Planes, Train, and Automobiles

We finally arrived in Dallas after three days of traveling.

Day 1
We left Anápolis, Brazil at 5:00 in the morning, drove an hour to Goiania for our 7:30a.m. flight.  Just after we got through security at the airport, Lydia had a "blowout," dirtying her sleeper and we forgot to pack an extra change of clothes for her in the diaper bag.  The bag we had planned on taking with us on board the airline insisted on checking.  So our little baby was semi-naked for a few hours.  Poor thing.  

The time for our flight came and went and at 9:00 we were told to go to the ticket counter because our flight was canceled.  Our new flight left at 12:50, so we had enough time to enjoy our $80 reais ($50 U.S.) meal vouchers (they counted us as four adults) and we were able to get some clothes for Lydia.  :-)

Lydia's first plane ride; Emily's already sick of it

Unfortunately our new flight not only got us into São Paulo five hours later, but it also got us into a different airport located a hour away from our original destination.      

On the go!

After arriving in São Paulo, we had to wait an hour for the shuttle bus to take us to the right airport.  The bus ride took a hour and poor Lydia dosed on and off the whole trip, waking up every time we stopped for traffic or a red light.  We finally arrived into the right airport and then had to wait nearly a hour for our shuttle van to take us to the hotel.  During which, moments before we were able to change Emily's diaper, she leaked all over her only pair of pants which she needed to wear for the next two days.  We hand-washed them at the hotel and then dried them with the hotel room hair dryer.  Are we having fun yet?  Arrived at destination 9 hours late.  

Day 2        
Left hotel at 6:00 in the morning.  Caught our five hour flight to Bogotá, Colombia.  Emily enjoyed the movies, especially because the wide screen TV for our section was right in front of us.  Lydia did well and liked sleeping in the bassinet.

Asleep at last!  Do they make one of these in an adult size?

Arrived in Bogotá and went through security.  Then tried to keep two children happy for our nine hour layover.  In case you were wondering, nine hours is a LONG time!!!  The airport was very warm, okay, hot.  Emily took a nice nap but Lydia stayed awake most the time.  Doesn't she ever need to sleep?!  Fortunately we met a neat Brazilian family who we chatted with for most of our layover.

At last we boarded our plane for a four hour flight.  Emily slept pretty well on the plane and Lydia finally conked out half way through.

We arrived into Miami after 1:00 in the morning and arrived at our hotel about 2:00 after going through immigration and customs. Besides a couple very short cat naps, we were awake for 25 hours straight.  What a long day! 

Day 3
Woke up at 7:00, got ready and took a taxi to the TRAIN station and took the Tri-Rail 10:20 train to Fort Lauderdale.  Our 12:50 flight actually took off at 1:50, making us anxious about our 40 minute connection in Austin, TX.  Three hours later we landed in Austin and found that our next flight had been delayed by 30 minutes and so we made it!  Our bags did too!  Poor Emily kept saying, "More night-night?" and Lydia kept saying that in the only way she knew how -- by crying.

More night-night?

We arrived into Dallas at 5:00 at night, 63 hours after we left home.  Good thing we saved enough money to make this trip worth it.  We're glad to be here safe and sound with our bags and to have friends who have winter clothes for us to borrow!  It's cold here!

~Mike and Kelli