Author: Robin Chartier

So it’s one in the morning and I’ve been in Egypt for 24 hours. I should be sleeping, but since I’m wide awake, I thought I’d do a quick photo journal of our trip and fill in some stories later:

the last hurrah in the hot tub

 

Arriving at SFO: Calvin looks a little anxious about our trip, doesn’t he?

Lining up at the counter to deposit our bags. Even though we checked in online they had to process everything at the counter. Good news: we were first in line. Bad news: we were first because we arrived 30 minutes before the counter even opened. With our pile of luggage and our slew of kids we were quite a sight, camped out on the floor of the airline terminal. We could have thrown up a few cots and made a home for ourselves, but we’ll talk more about cots later . . .

Riding the walkways while waiting for our flight. We were delayed because of snow in Germany . . . hmm, anyone see the writing on the wall? Not me, yet . . .

Did you know they have Best Buy vending machines? I didn’t either. You can buy ipod touches, Nintendo DS systems and games and a bunch of other electronic items. And they were approximately what you would pay in an actual Best Buy store, unlike our $50 lunch of sandwiches and 2 bottles of water.

We bought a 4 way headphone splitter so the kids could all watch the same movie or play games together and conserve battery life. You could also buy a battery booster, but we weren’t ready to shell out $30 for a little more battery life. We figured we’d recharge in Germany. ha ha.

Getting ready for takeoff. Carter was a champ. She sucked on his finger during takeoff and fell asleep before we reached cruising altitude. I was wishing Phil could be at the airport to say, “The world is waiting for you . . .” (I know you are all Amazing Race fans too, right?)

my brain is a jumble because I can’t believe that we’re actually getting on the flight in a few hours. there won’t be any pictures with this post because I don’t feel like pulling out the camera, downloading them, uploading them, etc. Besides, I don’t think my brain is up to such a technical task at the moment.

I need to practice the “I don’t need to feel nervous right now because all I’m doing is sitting at my computer in an airport” technique because I can feel it creeping up on me. I’m hoping that the next time I post something will be from Egypt. And that I will feel like posting pictures. And that maybe some of those pictures will involve a camel. And that these 24 hours pass more quickly than ever before. And that I can sleep on the plane. And that the baby sleeps on the plane.

 

Dropping off the car went very smoothly today. The only hiccup was that we arrived with too much gas in the car (it needed to be less than 1/4 of a tank) so Josh had to go driving to burn it off. As resourceful as he is though, he stopped at a Kragen Auto Parts store and bought a gas can and some hose and bypassing the anti-theft valve on the gas tank, was able to siphon off 5 gallons that he added to my car. Yea for “free” gas! The entire process took about 2 hours since they inspected the car even closer than we did before we bought it, noting every single spot or scratch in the paint or on the glass. Oh and anything that was loose in the car had to be taken out and put in a sealed box so it didn’t “disappear” during shipment. So the car was stripped of all floor mats, the tools that are in the hidden panel in the back door, and even the cover for the steering wheel were all taped up and Josh had to sign his name across the tape so we’ll know if it has been tampered with upon arrival in Egypt.

 

Killing time while the dude did his thorough inspection. He circled the car 2 full times and I’m not exaggerating when I say that part took about 25 minutes. *snore*

The highlight of the trip was while I was sitting in the office waiting for Josh to dispose of the excess fuel, an Army guy, who I have renamed “Poor Dude,” came in to ship his car. The first thing he said was, “I don’t have the registration because the movers packed it.” Poor Dude, I know how you feel.

But then it turned out he didn’t have the title either since he had just paid it off and the bank hadn’t mailed it to him yet. I knew then that he was up a creek. The lady said, “we can’t take it today. When do you leave for Germany?” Poor Dude replied, “Sunday.”

So I don’t know what happened to Poor Dude and his friend, but I do know he wasn’t very happy and he didn’t get to ship his car today. Glad that wasn’t us . . .

Next step — load the minivan with all the excess worthless stuff that didn’t make it on the moving truck and drop it at the storage place. Then all that will be left is to get on the plane.

Poor girl. We’re hoping she gets some teeth soon to put her out of her misery. She doesn’t look too miserable though, does she? We dose her up with Tylenol when she starts whimpering and has trouble sleeping. In the meantime she is chewing on anything she can get her mouth on, including my chin, hands and shoulders.