There's Always Too Much Sauce - A July 2022 TR *Updated 3/23

[luvpoohandcompany]

Yes, the odds weren't in your favor, were they?

I am still stunned (and delighted) we made it!

I'm just glad you were able to go to WDW, as well, and get back to the magic.

Thank you and right back atcha

Oh wow! I had no idea this happened! A massive congratulations to him!!!!

It was fabulous! Of course I was banned from mentioning it to anyone until they had ratified his identity and qualifications and he doesn’t exist on Fb for many reasons, some personal choice and some professional wisdom.

I know we've already talked about it, but it's unbelievable how hot this July felt. Maybe there wasn't as much cloud cover as years in the past? Because it just felt like that 90 degree sun was beating down on you.

You could be right about the lack of cloud cover. Whatever the cause it was definitely hot and I was so glad of Disney air-conditioning.

Alex wants to drive and take the ferry over from the U.K. to Dublin and then roadtrip north. But whew...that would be a lot of time in the car!

I remember travelling to visit relatives in london by boat and car as a kid. We’d go Larne -Stranraer by boat and then drive up. It was a long drive but one time we stayed on the boat overnight in the dock and left at 5.30am. It was magical driving through Scotland in the early hours. We saw deer along the way. Not sure of your route to the boat but I will tell you that Dublin to Belfast is just about 2 hours ( maybe a wee bit less) if you drive it straight. If you like to stop along the way there are lots of Applegreen service stations. They have toilets, food stations (usually a cafe nero and a Burger King at the very least) and some have a small soft play bit that allows the kids to let off some steam. Lots to see both sides of the border. You will only really realize you’ve crossed the border when you see the road signs ( not like the bad old days when we queued for a looong time depending on the mood of those doing the checking). In the south the all have Irish and English on them and they are in kilometres. In the north it’s miles not kilometres and some signs will be English only.

If there's one thing you need to know about me, this meme right here sums it up pretty well.

We are clearly cut from the same cloth!

And in that world, if you’re fifteen minutes early to something…

Then you’re late.

Nursing was exactly the same!

Alex and I were hearing horror stories about long queues at check-in desks, luggage getting left behind, chaos reigning down amongst the terminals of London’s busiest airport.

Dublin airport was bad but Heathrow was insane

Our happy selves were going to arrive at the airport four hours ahead of time.

Yep that’d be me too.

Well, actually. 6:30 was the absolute latest I wanted us gone. So Alex and I told ourselves we’d shoot for 6 o’clock.

Because we all know in that last half hour a million random things pop up.

Why is it that just as you’re about to leave the house everyone gotta have one last trip to the loo or kitchen ( at least in our house) plus I always have to make sure the teapot has been emptied (again). Nothing worse than coming home to mouldy teabags in the pot

Alex, we are going to need to go to Target tomorrow.”
“Already? Did you do this on purpose?”
“Would I do that?”
“To get to Target….yes.”

Well now Alicia we all know how you love Target

It was chaos.

(I haven’t forgotten about you, Northern Ireland. You were in the shops past security, taking up EVERY seat in the reception hall.)

, “It’s like we’re watching a race where everyone loses.”

Landon was spot on wasn’t he.

Four hours early, and we only had about twenty minutes to spare!

Traveling during the summer is not for the faint of heart, friends.

Madness really but I’m totally with you. We drove to Dublin the night before our 2.50pm flight partly because Matthew gets car sick and mostly because I could not wait to get this holiday started and I was not risking a flat tyre or traffic coming between me and that plane once I knew we were good to go so I hailed my husband from work and told him we were hitting the road and he could do whatever he needed to do from the hotel to finish up He was not hard to persuade
I like clearing US immigration and customs in Dublin so I don’t have that madness at the end of my 9 hr flight and can whizz through MCO like an American

 

[cindianne320]

Oh, man. Travel days are the WORST, and now I'm on the edge of my seat with what else happened...
PS- I had to buy Motrin at the airport on our way to Orlando in April- I switched purses, and left the travel one in the old one...

