ports, and the in-flight entertainment required use of your own devices and the purchase of WiFi. Thank goodness Ghee had purchased them DVD players before we left and they were fully charged! According to Jerrod, Johnny did surprisingly great on this flight, while Emmy was a never-ending stream of questions and requests.

Once we arrived in Honolulu and balanced all of our bags onto luggage carts, we called the hotel for a shuttle. Then we waited, and waited, and waited. After an hour, we called the hotel back and the shuttle finally arrived. It took longer to load and unload the suitcases than it did to get to the hotel. You could literally see the baggage claim from the entrance! So why it took an hour to pick us up when we could have easily walked if we didn't have so much luggage is beyond me. We had been given a list of restaurant and entertainment suggestions, but we were so exhausted we decided on the hotel pool, gift shop snacks, and a movie. I couldn't sleep and decided to get up at 2am and went down to the lobby to use the restroom so I wouldn't wake the kids. I even made a friend who was also coming to Kwaj and couldn't sleep! I went back upstairs for a quick shower, then headed back down to the lobby with my book so the two of us could guarantee we were on the first shuttle to the airport. At 4:30am Jerrod brought the kids down, and at 4:50am we headed to the airport.

The Honolulu airport was PACKED even though it was only 5am! I had to jog past five entrances to finally find a cart rental that had carts available. $18 later my family and my friend were set with carts for all of our bags!

Honolulu to Majuro - 6 hours Monday (which turned into Tuesday once we crossed the International Date Line) - While checking our luggage, we met a very lovely agent who helped assist our family. She was able to get three of us seated together with one in the aisle seat next to us. In the back row again... but we were used to it by now, and we were finally all together as a family! This flight had in-flight entertainment, but it was the "old school" version where it played four movies (only one kid-friendly one) on repeat, so you would have to select your channel at just the right time if you wanted to view the movie in its entirety. This flight actually served breakfast, which was delicious - turkey, egg, and cheese croissant with vanilla Greek yogurt! Jerrod and I rotated who sat between the kids and who sat on the aisle next to the space-invading sleeper in the middle seat.

Majuro to Kwaj - 1 hour(ish) Tuesday - Although this was the shortest flight, it was quite possibly the most stressful. We didn't deplane in Majuro and the switchover process took longer than expected, so the kids were getting restless and anxious to get OUT! Once we arrived, we were supposed to deplane from the front AND the back (which was exciting to those of us in the very last row) but the crew couldn't get the back door open, so we all ended up having to go out the front. On the other side of the airport gates, we were greeted with an amazing welcoming committee! Once the drug dogs sniffed our bags, our badges were issued, and we cleared the customs list, we were finally able to exit the airport and begin our island life!