Into the Air

I was right. Zero sleep last night as I started actually putting things into suitcases after midnight and scrambled around until 2:00am, when our airport ride showed up.

When we got there, we found out that the check-in kiosks didn't even open until 4:00 am. That whole thing is a separate set of drama I'll chronicle elsewhere. The short version is that our travel started out with blood, sweat, and tears, and that was before we even got our boarding passes.

Sweat: me, of course, running around packing at the last minute (luggage total: 11 pieces for 3 people).

Tears: My daughter, after she got run over by a luggage cart. The guy couldn't see over his luggage and then SHOVED the cart again when it was stuck on her. My husband grabbed the cart and stopped him.

Blood: At first thought it was my daughter's as it was discovered on her pants post-luggage cart incident, but there was no broken skin. Later discovered my husband's hand was bleeding and he'd been holding her...great, those will be stained.

Then separate flights to New York and a very confusing change over at JFK. And I have to complain about this here. They have very few signs anywhere and thank goodness I could speak English to ask for instructions, and I had to do so three different times because it wasn't clear where I should go (I was directed outside to a "sidewalk" that was about 18" wide with potholes that then stopped and I had to walk on the street to get to another terminal--later found out there was a monorail, so why didn't they direct me to that?!)

Anyway, reconnected with the rest of the family at JFK, minutes before boarding.

The only sleep I got was on the floor at JFK.