 

[disneyAndi14]

Wow, hectic airport! I have been to Heathrow a couple times but only coming in not taking off.
Our little airport here is very convenient and quiet. If you get there 30-40 minutes before boarding you are good to go. If there are 5 people in the security line at once it is a lot

 

[vamassey1]

I know this was a hectic day but I really enjoyed the telling of it. You're such a great writer. I felt like I was right there. I was laughing and getting really nervous.

Can't wait for more.

 

[VAtink]

Little late to the party, but joining in! Loving the TR so far, cannot wait for the next update!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I am here!!!! Can't wait to hear all about the trip!!!

The window to turn her hasn’t closed yet.



We’ve still got time.

I hope her love of Disney is a slow grow.

(Mind you, the kids took this to mean too many stuffies. Oh, the stuffies….How many plush characters in one bedroom constitutes a problem? Because I’m pretty sure both my children fall under that category.)

They are in good company with Gwen.

July would not be our first choice of months to participate in an over-indulgent splurge trip, but alas.

Kids.


In order to take as long as we wanted, we had to wait for those tiny humans to not be in school.

I have finally accepted this for us. July 2023 here we come

*Friends, I am truly humbled. Thank you all so much for reading my intro and following along on this crazy journey. If someone would have told me twelve years ago that I would still be documenting my trips to Disney, still talking with fellow Disney lovers about all things mouse-related, I would have said they were crazy. But making that first post, thinking about when I’d be able to write my next update, it brought all the joy of vacation back to me. So thank you for allowing me to live in the magic just a teensy bit longer.*

I feel the same! It feel normal.

Now, on with the show! I apologize in advance that I'm breaking our travel day into two posts. I know these are some of the least exciting updates in a trip report, but something happened halfway through our travel day that requires talking about. It's extremely relevant to the rest of our trip and not to be missed.
So hang on folks! We can get through this slog together.

I weirdly love hearing about people's travel day.

Yes. Four hours.

And let’s be real, if I was traveling on my own, I might have made it five.

Just to be safe, you know?

I would have done the same thing with that news reports! And sounds like it was defintely worth it

Well, actually. 6:30 was the absolute latest I wanted us gone. So Alex and I told ourselves we’d shoot for 6 o’clock.

Because we all know in that last half hour a million random things pop up.

SO True!!!

It’ll be a glorious day when the kids don’t need booster seats anymo

I will confirm, it is wonderful!!! The one trip that we took and needed to bring booster seats, was so annoying and that was just booster seats not full car seats.

he gates branch out from a central hub, but unfortunately, the airport doesn’t announce your gate until an hour before boarding. So you kind of just have to sit in a big waiting area and pay attention to the boards.

That is annoying! Reminds me of taking the train in NYC.

It seemed that while I heeded the news’s warning….others did not.

There were LOTS of panicked travelers.

I am always amazed at the people who don't give themselves enough time.

And it was while we were sitting here, munching on some grapes (eat the fruit first! Can’t take those bad boys off the plane.) that Landon made the comment, “It’s like we’re watching a race where everyone loses.”

Ha! Love it!

 

[PAsFab5]

Your kids have grown so much oh my goodness!!! Following along, excited to hear about your trip!!!

 

[amazingact21]

I don’t read too many trip reports anymore, and mostly lurk over comment but had to say hello before lurking through this one. I’ve been reading your reports since your pre-kids days. I remember little Landon when he was a baby on Main Street with his cute glasses and Mickey hat. Can’t believe he is so big!

Thank you for continuing to read and follow along!
It's hard for me to remember Landon when he was that little. Seems like a lifetime ago!

Dh and I signed up for the Orlando Informer meetup in Dec and are trying out kids nite out to get some adult time.

Hooray for adult trip time!!! And in December when the weather should be cooler. Sounds awesome! I'll keep my fingers crossed all goes well and you two have a fab time.

We too arrive too early for everything a spend too much time in parking lots. I remember on my first day of orientation for Xray school, I walked in and the board said “ If you aren’t 15 minutes early, you are late” I knew I found my place

Hahaha, I feel like people can't relate to wanting to be early if they haven't sat in their car and waited until a reasonable time to arrive early.

Hi!!! So happy to see another one of your reports!!

I’ll read it alllll even if I don’t always comment! Stay cool hopefully this heat wave is ending or ended for you already!!

Aw, hi and thanks for reading another one of my reports!!! Do you have a report going? I miss so many these days.
Thankfully, it's cooled down a bit here. The kids still get to wear shorts to school, which is really rare by this point in the year here. But you won't hear me complaining. I'm like a lizard, outside soaking up the sunshine as much as I can before winter comes and it's dark by 3 o'clock.

I know London Heathrow is horrendous but Toronto Pearson (where I am flying out of on Sunday) is not far behind.

I'm hoping traveling went well for you!

Summer travel is so fun! Or not.

As a teacher, I know you understand the struggle of having to go during the hottest months of the year. Fortunately, Disney makes it worth it.

 

[amazingact21]

Heck, we have precheck now, so we shouldn't have to take any of that out. But I still pack that way, just in case

YES! Alex gets pre-check with being in the military yet he still makes sure everything is easily accessible. Because you just never know.

I can't believe you had to get there 4 hours early to avoid losing the race, too, but there's nothing worse than starting a trip racing to the gate.

It made for a long travel day for sure, but like you said, I couldn't imagine running to my gate with the kids and our backpacks.

Here and following along!!

Welcome and thanks for joining!

I have a feeling this is going to be well worth the reading, already very entertaining!!

Thank you for joining. I try my best to turn our antics into jokes. After all, if you can't laugh at yourself, what can you laugh at?

 

[amazingact21]

We flew home from Heathrow in May. It was crazy, loud, chaotic but we made it to our gate without too much anxiety.

Heathrow is probably one of my least favorite airports. That hub area you have to wait around in is just too crowded and loud.

Hold my dole whip best TR line ever.

I feel like a lot of people witness a "hold my Dole Whip" moment in Disney. I know our slip ups were worthy of the phrase.

I'm already completely freaking out we'll miss our Frankfurt connection. Never mind that we have a 2+ hour layover, but... yeah. I'm panicking.

Fortunately, Frankfurt has lots of clear signs and when I was last there, albeit 3 years ago, they worked hard at shuffling people through customs. (I'm assuming you have to go through customs.) But yes, layovers are always so flipping stressful. Hate them.

 

[amazingact21]

he doesn’t exist on Fb for many reasons, some personal choice and some professional wisdom

Probably a wise choice on his part. We dealt with a teacher last year who added us on social media and that was a big, "nope, nope, nope" for me. Quickly deleted her.

It was magical driving through Scotland in the early hours.

I can imagine.

Dublin to Belfast is just about 2 hours ( maybe a wee bit less) if you drive it straight.

Alex is happy to hear this. He really does want to make that trek at some point. And I'm happy to hear there are plenty of resting places along the way. I'll have to ask some more questions when this roadtrip inevitably happens.

Why is it that just as you’re about to leave the house everyone gotta have one last trip to the loo or kitchen

Always.

We drove to Dublin the night before our 2.50pm flight partly because Matthew gets car sick and mostly because I could not wait to get this holiday started and I was not risking a flat tyre or traffic coming between me and that plane once I knew we were good to go so I hailed my husband from work and told him we were hitting the road and he could do whatever he needed to do from the hotel to finish up He was not hard to persuade
I like clearing US immigration and customs in Dublin so I don’t have that madness at the end of my 9 hr flight and can whizz through MCO like an American

Smart idea. That drive to the airport really can add a lot of worry to the travel day, especially when it's several hours.
I had no idea you could clear customs in Dublin. How convenient!

PS- I had to buy Motrin at the airport on our way to Orlando in April- I switched purses, and left the travel one in the old one...

Ah, no! And you knew the minute you didn't pick some up, you would need it.

 

[amazingact21]

Our little airport here is very convenient and quiet. If you get there 30-40 minutes before boarding you are good to go. If there are 5 people in the security line at once it is a lot

Hah! Sounds like the airport near my parent's house. She flew a few weeks ago, and they called her over to the TSA Precheck line, simply because there was nobody else going through security.
Honestly, there's a little part of me that longs for smaller airports such as those. After 7 years of dealing with Frankfurt and Heathrow, I'm ready for less hectic travel mornings.

I know this was a hectic day but I really enjoyed the telling of it. You're such a great writer. I felt like I was right there. I was laughing and getting really nervous.

Oh, thank you so much! You're too kind.
As I'm sure you and all our TR writer friends know, making these reports is so much fun and a great way to look back on our trips. A lot of times, things I forgot about come back to me as I go to recap the day.

Little late to the party, but joining in! Loving the TR so far, cannot wait for the next update!

Welcome! Thank you for following along!

 

[amazingact21]

I hope her love of Disney is a slow grow.

Me too. I'm hoping once she can keep up with Landon and us she'll start to love it a little more. She still struggles with walking around the parks and having the energy to handle late nights.

They are in good company with Gwen.

Does she have a system to how she stores them or is it just madness like my kids' stuffies are?

I will confirm, it is wonderful!!! The one trip that we took and needed to bring booster seats, was so annoying and that was just booster seats not full car seats.

I feel like it'll be the next phase of my life. While I'm glad the booster seats don't have the million buckles and straps carseats do, I am still so, so sick of toting them around.

Your kids have grown so much oh my goodness!!! Following along, excited to hear about your trip!!!

Thanks for joining! I know, it's hard to believe they were the same kids I used to carry around Walt Disney World. Landon's up to my shoulders now.

 

[NJlauren]

Aw, hi and thanks for reading another one of my reports!!! Do you have a report going? I miss so many these days.
Thankfully, it's cooled down a bit here. The kids still get to wear shorts to school, which is really rare by this point in the year here. But you won't hear me complaining. I'm like a lizard, outside soaking up the sunshine as much as I can before winter comes and it's dark by 3 o'clock.

That’s great news about the weather!!

I have a semi live one going as DD4 wasn’t feeling right yesterday so to kill time I created one . But I took a new job and I don’t have the time at the moment so I just read everyone else’s but I do miss them. And I have been a number of times!

We do have London planned for November 2023, so I’ll probably be reaching out with recommendations for the kids!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Me too. I'm hoping once she can keep up with Landon and us she'll start to love it a little more. She still struggles with walking around the parks and having the energy to handle late nights.

That is always the problem wiht being the youngest. Always trying to keep up with the older sybling!

Does she have a system to how she stores them or is it just madness like my kids' stuffies are?

So, She has a core group that basically live in her bed with her. And then she has the next "tier" of favorites displayed shelves we got for her room. And then the next "tier" live in lower bookshelf area. And then the lowest of low "tier" live in the attic in baskets.

 

[amazingact21]

We do have London planned for November 2023, so I’ll probably be reaching out with recommendations for the kids!

How fun!!! London's great with kids, most museums have kid trails or interactive activities. And there's parks everywhere.

And then she has the next "tier" of favorites displayed shelves we got for her room.

I might have to invest in some of those for our next house. Between stuffies and LEGO sets, their rooms are exploding.

 

[amazingact21]

July 6th, Travel Day Part 2



Let’s head back to London Heathrow Airport, shall we?

Where Alex was using this new fangled trick he learned last April with the Apple phone.
(Yes, I’m secretly a Grandma when it comes to technology and this is exactly how I describe anything nifty Alex discovers on our phones.)



Apparently, if you text Flight and the number into an imessage, you can then press and hold the text and a pop up will appear asking if you’d like to preview the flight. This came in handy when I traveled home last spring and needed my gate during a layover. It also let us know that the flights leaving the last few days were delayed every time.


It also gave us our gate number before the Virgin staff were ready for us.


My little family walked up to the check in area where several agents looked at us with confusion and panic.

“Why are you here now?”
“We’re not ready for anybody yet.”

In other words, SCRAM, ANNOYING TRAVELERS.


Fortunately, they sent us away, then called us right back.
“All right, all right, we’ll have pity and scan your passports. Give us a good rating on the feedback survey.”




The perks of having Economy Delight with Virgin Atlantic is that we get priority boarding.

The reality of having Economy Delight is that when the flight is delayed, we’re stuck in the same situation as everyone else, only we’ve been in our seats ten minutes longer.



Following the new’s reporting, there was no ground crew to load our luggage onto the plane, so we had to sit at the gate for forty five minutes until that was remedied.



