Our Adventure Begins, Part 1

WE MADE IT! Yes, I’m typing this as I’m sitting in our apartment in beautiful Brazil…can you believe it?! Nick, my parents, and I arrived at the Tallahassee airport Monday, January 21 at 2:30pm.  We wanted to make sure all (13) of our bags were in the 70 pound weight limit, and allotted time to switch things around if need be….well all of our bags but one were around 2-3 pounds overweight! So we stuffed and crammed things into every nook and cranny of our carry-ons (two duffels and a rolling suitcase) and rearranged things in the checked bags to get just about every bag at 70lbs on the dot! Praise the Lord everything fit and we didn’t have to pay any overweight fees.  Nick’s mom and her husband arrived at the airport around 3:00 with Carter (who was napping when we left).  We had some tearful goodbyes and then made our way through security for our flight at 4:40pm.

The flight to Atlanta went well.  We hooked up the car seat and Carter did great in it, except for the fact that he kept kicking the seat of the guy in front of him…We made it to Atlanta and traveling through the airport from one concourse to another with 2 duffels, 1 suitcase, 2 backpacks, a diaper bag, a car seat, a stroller and a baby was most definitely the most difficult part of our trip! This flight was straight to Brasilia and we left at 8:40pm for the 9 hour trip.  Unfortunately, Nick, Carter, and I had been booked tickets in three different rows L The lady at the ticket counter couldn't do anything to help us, but once we boarded, the flight attendant helped us to all get in the same row! (which was a huge blessing).  We made goodie bags for the 50 passengers around us that included gum, candy, ear plugs, and a note from Carter (in case he had a rough flight).  But once again, he did great! Of course there was the occasional whining (and kicking of the seat in front of him) but he never did cry.  On the flip side however, it was an overnight flight and we had hoped all three of us would get a decent night’s sleep but Carter only slept for 2 of the 9 hours! Aye yay yay.  That made me super nervous for the next day, but he surprised us again and did awesome! Let me just say, the built in screens on the headrest with kid show options were a lifesaver! Haha. He pretty much just zoned out the whole night. 

We arrived around 8am in Brasilia, made it through immigration without a hitch and went to claim our luggage.  Of the thirteen, only one bag was lost! And as Nick reported it to the baggage counter they were able to locate it in Atlanta and it has already been delivered to us here in our city! Needless to say, we were impressed.  Once we had all our bags loaded up on carts, we headed to customs.  We were the last ones from our flight to go through and when the worker saw how many bags we had, he asked us a few questions and then, quite possibly out of exhaustion, just waved us on through without inspecting anything – PTL! Somehow we got all of our carts and stroller and Carter through the gate and then…..