Leaving On An Aero-Plane...

I was pretty pleased with how I was so prepared ahead of time when it came to packing up 4 kids and myself (Hun was on his own). I had purchased all I needed. Everything was in place. All my laundry was done. Tuesday morning, all the luggage sat open in my living room, waiting for it's contents. The kids clothing and accessories had all been chosen and sat waiting in laundry baskets. By Tuesday afternoon, all the children's luggage was more or less packed.

I will interject here to say, for the week and a half prior to our trip, Hun was in and out of town constantly, trying to pack in as much business as he could before taking off of work. He was even out of town until Midnight Tuesday, before our trip on Wednesday. I knew, in order to get things done, I needed to hire myself a surrogate baby holder. So my usual College age babysitter came by Tuesday Evening while I finished up.

However, it was now time to pack myself. And I was certain, with everyone else's belongings in place, my packing would only take a short time more, and for once in our lives when embarking on a trip, I would actually get some sleep the night before.

EH... NOT SO MUCH!!!

It seems, no matter how prepared, I am doomed to be up until 4 am, only to arise again at 7 am, because that is what happens when the F. family is about to take a trip. Aaaaaaagh!!! It did not help that, Hun (did I say he was on his own) kept interrupting my own packing so I could "yay" or "nay" his choice of wardrobe. Men!

We had 6 pieces packed, plus a suitcase for my nephew and a brand new pack n' play to replace the death trap aging crib in our apartment in Israel. That is 8 pieces for check in. Each kid has a carry-on full of toys. I had a purse, diaper bag, backpack full of electronics, and food bag. Hun had a carry-on as well. And we also had a stroller for Ate and the car seat and wheels for Bam.

Ready, Set, GO!~

Hun took the van full of pretty much everything, and So and Ate and drove to his factory not far from the airport, to pick up his father, who would then drive 'em all to the airport, where Ro, Bam and myself would meet them via taxi. It worked well.

Checking in was a breeze. I only had to nurse a baby STANDING on line to check in. That, itself should be an Olympic Sport. I would so win a medal.

A bit later, after purchasing 16 oz bottles of water that cost roughly 1000.00 dollars each, so that the sky can be safe from my own 50 cent bottles of water from home, we were on a plane to JFK.

The two hour + plane ride to New York was pretty uneventful. But due to the current cash hoarding of airlines, creating policies that require one to pay extra if they want an aisle seat, we were placed in row 17 - window and middle, row 18 - window and middle and row 19 - middle.

And so I approached the gate counter and asked,

"Please suggest to me, how I spread my family of six, oldest child only 6 and 1/2, across these 3 rows, so that everyone can possibly be supervised by an adult..."

"Well, you can have one adult in each row with a child (including the infant, lap child)..."

"And the final child?"

"Oh - I see the problem..."

DING DONG, THE LIGHTS HAVE FINALLY COME ON!

And so, they fixed the problem.

We arrived at JFK at 4 pm EST and our bags were checked all the way to Israel, so all we had to do was schlep our five children, two strollers, and eight carry-ons from the domestic terminal to the international terminal, to check ourselves in and receive our boarding passes.

Easy as pie?

Hell no!

Who the hell built the connection from domestic to international terminals at JFK? No, seriously, who? I want to thank him for all the calories I burned, and the hour of life I lost.

We went up an elevator, and down an elevator, walked ten minutes, found the airtran, went up an elevator to the airtran. Then we held onto our children and possessions for dear life as we rode the airtran. We then left the airtran and went down an, anybody? Anybody? An elevator, that's right. Then, of course, we needed a pit stop, nursed a baby, wiped a nose, and walked another fifteen minutes, until we found another friggin' elevator. We went up the elevator - no, no, I stand corrected. We were SUPPOSED to go UP the elevator, but first decided to take a detour down due to overzealous button pushing on the part of a small child who shall remain nameless. Then we went up an elevator, crossed a hallway and then I had to remember who's turn it was to push the buttons of the next elevator (shoot me now) - this better be the last effin' elevator. And down we went.

And there it was (rays of light shine down upon it and angels sing) the "El Al" counter.

And we answered the security questions, and passed with flying colors...
"By the way, in case you did not know, the reason they ask the questions...

"Bee cuz whe are efred som one geeve you somsing that luke een no cent, bot reeley it ez bum." (as in - bomb)

So we check in and have a little misunderstanding about epi-pens (epinephrine pens {syringes} carried by me so I don't die when accidentally exposed to fish), but it gets worked out. It is now almost 5:30 pm and our flight does not board until 7 pm.

It was planned ahead of time, that Hun's cousin would bring Hun's Grandparents (all from Queens), as well as some grub, and we would hang in the very scenic JFK and chow down together.


(Not pictured: Hun's cousin D., and her adorable baby girl)

It was a lovely, yet short visit. But it was also the first time that Nana and Dada met Bam.

I will end this post here, only because the next part includes two confrontations on my part that totally embarrassed my husband to tears had Hun so proud of the "Mama Bear" he married. (No body messes with my family.) And that part will take more energy out of me. Just thinking about it, has me all riled up again.

JFK sucks, and so do the people who travel through it (excluding US, of course).