Ahhh, the fresh faces of folks only starting out on their long haul flight. If only we could all stay that perky and awake throughout the entire journey.



Eventually, we made it into the air and got ourselves settled. The kids are amazing travelers and have flying down pat. They unpack their headphones, find a movie they like on the seat screen, and make themselves comfortable. On this particular flight, our seat layout was two and two, so each parent only had one kid to contend with.



Landon made a crack about letting him and Evie sit next to each other while Mom and Dad chilled out behind them.


I was tempted.

Sorely tempted.



Just like the booster seats….one day.




Lunch was served shortly after we were in the air, and luckily I remembered to order the young ones kids’ meals. A lady across from Alex saw their boxes and promptly declared, “I wish I’d ordered that for myself.”



This might come as a shock to you, but this was not the only time on vacation the kids got chicken nuggets.



Alex and I got a chicken dish that tasted very much like a frozen chicken pot pie. And while I wouldn’t call that the best of culinary delicacies, at least it wasn’t bad.

The real winner, though, was the chocolate pudding that came in the box.



We had gotten this last summer when we flew home, and one the attendants offered us extra because back then it was an empty flight. Then I got it again when I flew in April.

I was familiar with this treat and knew it was great. It’s thicker than an average mousse, to the point where you have to lick it off your spoon, but the added sea salt cuts the sweetness. So if you’re like me and not a milk chocolate fan, this was perfect. It was the mildness of milk chocolate without the overly sugary saturation of the milky creaminess.



After eating, I listened to Evie bombard Alex with pleas for more snacks.

I don’t know what it is about traveling, but Evie develops an extra stomach when in motion.


She is going to be the best road trip companion.



Seriously.

Who doesn’t love having that friend that wants to stop at all the gas stations and stock up on chips and chocolate and sour gummies and donuts in their powdered form?

If you need to get from Point A to Point B and don’t want to feel judged by your junk food consumption, Evie’s your gal.



Back at home, I used a very scientific and well thought out method for what snacks to bring with us.

Which was….I took every open bag of food we had in the pantry and poured them into two separate Ziploc bags.

The kids ended up with Teddy Grahams, Cheeze-Its, and Goldfish.

And Evie ate them all!



It was on the fifth or sixth request that Alex finally tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Evie is a snack monster! Where is it all going?”

Don’t question the Vacation Stomach, Alex.

Let the girl have her food.



Letting Alex scramble around in Evie’s bag for every crumb and morsel he could find, I reminded Landon to not laugh too loud at his movie, took a peek at our view out the window:





And put my headphones in to try and catch a nap.

Just as I closed my eyes, Landon got my attention. Not sure if it was for anything important or just because he sensed me starting to relax and couldn’t stand for that.

Moms never rest. That’s unheard of!

“Here kid, let’s take a selfie and then you can put on a new movie.”





Back to my music, I was growing calm.

This was nice.

Everyone was fed, entertained, and we were all on our way to Florida.

Our vacation was coming up.

It was HERE.



Just a few more sleeps, and we would be back in the Disney parks.

The parks.

What would they be like after three years away?

Behind my closed lids, I tried to imagine the feeling of seeing the castle again, of smelling the water on Pirates, of biting into a Ronto Wrap for the first time.

Those were nice thoughts.

I liked these imaginings.

Since I had the time, why not start from the beginning?

From the moment we scan into the parks.



Scan into….



Scan.



My eyes flew open.

I know that’s said as an exaggeration, but my eyes literally popped upon like two blinds getting sent up a window.

I stared straight and ahead and let a realization hit me.

Over and over again.


Like a jackhammer on my heart.


WE FORGOT THE TICKETS AT HOME.



Code Red! Code Red!!!!

WE FORGOT THE TICKETS!!!!!!!!!




How?! How in this big beautiful wonderous world do you FORGET YOUR TICKETS WHEN YOU’RE GOING TO THEME PARKS?!?!?!?!

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.”

I was sitting in my chair, paralyzed with stupidity. I knew eventually I’d have to turn around and tell Alex this revelation, but for the moment I needed to bask in denial.


“We couldn’t have? They were right next to the passports. I wrote down GRAB PASSPORTS and PAPERWORK like, fifty times. I wouldn’t have been so dumb as to leave our tickets. Would I? WOULD I?!”



Of course, friends, I am sure you are going, “Who even buys physical tickets anymore?”

Trust me, Alex wouldn’t if he could avoid it. But you see, we have to buy our tickets from Shades of Green, since we do not have a ticket office overseas that sells military tickets. What they do is receive a request form from us, and when they are ready, they tell us to call them and we give them our payment information. Then, they FEDEX our tickets to a stateside address.

Who, in this case, would be my mom. She’s great about mailing the tickets to us from that point on. To which, Alex or I stick them right next to our passports so we have them on hand.



But a few weeks prior to our trip, Alex took the tickets out to do something with the Universal app and we stuck them in behind the passports, not in the envelope we carry all our paperwork in.

And for whatever reason, neither of us, NOT ONCE thought while packing, “Remember to grab the tickets.”

OHMYGOSH!!!



Time to bring someone else into this festival of fun.

I turned around in my chair and leaned over the back.

“Alex.”
“Hmm.”
“Alex.”
He opened his eyes. “What?”
“We forgot the tickets.”

Confusion passed across his face. Then denial (I could read his thoughts, “No, we didn’t. They’re in the bag like they’re supposed to be.”). Then fear.

Oh the fear.

“Oh no.”

“Oh yes, dear husband. Oh yes.”



We checked our bags. Just in case.

We covered our eyes and pretended to cry. We laughed.

Because what else can you do at a time like that?

Alex grabbed his phone and tried to swipe to his Disney app, then remembered we were 40,000 feet in the air and could not do anything.



There was nothing to do but turn back around into our chairs, close our eyes, and listen to the voice in our heads repeating, “You forgot the tickets. You forgot the tickets.”

Like a mantra.


If you thought It’s a Small World was an annoying earworm, I’m her to tell you. The voice in your head that wants to keep your mistake front row, center can get pretty darn annoying, too.

YOUFORGOTYOURTICKETS. YOUFORGOTYOURTICKETS. YOU FORGOT YOUR TICKETS.



Needless to say, the flight felt very long after that point. No naps were to be had. No shows were to be focused on. Just hours and hours of stewing in our own slip ups.

It was not fun, readers. Not fun at all.



Near the end of the flight, we were received an afternoon tea service.



Where Landon got to spread his own jam. Thanks to it being strawberry, and me being allergic to the fruit, I could only watch in mild panic as he toyed around with a sticky, staining jelly. Because I didn’t have enough stress in my life, Virgin!


Thankfully, he remained relatively clean, and we as we made it to Florida, we were able to see the Kennedy Space Center.





Landon complained about his ears hurting a lot on the descent. The poor kid still had congestion issues from when he had the illness that shall not be named, but he stopped talking about it once we were at the gate, so I didn’t think anything else of it.


Customs was quick and easy, as was grabbing our bags. The four of us got on the fake o’rail and headed to the main concourse area of the airport. We needed to connect to the airport’s Wifi, get our rental car, and call Alex’s brother who wanted to meet for dinner.

Lots to do.
We were tired, hot, and trying to orient ourselves.



The perfect time for Landon to decide to get sick.



Thank our lucky stars I realized what was happening in time and got him to a trash can, and as I stood there holding my kid’s hair, I said to myself, “This is about right.”


"But! I’m in Florida.”


No matter what, I was on vacation.

Might not be able to go anywhere.

But I wasn’t at home cleaning dishes.

Gotta look on the bright side.



Naturally, at this point, Landon was a little grumpy. And he needed to make it known that I had forgotten something yet again.

“You didn’t give me Dramomine, Mom!”

Good grief.

I needed a new job. I was firing myself from this whole Trip Planner, Mom Organizer.




Once Landon felt better, we called my BIL and told him we would not be meeting for dinner. That we just needed to get to Alex’s mom’s house and call it a day. We couldn’t risk any more mess ups.


The Enterprise kiosk was quick and easy to use, as was getting to the car lot and picking a vehicle.


Now, loading the car, that was a different story.


You know when you decide to roast a chicken, and you’ve got the potatoes on the stove boiling and their humidity is filling the kitchen and then you’ve got to temp the bird so you open the oven and the heat just slaps you in the face.

