Day One & Two - Lost Days

It is going to be a long couple of days, that's for sure.

Mom arrived last night and we had a nice dinner out before sorting through our suitcases a bit. Ariel VERY helpfully loaned mom a base layer that I'm sure will be helpful in New Zealand when it gets chilly! We got some sleep and this morning woke up ready to go...to the store.

We got ready (I cut my hair) and then spent a little while downloading airline apps, checking into our (three) flights, and downloading the boarding passes. Took a quick walk down to Giant for some breakfast and a couple of last minute essentials (bottled water for me and a small hairbrush for mom). We did another sort through the suitcases and mom was shocked that I fit everything in my tiny travel backpack for this trip. I may regret the lack of space later, but I do like that I don't have to haul much around on these trips when we're hopping on and off planes...

Ariel dropped off Annabel before she left for work and Georgie instantly calmed down. She's still not doing well after we lost Darcy, and I really appreciate Ariel being willing to loan Annabel to us every day. Such a pain!

All of the cute.

We scheduled a taxi for 1 pm and started charging ALL THE THINGS. Mom and I both caught up on some work calls and before we knew it, it was time to catch our Lyft to Dulles. We met our driver at the curb and headed to the airport. The drive was about 45 minutes and it was beautiful. It’s still fall in DC and the trees were colorful against the perfectly blue sky.

We got to Dulles and got mom’s suitcase checked in and we were through security in no time. TSA was extremely professional and polite, which I thought was very kind considering they haven’t been paid for over a month and they are still coming to work and doing their jobs.

We took a train to our terminal and then scouted out some food for lunch. After a perusal of the many burger options, I introduced mom to Cava, which she promptly declared needed to open in Harrison. Immediately. Great lunch and the cinnamon pita chips were unbelievable. We refilled our water bottles (trying to stay hydrated!) and plopped down at our gate to wait for the flight.

We boarded on time and got to our seats on our completely packed flight to Dallas. I crammed my bag into the overhead compartment and we got settled in, leaving right on time. The flight was pretty uneventful except for the gentleman that was continually sneezing and sniffling right next to mom. We both very much hoped he had allergies…

We waved to Uncle Tom as we flew over Dallas, and arrived right on time. Our next flight was two concourses over, so we headed to the skylink/aggressive tram system that runs between the concourses and arrived at D in no time. My legs were swelling a bit with my compression socks, so I propped them up a bit (started feeling much better).

I am feeling so old. Compression socks and Hokas. But I am not messing up this ankle after my last trip…

I was getting a bit hungry, so I stopped by McDonalds for some fries and a coke. Got to stay awake a lot longer to attempt to get on the right time zone…

We boarded the plan a little after 9 pm and got settled in. The seat next to me was vacant so mom and I got the entire row to ourselves! Mom put on her fuzzy socks and I moved over to the window seat to give us both more room. 16 hour flight. Let’s go!

Getting cozy!

Already sleepy and I have to stay awake another 5 hours. Yikes!

We left right on time, and I was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief that the government shutdown wasn’t going to derail this carefully planned out flight schedule. No delays in the US and all of the flights in Australia and New Zealand are single-legs, so if we’re late, we’ll just be late. We got a bit of chicken dinner and a drink before they shut the lights off. I had already made a point of wanting to get onto the time zone in Australia, so I watched a movie, played on my Switch, listened to an audiobook and tried to stay awake as long as I could.

My socks were bothering me so I ended up switching them for the crew socks mom brought to share, and finally got some sleep. They served an odd ratatouille Stromboli thing 10 hours into the flight and mom and I both decided it was a pass. But there was ice cream too! We both got some more sleep (me, off and on) and I entertained myself watching the in-flight map of the plane flying over the terrifyingly vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean.