We Have Arrived

 Flying during COVID would have most people not wanting to get on the plane, but actually, it was the most relaxed I have ever been in an airport or on the plane in my life. When I think of flying all I think about is all the anxiety of the crowds of people and the hustle and bustle of being in a hurry. Terminal 5 at O'Hare was a ghost town compared to the norm. There was only one place open to get food (Burger King) and only one shop open. 

We were super worried about taking our car rental and turning it in and having to shuttle over with our large amount of luggage and a 2 year old. To our surprise they were so "slow", they offered to hop in the van and drive us over to the terminal and drop us right at the door, hallelujah. Awkwardly, though, when we arrived and unloaded the van, we didn't have enough room on the cart we rented and didn't have enough hands really to get it all in the door ourselves. The car rental man went to see if there were helpers as there sometimes are,  but came back to us that no one is allowed to due to COVID. We used all body parts to push, pull, drag, and carry our things, the cart, and Emme in the stroller into the British Airway check in counter. (I'm sure someone videoed and it'll end up on TikTok or whatever it is kids use these day, lol)

Once inside, we realized we were actually too early and needed to wait for the check in to open. It was only a 20minute wait and it allowed Daniel to stop sweating for a moment after carrying it all in. (haha) We were the first to check in and the lady at the counter was SO SWEET, she tagged everything for us and spoke about how lovely our move would be. She also never charged for the overweight bags (shhh :)

Security was an absolute breeze, hardly anyone there, and they were really calm, not the usual rush. Emme did have her first breakdown there though, she just REALLY wanted to go see the pumpkins in the shop and didn't understand why she had to wait to do that (first floor drop--parents seeing this, you get it).

We had two hours to wait for boarding, we were absolutely fine with this as it gave us time to tire her out. The hallways were almost empty and we were the only gate open on our half, so she ran up and down the entire place over and over. We were told at check in that the meals would be boxed lunches (usually its hot meals with pretty decent food), so we elected to grab some Burger King (THANK GOODNESS WE DID), just in case the food on the flight was light. 

We were called to go down the tunnel thing first, as we were traveling as a family, to get on the plane. We had WAY too many carry ons with us (the allowed amount, but 2 of the bags were Emme's whom carried nothing), they said they would take my stroller at the end of it so I put Emme in it (HUGE mistake). We got to the end of the tunnel and I went to get her out expecting her to walk onto the plane (as we didn't have hands to carry her), and she threw the worst fit I've ever seen about it. (Kicking, screaming, floor dropping, the whole scene). Security and boarding crew just starring at us, not a single person saying, shall I hold that bag for you so you can pick up your child? Daniel instead carried 4 carry ons (all of which had to be 40-50lbs each), and I carried the screaming child and two back packs. 

Side note: COVID has everyone afraid to touch or help anyone with anything? SO STRANGE/SAD!!! I saw a mother with probably a 6 month old, traveling alone, and she had the baby strapped to her front, a back pack on her back, and she was trying to get her fold down stroller into the bag so she could carry it on. Literally, she was bending over to do this and the baby's head was just flopping around and hitting the stroller and I was the only person in the whole gate area to offer her assistance? I myself holding a screaming 2 year old. What is wrong with this picture? Us moms/mums apparently need to stick together. 

Anyhow, Emme was obviously tired, they passed around the boxed lunches and they were absolutely terrible, like not edible, and I am a pretty non picky eater for the most part. Word to the wise, eat before or bring a lot of food on the plane with you, its not what it used to be for food on BA! We did our normal "bedtime" routine and I laid Emme across two seats, the plane was EMPTY, like 40 people on it, and Daniel was able to move to the seats across the aisle from us. She was going to go to sleep and went to flip on her belly and absolutely cracked her face on the arm rest (insert face palm emoji here). This is what started an hour or so long scream fest. She was bleeding from her nose and all sorts. Really was the worst moment of the flight for everyone on board (lol). We did finally get her calm and she passed out until landing, so there's that. Neither Daniel or I slept, and we even had the capability of laying across an entire 3 seat row to ourselves but we just couldn't shut off I guess. It was a quick flight and Emme was in happy spirits when we got off. She kept saying "Go see Nanny and Grandad" was super sweet. 

Next was customs, usually because we are able to go as a family through the UK line it takes like 5 minutes, super simple. Now, if you're from anywhere else the line to go through is always like an hour or more. BUT they are being very very thorough with their questioning of why you want to come into the country now, and you are supposed to fill out an online form and have it with you when you go through. I would say every other person didn't have this done, so it delayed so much. I guess my point of view is, you're told at least 20 times about this form, and if you didn't do it, you should have to go to the back of the line and do so. However, they were allowing people to step off to the side, do it, and get right back in- next in line, so that was frustrating. All in all, it took maybe 20-30min and the customs guy was kinda funny and talkative with us (only after seeing my husband's football t-shirt). He let me in no problem and just reminded us of the quarantine. 

We were greeted by Daniel's parents and were able to get our luggage in their two cars. It was a beautiful sunny morning and a nice quick ride back to Daniel's mums. We had a quick bite and all three went down for a nap. Emme has her own room as do we at "Nanny's' house", so we were quite comfortable and slept for a couple hours. For dinner we had fish and chips from the "chip shop" and Emme quite enjoyed her first English Fish and Chips!

We did our normal bedtime routine--bath, books, bed. And put her down about 6:30pm UK time (1230pm USA), and she went straight to sleep. Only problem--she woke at 8pm (2pm USA) thinking she had just had a nap. 1230-2 is her normal nap time or around that time, so Daniel took her downstairs and tried to tire her by playing and watching TV. We tried putting her down again at 11pm and it was a no go (lots of screaming and calling out for us). It wasn't until 1am and lots of book reading that she finally went to sleep (which is 7pm USA time--her normal bedtime). We all slept until 8ish this morning where we woke her up so she can used to time change. We hope tonight goes more smoothly...currently having her take a short nap as I don't want her to be OVER tired. 

We are currently on day 2 of quarantine, just keeping busy doing some house projects for Daniel's mum and entertaining Emme. I don't know that I'll have much to report until the end of this 14 day thing, but I'll post if we do!