Airports in Dublin and Edinburgh - July 29

By Jackson

Both of the airports were SUPER inefficient. To get to the car rental place, you had to walk a couple football fields in Edinburgh. In Dublin, to get to the plane there were so many different things, I kind of forgot them all. Except I do remember a couple: a long hall you turned at them went down an escalator. Plus we almost didn't make it because they had a line that was really long for a bunch of different flights waiting in the same line. Then security was crazy and mom had to run back to get Lilly's water bottle and run all the way to where we were going to board the bus to go get on our plane.

It was my first commercial propeller plane! It was small and really fun. It had to propellers on both wings and we walked up steps to get on the plane but it wasn't high, it was low.


HARIBO products in a vending machine at the car rental place.

Paris to Cork on the Plane!

Such fun to load up outside and once again- we got to self-service our luggage a bit. Again, with a smaller European plane, even our 20" suitcases were gate checked and put into the cargo hold

But here's the real delightful bit: the coffee and drinks on the plane were not only free, but delicious! And then... wait for it... our *free* snacks were a trio of delicious madeleines in vanilla, chocolate and raspberry. Leah Elena was asleep and in the row ahead of us so we asked the flight attendant to please leave one for her so she wouldn't miss out on this amazing-ness.

Well, our enthusiasm for the madeleines came full circle because the same lovely flight attendant came back and gave us some extra madeleines for later!

Lilly was a hot mess the whole flight, not sleeping. And I have now changed her diaper on two airplane bathrooms and a catamaran bathroom - among other tricky situation (ahem- dirty diaper at the beach 👎) but the crew was so helpful and kind that the crazy toddler situation wasn't really that bad at all.

Much to the kids delight, we got to exit the plane in the rear- which Jackson had asked about while still at CDG. So this went over huge. As we left our seats I did a final sweep as I tend to do (though some might call it a wee bit OCD) to look for random things we left behind and even joked about it with the flight attendant.

Much to our disappointment in the evening, Leah Elena realized she had taken off her special ring which her grandmother had given her so she could put on some hand lotion and then fell asleep- forgetting it. We've been calling airports and airlines and filing missing items reposts already. On a hopeful note- apparently our plane just goes back and forth between Cork and Paris with the same crew, so at least it stays between the two airports- assuming it's still in the plane.

**Update** On Thursday night, Leah Elena got a call from the Cork Airport lost and found and they have her ring!! On Saturday we are driving to Dublin so will go the route through Cork and get it. Amazing!!

Paris to Cork Travel Day

Time to change countries again. Even Lilly is in on the self-sufficient action of travel days, watching and following along to help the group. She loves pushing the suitcases and 9 out of 10 times, she's moving them in a helpful direction.

Our driver was right on time and made for a super easy transfer to the airport.

Charles de Gaulle airport gets an A+ for efficiency, kindness and cleanliness. Signs week mark everything and even with the extra step of needing to verify the infant, checking in was super smooth. Also- all luggage checking is self-service. Hooray for Air France for making this simple process super efficient! Plus, the kids LOVED scanning, tagging and loading our luggage in the conveyor belt.

Security was thorough but incredibly calm. Somehow one of the biggest airports we've been through felt like one of the emptiest thanks to their brilliant flow of people and processes. While there was no bending of the rules, I left feeling well taken care of by the security people. A rare thing, indeed. And then after we were done and everything was collected, they gave activity books to the kids!

New Home Orientation

VERY excited about our new digs. There's a little path of stairs down to the port and a view of Sa Verde(?) and the beautiful sea.
Lilly kept yelling "po!" (pool) and "bo!" (boat) and pointing to the Mediterranean. We all understood because we kinda felt the same way.

Play Doh Emojis in the Ibiza Airport

Getting the rental car took a lot longer than we expected and Lilly was a mess since we got off the plane. So, I produced a small container of green play doh from my suit case and ...voila! Everyone was happy for the extra long wait.

Travel Day to Rome

Whew- today was exhausting. At least it was for me. Travel days are HARD. So many tactical things to do and logistics to figure out- all while still getting all the basics accomplished. But we made it to Rome successfully, are all settled in at our beautiful hotel, had a great lunch, a great dinner- and even saw the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain in between. Well, at least *MOST* of us did: Lilly slept pretty much the entire time we were walking around Rome (in Joes arms) and though most of dinner (laid across Joe and my laps as if we were a mattress- much to or waiters delight)!

Arrival in Rome

All the people.
All the things.
And slippers for everyone.

Jet lag

Turns out: middle of the night jet lag wakefulness makes for lots of blog posts...


Sent from my iPhone

Roma Arrival