That was what it was like getting our car loaded.

Alex and I were literally shoving our faces in an oven, setting booster seats in the back and lifting heavy cases into the trunk, asking Landon over and over again, “How do you feel? You okay?”

We were all still in pants from traveling and could feel the sweat rolling down the sides of our faces.



But! I was there! In the state I love oh so much.

Just a little hotter than I’d like to be. And, if you can believe it, just a teensy tiny bit more stressed than I imagined the day going.



We did it, though! Got everything and everyone in the vehicle and were ready to get to Alex’s mom’s house, which was about an hour’s drive away.

At which point, we did the wildest thing imaginable.

We hit the road with no cell service, no GPS, no nothing.

(Our phones have U.K. cards in them, so they didn’t work in FL.)



It was like going back to the 1980’s. Before even the MapQuest printouts could guide us.


It was probably the craziest thing we did on our vacation!

Going out in the big bad world with nothing technological to turn to. We felt like Lewis and Clarke!



Thank goodness Alex remembered the way to his mom’s house. If I was driving, we would’ve ended up in Miami.


And of course, with the unexpected adventure of Landon’s jam reappearance (I KNEW it was going to make a mess!) and trying to cancel plans with family and the heat of the parking lot, Alex and I had absolutely no time at all to look at our apps and see what could be done about our tickets.

Those would just have to wait until we were somewhere with Wifi.

And when we had some sleep in our system. We’d only been awake for about 20 hours at that point.


Gotta love travel days.




Up Next…You Just Made Our Day

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I might have to invest in some of those for our next house. Between stuffies and LEGO sets, their rooms are exploding.

It really helps the room not feel like a disaster. Keeps them organized and Gwen loves having them on display. Which is nice, since we probably already spent her college tuition on plushies.

Just like the booster seats….one day.

We let the girls sit next to each other one trip. Once. Problem is they both want to sit with me! Poor Andy gets the short stick.

If you need to get from Point A to Point B and don’t want to feel judged by your junk food consumption, Evie’s your gal.

She is just living her best vacation life!

The kids ended up with Teddy Grahams, Cheeze-Its, and Goldfish.

And Evie ate them all!

See!!! it's what makes her vacation a vacation!

WE FORGOT THE TICKETS AT HOME.



Code Red! Code Red!!!!

WE FORGOT THE TICKETS!!!!!!!!!

Oh no!!!! I would have pancied big time!

What they do is receive a request form from us, and when they are ready, they tell us to call them and we give them our payment information. Then, they FEDEX our tickets to a stateside address.

Why? Why does this have to be so difficult?! I know they want to verify you are military but come on? That is silly!

The perfect time for Landon to decide to get sick.



Thank our lucky stars I realized what was happening in time and got him to a trash can, and as I stood there holding my kid’s hair, I said to myself, “This is about right.”

Oh Boy!!! Morgan gets car sick, thankfully no plane sickness. Is it always after he get off the plane?

I needed a new job. I was firing myself from this whole Trip Planner, Mom Organizer.

Seriously if only we could be fired sometimes.... Not from being there mom but from all the chores that come with it.

We were all still in pants from traveling and could feel the sweat rolling down the sides of our faces.

I almost always bring shorts for us in our carryon. And I always have to pee when we land, as I try NOT to use the bathroom on the plane. So those pants some off almost immediately of landing in Florida!!! The humidity hits you hard when you take those first steps outside!!!


Well, thankfully, I know you guys make it to the parks so I know you resolve the ticket issue somehow.... hopefully it wasn't too much of a pain!!!

 

[rdkeim]

I'm a bit weird that way but I enjoy reading about travel days. Wow, you had a doozy! I've loved our international trips but do not love getting there. I can imagine the panic that swept over you when you realized you were ticketless! Guessing it wasn't too difficult to fix but more of a pain. You're in Florida - yay! Hope the rest of your day went smoother.

 

[snikki]

My DH would've had a full blown anxiety attack. Like you I would've made a joke and then been so upset at myself for forgetting. You guys handled it well though!

Can't wait to hear how you guys fixed it! My first thought was "Do they have to buy all new tickets!"