Our grand adventure to Sprance or Frain (that's Spain and France combined) began with a flight from Salt Lake to Paris. We were very happy that we could take a direct flight and not have several lay-overs before we got there. When traveling with children, we think this is the way to go. I had been preparing our bags for over a week, setting aside clothing and swimsuits, and gathering things for the children to do while on the plane. About two weeks before we left, I was prompted to look into buying ipads to entertain the children while on our long flight. Kent researched, and in the end we bought two Kindle Fires, loaded them with games, books, and movies, and kept them a secret from the children so we could surprise them once we got on the plane.
Knowing that we were going to have to haul luggage around, and that the children would not be able to really move their own bags around easily, I packed us each a small suitcase, only slightly larger than carry-on size. We were going to be able to do laundry during our stay, so I didn't figure we needed to take three weeks worth of clothing. This turned out to be a wise decision, as Brandt and Blythe were able to be responsible for their backpacks, but Kent and I did have to move around two suitcases each.
We drove our car to Salt Lake and picked up Kent's brother David on the way to the airport. He kept our car for the duration of our trip, and then collected us at the end. This way we didn't have to leave our car in long-term parking, and as David lives only 20 minutes from the airport, no one was greatly inconvenienced.
Brandt, me, and Blythe squished together in the backseat on the way to the airport.
Our luggage filling the trunk.
Our flight from Salt Lake to Paris went without a hitch. The children were very good, with the exception of the fact that Kent told them we had the Kindles before we actually got on the plane, and Brandt must have asked Kent 652 times if he could play with it before we got on the airplane. I had intended on bringing them out only after we were given the ok to use electronic devices. Not a big deal, however. Both children slept for a bit of the flight, but neither ate very much. My carry-on was largely filled with foodstuffs, and they did eat some of the munchies I had brought.
Waiting for our bags.
This is Blythe in front of a placard of the Eiffel Tower.
It is in the airport, near the luggage carousel.
She was so excited to see it she insisted on having her picture taken in front.
Upon arrival, we took the train into the city to our hotel. We had a night's lay-over before we could take our flight to Spain. Because of our early departure the following morning, we stayed at a hotel across the street from the Gare de Nord train station, a direct shot from the airport. We had a short rest in our very French hotel room. It was small with two beds, light blue walls with a purple accent wall, gold curtains and orange yellow bedspreads. There were no English TV channels and no shower curtain, but the bathroom was nicely tiled and everything was clean. While Kent and I would have liked to sleep, and the kids would have liked to play on the Kindles, we dragged ourselves out and about.
Notice the green thing Brandt is clutching?
His Kindle.
We took a bush from Gare de Nord to the Eiffel Tower, the thing most talked about by Brandt and Blythe since we told them we were going. Blythe nearly fell asleep on the slightly too long bus ride. We should have taken the metro. When we arrived at the Eiffel Tower, we found there were crazy long lines to get tickets, like lines at Disneyland in the middle of July for the new Cars ride. The wait would have easily been over an hour. We couldn't do it, not exhausted and with two children. We decided to try and get reservations before we returned at the end of our trip.
The middle of a very long line.
We wandered around the base of the tower, and then went to ride a carousel. Well, Blythe rode one while Kent and Brandt went down to sit by the Seine. In the picture below, you can see Kent and Brandt on the right side of the picture, very small, in the background. I promise--it really is them. There was another carousel on the other side of the river that Brandt did ride, we walked up by the Champs de Mars, had an ice cream at Trocadero, and then went back to our hotel via the metro (faster and direct, though in the tunnel underground). On the metro, at every single stop, Brandt would lean out the car and yell, "All aboard!" Our efforts to get him to stop were fruitless.
Brandt is sitting next to me as I blog.
At the moment, it is 5:32am.
He has been up for about half an hour.
When he saw this picture he said to me, "I was throwing cigarettes into the river."
Great. How gross.
We were back at our hotel around 5pm. We were hungry and tired and went to get some dinner at a little restaurant around the corner from out hotel. The waiter brought Coke for the kids, included free with their dinner. HA! Like we were going to give our jetlagged kids caffeine. I plied them with green beans instead. We went back and had baths, drew the blackout curtains, and were in bed at 7pm. I hoped we would sleep until the alarm went off at 6am. No such luck.
I was awakened by movement in the room. Brandt had peed in his pullup and needed a change, and when I looked hopefully at the clock, I found it was only 11pm. We hadn't even made it to the next day! Oh groan. Everyone was awake. Blythe was whining that she wasn't tired, she and Brandt were both hungry, Blythe wanted a bath, and they both wanted to get up. "To do what?" I asked. It was the middle of the night! In addition to our restless state in our room, there was a group of drunk people at a bar right outside our hotel who were incredibly loud. They were laughing and singing Happy Birthday and yelling. They went on and one, loudly, into the wee hours of the morning. I began thinking murderous thoughts. I wanted to yell foul things out the window at them. Then I asked myself, 'Can I go downstairs in my pjs and punch someone? Would I be arrested? Would I care? What can I throw at them? An apple? A pee-filled pullup? Where are water balloons when you need them? Why don't I know more nasty words in French I can spew at them? Is it really all that bad to swear in French?' There was musical beds without the music, more whining, another snack, I cried, Kent told stories, I sang, another drink, and then, mercifully, we all fell asleep again. It was truly a hellacious night.
Kent and I were jolted awake by the 6am alarm to catch our flight to Spain. Brandt and Blythe slept right through it. We repacked, roused the children, and caught our train to the airport. We were feeling everything was going smoothly. We did take a bus to the wrong terminal, but we had plenty of time and I was not stressed. Then we went to check in. The very nice woman who is helping us can't find the reservation for me and Blythe. When we bought tickets, we used an agent for two because we had frequent flier miles, and then I bought the other two tickets on the internet. Kent and Brandt's tickets were there, but the other two are nowhere to be found. I began to feel sick to my stomach and very nervous. I had the email confirmation of our reservation, and I thought I would demand first class seating if she can't find us, but she made a call and all was well. She did give us priority luggage tags because of the stress.
Our flight to Spain wasn't too long and the kids were really good. They were a bit squirrely and sort of dragging, but they were happy and excited and were excellent travelers.
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