Leaving Germany

It has been a very long time since I've posted, and it is all Germany's fault.  Okay, seriously, not all, but mostly.  That, and not having a computer, or Internet in the other areas where we've been.  I still need to post about our trip to the UK, and the actual events leading up to our move, but I decided those can wait until I can organize our photos on our new computer, and I'll just tell you the journey of getting out of Europe.

Thanks to a recent experience of rushing last minute through an airport and barely making our flight, we planned accordingly and scheduled the Alex shuttle company to pick us up over four hours before our flight was scheduled to take off.  It would get us to the airport with at least three hours to spare, and we were planning on having bored and cranky kids because we'd be waiting at the gate for so long.  I'm so glad we planned ahead.  Our shuttle arrived right on time, and then we hit a stau. (German for traffic jam)  The radio said it was over 11km long, and dispatch told our driver it would take over an hour to get through it.  So he decided (thankfully) to go a round about way, and pass the jam up all together.  It added 30 minutes to our driving time, but still would get us to the airport with plenty of time to spare.

We made it to the airport, and eventually got our luggage and dog onto carts and up to the counter.  Then they told us we had to wait in a different line to check in the dog, so we waited, and waited, and waited, and then waited some more.  Eventually he was checked, and we checked our other things, took him to the bathroom, and then we had to take him back to the line so they could have his crate inspected, and have him head off to the animal boarding area.  We waited there, and waited some more, and then waited some more, and finally he was taken back.  At that point we went on our way to find security.  We went through, and I of course, was flagged to be poked, prodded, and felt up.  then we watched as almost all of our carry on's were flagged to be checked further.  We had to empty almost completely all our carry on's so they could make sure we weren't trying to smuggle anything out/in.  We were also taking a portable Xbox 360 and a gaming case that got flagged, and the case, with Tim, were sent to a separate room to be sniffed.  We finally managed to make it out of the security area and wouldn't you know that right as we're getting to the gate, we were boarding.  Had we left any later, we could have missed our flight.  Then, after getting on the stinking plane, we sat there for an hour before we finally took off.  Sigh......

The almost 11 hour plane ride was full of rather unfriendly people, and it was long, and really, just not great, or bad, just uncomfortable.   We made it to San Francisco where the long layover we purposely planned ended up not being very long at all because of immigration and customs, and picking up the dog and re checking him.  This time we had about 20 minutes at the gate, so it all worked out, but was still a bit stressful.

We made it to Portland, saw my parents, got lots of hugs, picked up the doggy and luggage, and got our rental and drove for another 1.5 hours to get to my parents house.  I think we were both hallucinating by the time we were about 10 miles away, and I think that it's a miracle neither of us fell asleep on the drive, because we were so tired.  We didn't, and we made it safely to Grandma and Grandpa's and after talking, and touring the house, we all eventually fell asleep..... ahhhhh much needed sleep!

It was a very long day, a very long trip, and it felt like Germany was trying to hold onto us, and not let us go.  We're sad that we had to leave, and yet so very happy to be on our way!