The Journey
The last several months have been quite an emotional, spiritual, and relational journey, and I hope to write a bit more about that sometime soon, but as often happens to me, I find myself getting behind on what I want to write about, and then I get overwhelmed at where to start, and then I don't start at all. So, I'm going simply say that it has been a season of a very complex mixture of emotions, and I'm going to jump in on writing about the most recent journey, a literal trip, from our former home in Los Angeles, CA, USA, to Kathmandu, Nepal.
With our entire life boiled down to nine pieces of luggage and our carry-on bags, we walked out of an empty condo in Culver City, accompanied very graciously by three young and beautiful friends, and made our way through LAX. The airport went quite smoothly, including an unexpected blessing of the airline waiving the fee for our extra piece of luggage (which should have been $150). In spite of thinking we didn't have seats together, we ended up all together with an extra seat by us, and we were off to cross the ocean. The first flight was supposed to be about 14 hours. That is just plain long, but let me just confirm what we feared to be true...it is painfully long with two young kids! Isaiah had been looking forward to the plane rides (3 in total) for quite some time, as he was promised very little bounds on "media time." He was all set to watch movies, and that is what he did. Zeke actually did alright for a bit. But, a "bit" doesn't make much of a dent in 14 hours! The lights got turned off for people to sleep at what was about 4:00 p.m. Los Angeles time, so we held off for about an hour, gave both of our kids some benadryl, and were all prepared for a little sleep. Well, the boys had other plans! Isaiah wanted to lay on the floor, which seemed like a good idea, until we adjusted his "bed" of blankets and such for the 20th time. He, thankfully, eventually did fall asleep, though. Zeke's resistance was much stronger. Our pediatrician in L.A. has assured me several times that I will someday be very thankful for Z's tenacity. I'm sure that is true, but the plane ride was not that day. For about 3 hours (during the dark, intended sleeping time), Zeke staged a revolt with full-tilt screaming and flailing and going boneless. Yep, we were those people on the plane. At some point, he finally gave in and slept for a little under 2 hours. And then again later, took about an hour-long snooze. Do the math--that is 3 hours out of 14, leaving 11 hours of high-maintenance toddler time with very little energy to match it. I honestly thought we had made a terrible mistake and that I wasn't even sure if we were really going to make it to Nepal.
Thankfully, that flight eventually ended, and for their sake, I am glad that it didn't seem people from our flight were continuing on with us. We had a 3 1/2 hour layover in Shanghai. And, I have to say, that navigating airports in China with kids was shockingly difficult. You can't take carts here. You have to go through multiple places to get where you need to go. You have to pick up strollers at the normal baggage claim (no gate check). Pretty frustrating. But, we did kick into celebrity status for the boys. Two light-haired (and, in my opinion, quite adorable) boys get quite a lot of attention pretty much anywhere in Asia. The cell phones come out, and the pictures start snapping like the paparazzi have found them. Zeke loves to say, "Cheese," and Isaiah gives the affectionate big-brother choke-hold/hug and makes a funny face. Kind of weird knowing there are pics of my kids floating all over Asia.
At our next gate, we met a very nice man from Texas who was going to be on the flight with us to Kunming. Ezekiel finally passed out again before we got on the flight, which made it a bit difficult getting on the bus to take us from the gate to the plane and then making it up the stairs to the door of the plane, but we were all just glad he was sleeping! He woke up briefly but then went back to sleep and slept for most of the 2nd flight (about 2 more hours). We had a whole row to ourselves at the front of the section, which oddly enough was row 31. Isaiah slept. We all slept for at least a stretch. It was beautiful. That was about the end of the sleeping. Mind you, we still had much of the trip left before arriving in Kathmandu.
In Kunming, we had to get all of our luggage (9 large pieces!) and check it back in. The problem, other than navigating four carts of luggage and a double stroller through the airport to a completely different area, is that it was midnight...and the airline counters were closed until morning. So, we made a little camp with all of our luggage, set up our Peapod tent, and hung out in the Kunming airport for our 9-hour layover!
