Our New World

Korea. We are here. We made it safely on July 24th after a very long adventure! The trip started off on Monday, July 22nd in St. Louis, Missouri. We had to fly out of here as it is a flight from duty station to duty station. My parents and I arrived at the airport with 4 large suitcases, a small roller carry-on suitcase, a diaper bag, a backpack, a stroller, a carseat and a smiley little boy. You can imagine what I looked like walking up to the counter. I could feel everyone that came up after me rolling their eyes and giving a slight sigh as they prepared to wait for me. I had a positive attitude as I entered the airport to begin the process of getting checked in, but that quickly changed to stress and tears! I had anticipated being able to bring my stroller and parents back to the gate with me. Neither of these happened. I was left by myself with a backpack, roller carry-on, diaper bag, car seat and child. I begged the desk clerk to let my parents have a gate pass to get through security with no avail. (I only believed they would be able to come back because those with military orders are suppose to be allowed to have gate passes for any guests they would like and we were on military orders.) So, there I was trying to get through security. Cooper was attached to me in my baby carrier screaming at the top of his lungs. I was crying not only because he was crying, but because I had just said goodbye to my parents and had to watch them say goodbye to Cooper. I had to get all the bottles out of the backpack along with the food and formula for them to put through separate security. I had one very nice TSA agent who was willing to take all my bags once they came through the scanner and set them up for me and put back all the bottles and formula while I got the DVD player put away and my shoes put back on. After that traumatizing experience it was off to the gate. My misery did not end at check-in and security. I got to the gate and immediately went to the desk to ask for some assistance when it came time to board the plane. The lady looked at me and said, “Well, what on earth could you need help with?” I thought she was joking and after a moment of silence I said, “Well apparently nothing,” and walked away before she could see my tears. As I waited with my little traveler, who was a perfect angel I might add, I prepared for the walk down the gate to the plane. I imagined that I would have plenty of time and room to get there since they normally allow those with small children to board first. Not American Airlines. When I asked about this the response was, “Well this is summer and everyone has kids, so we can’t go by that.” How about those that cannot even walk? Can we get a little sympathy for them? So there I was in the last boarding group with all my bags. I gathered all my things and hit every passenger on my way back to row 30 (yes 3 rows from the last seat.). After a pit stop in Dallas where I lugged the 20 pound child along with the car seat, diaper bag, and backpack from terminal D to B, I finally made it to Seattle. My nightmare had finally ended. I met up with Andy’s sister in Seattle and made it to our hotel for the night. Our flight for Korea did not leave until the following morning.
We were up and ready to pack the car at 3:45 a.m. We had to be checked-in and ready to go by 5:30 and then hang out until our board time at 7:30. We managed this check-in much better as they allowed me to take the stroller and Shelly to the gate with me. They also allowed families to board first and de-board the plane first. What a great concept I was nervous about being the only person on the military flight with a child, but my flight had several families. My biggest fear that I would be the most hated passenger was less of a chance with all the other children in the waiting area. I should have never been worried anyways, Cooper was such a great traveler. He slept, looked around, and watched his baby Einstein like a champ. He barely made a peep the entire two days of traveling. I can only pray he will be half this good on our return flight as he will be 2 1/2. We left Seattle and had a 2 1/2 hour layover in Japan and finished up our flight to Osan Air Force Base in South Korea. After a short briefing and getting through immigration and customs, we were reunited with our husband and daddy! Cooper had no idea as he was sleeping, but I sure was excited to see Andy! We got all the bags loaded in the car and luckily survived the car ride back to Camp Humprhreys. I’ll report on the driving in my next post. Yikes!
So here we are – halfway around the world and 13 hours ahead of our friends and family in Ohio. We are able to begin our adventures in another country as well as start our countdown back to our return. Both of which I’m looking forward to!