The last flight! It was time! Once we were on, Isaiah protested getting a pull-up on because he was definitely, absolutely, not going to...ZZZZZZ. Yeah. We should have just woken him up at that point, but after the length of sleepless travel we'd had, the last thing you want to do is wake up a kid that has fallen asleep. Zeke took a very brief snooze. Isaiah woke up a bit delirious. He kept giggling and giggling, and at some point, he decided he needed to use the bathroom. So, John took him. We only have a little over an hour to go. The finish line is in sight! But, then I hear John, "Rachel! I need wipes!" I will save trying to explain how it happened because we are still not 100% clear on it ourselves, but there was poop. All over. On the floor of the plane bathroom. On the shoes. On the shorts. On the kid himself. There was crying. So then Zeke decided to join in the crying. Two hysterical kids and poop all over. Yep. We're pretty confident the little slogan on the toothpick wrapper, "You are welcome to travel by our plane," no longer applies to our family after this journey. Pretty confident we're on a list somewhere.
Since I had not packed an extra pair of pants like I had intended, Isaiah finished the flight and went through customs in Nepal in my Northwestern t-shirt. As if white kids don't get enough stares from Nepalis, now my son looked like he was wearing a dress. Thankfully, at that point, he was grinning from ear to ear. Customs went about as smoothly as Nepali customs can go. Confusion and waiting but no actual problems. We somehow managed to get all of our luggage out and into two taxis with our dear friend Alana and the office assistant Arpan helping us. I was sweaty and completely spent, and a noisy, dusty ride in a taxi dodging vehicles, animals, and pedestrians was not exactly what I was up for, but my boys were giddy taking it all in. I had to stop and be thankful in the midst of all of the weariness from the trip we had just had and the less than relaxing final trek to our new home in this taxi that, not only did we make it, but my boys were happy. Isaiah chattered enthusiastically the entire drive, mostly to the taxi driver who didn't understand a word of it. As strange as it seemed to have just packed up and left the city that had been home to me for 12 years, and as hard as it seemed getting here, we were home. From home. To home. That was our journey.
The last several months have been quite an emotional, spiritual, and relational journey, and I hope to write a bit more about that sometime soon, but as often happens to me, I find myself getting behind on what I want to write about, and then I get overwhelmed at where to start, and then I don't start at all. So, I'm going simply say that it has been a season of a very complex mixture of emotions, and I'm going to jump in on writing about the most recent journey, a literal trip, from our former home in Los Angeles, CA, USA, to Kathmandu, Nepal.
With our entire life boiled down to nine pieces of luggage and our carry-on bags, we walked out of an empty condo in Culver City, accompanied very graciously by three young and beautiful friends, and made our way through LAX. The airport went quite smoothly, including an unexpected blessing of the airline waiving the fee for our extra piece of luggage (which should have been $150). In spite of thinking we didn't have seats together, we ended up all together with an extra seat by us, and we were off to cross the ocean. The first flight was supposed to be about 14 hours. That is just plain long, but let me just confirm what we feared to be true...it is painfully long with two young kids! Isaiah had been looking forward to the plane rides (3 in total) for quite some time, as he was promised very little bounds on "media time." He was all set to watch movies, and that is what he did. Zeke actually did alright for a bit. But, a "bit" doesn't make much of a dent in 14 hours! The lights got turned off for people to sleep at what was about 4:00 p.m. Los Angeles time, so we held off for about an hour, gave both of our kids some benadryl, and were all prepared for a little sleep. Well, the boys had other plans! Isaiah wanted to lay on the floor, which seemed like a good idea, until we adjusted his "bed" of blankets and such for the 20th time. He, thankfully, eventually did fall asleep, though. Zeke's resistance was much stronger. Our pediatrician in L.A. has assured me several times that I will someday be very thankful for Z's tenacity. I'm sure that is true, but the plane ride was not that day. For about 3 hours (during the dark, intended sleeping time), Zeke staged a revolt with full-tilt screaming and flailing and going boneless. Yep, we were those people on the plane. At some point, he finally gave in and slept for a little under 2 hours. And then again later, took about an hour-long snooze. Do the math--that is 3 hours out of 14, leaving 11 hours of high-maintenance toddler time with very little energy to match it. I honestly thought we had made a terrible mistake and that I wasn't even sure if we were really going to make it to Nepal.
Thankfully, that flight eventually ended, and for their sake, I am glad that it didn't seem people from our flight were continuing on with us. We had a 3 1/2 hour layover in Shanghai. And, I have to say, that navigating airports in China with kids was shockingly difficult. You can't take carts here. You have to go through multiple places to get where you need to go. You have to pick up strollers at the normal baggage claim (no gate check). Pretty frustrating. But, we did kick into celebrity status for the boys. Two light-haired (and, in my opinion, quite adorable) boys get quite a lot of attention pretty much anywhere in Asia. The cell phones come out, and the pictures start snapping like the paparazzi have found them. Zeke loves to say, "Cheese," and Isaiah gives the affectionate big-brother choke-hold/hug and makes a funny face. Kind of weird knowing there are pics of my kids floating all over Asia.
At our next gate, we met a very nice man from Texas who was going to be on the flight with us to Kunming. Ezekiel finally passed out again before we got on the flight, which made it a bit difficult getting on the bus to take us from the gate to the plane and then making it up the stairs to the door of the plane, but we were all just glad he was sleeping! He woke up briefly but then went back to sleep and slept for most of the 2nd flight (about 2 more hours). We had a whole row to ourselves at the front of the section, which oddly enough was row 31. Isaiah slept. We all slept for at least a stretch. It was beautiful. That was about the end of the sleeping. Mind you, we still had much of the trip left before arriving in Kathmandu.
In Kunming, we had to get all of our luggage (9 large pieces!) and check it back in. The problem, other than navigating four carts of luggage and a double stroller through the airport to a completely different area, is that it was midnight...and the airline counters were closed until morning. So, we made a little camp with all of our luggage, set up our Peapod tent, and hung out in the Kunming airport for our 9-hour layover!
The last flight! It was time! Once we were on, Isaiah protested getting a pull-up on because he was definitely, absolutely, not going to...ZZZZZZ. Yeah. We should have just woken him up at that point, but after the length of sleepless travel we'd had, the last thing you want to do is wake up a kid that has fallen asleep. Zeke took a very brief snooze. Isaiah woke up a bit delirious. He kept giggling and giggling, and at some point, he decided he needed to use the bathroom. So, John took him. We only have a little over an hour to go. The finish line is in sight! But, then I hear John, "Rachel! I need wipes!" I will save trying to explain how it happened because we are still not 100% clear on it ourselves, but there was poop. All over. On the floor of the plane bathroom. On the shoes. On the shorts. On the kid himself. There was crying. So then Zeke decided to join in the crying. Two hysterical kids and poop all over. Yep. We're pretty confident the little slogan on the toothpick wrapper, "You are welcome to travel by our plane," no longer applies to our family after this journey. Pretty confident we're on a list somewhere.
Since I had not packed an extra pair of pants like I had intended, Isaiah finished the flight and went through customs in Nepal in my Northwestern t-shirt. As if white kids don't get enough stares from Nepalis, now my son looked like he was wearing a dress. Thankfully, at that point, he was grinning from ear to ear. Customs went about as smoothly as Nepali customs can go. Confusion and waiting but no actual problems. We somehow managed to get all of our luggage out and into two taxis with our dear friend Alana and the office assistant Arpan helping us. I was sweaty and completely spent, and a noisy, dusty ride in a taxi dodging vehicles, animals, and pedestrians was not exactly what I was up for, but my boys were giddy taking it all in. I had to stop and be thankful in the midst of all of the weariness from the trip we had just had and the less than relaxing final trek to our new home in this taxi that, not only did we make it, but my boys were happy. Isaiah chattered enthusiastically the entire drive, mostly to the taxi driver who didn't understand a word of it. As strange as it seemed to have just packed up and left the city that had been home to me for 12 years, and as hard as it seemed getting here, we were home. From home. To home. That was our journey.
4 comments:
I think that would make a good movie. Especially the poop
Dad and I talked about it that we should be prepared to travel to Nepal, because after the trip there with two little ones, the frequency of returning stateside could change. That discussion was before we read this. Oh, my, have nothing to say except, oh, my.
Well, I must say that was entertaining reading.........better than experiencing it, no doubt!!
Where there are human children on an airplane there will be poop! I hope you can look at this episode in retrospect and laugh. I agree with Uncle Jim: It would definitely make a good movie, especially the poop.
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