English Vacation (D-Day): Goodbye good ol' USA

It's Sunday! Departure day! Before we left, I had to take a couple of cute pictures of Tilly and Dana, since they're only 5 days apart in age. Dana was really sad to see Tilly go, but we'll go visit her again in 3 weeks when they pick us up at the airport.


Uncle Bob and Aunt Anne watched the Cowley kids while Jared and Angi drove with us to the San Fransisco airport. We got a good look at San Fran because the drive down Hwy 101 takes you right through the middle of the city, even on Lombard street (albeit not the winding part).


We saw the bay and Alcatraz, and we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge...


We saw the city with its skyscrapers and homes that are all connected...


We drove on Lombard street, but it wasn't as cool as the twisty part...


Then we finally arrived at the airport, an hour behind schedule, but still 2 hours before our flight took off. There was absolutely no line at the ticket counter and everyone was super nice, especially when they saw our mountain of car seats, suitcases and kids piled in the stroller and the luggage cart. Security was a breeze, and we had plenty of time to kill to get some lunch at a cafe. We didn't have enough time on our way through SF to get lunch, so we had to get it at the airport and we were gouged!!! It cost $60 for a few sandwiches, fruit, a bag of chips, a couple of drinks, a muffin and a bag of goldfish crackers for the flight. I about died, but what can you do when everyone is starving?

We ate our lunch just in time to get early boarding. Our 9 hour flight left just before 5 pm, right on schedule. British Airways is great when you have kids because they seat you in the bulkhead and your baby gets to sleep in a bassinet. The headrests have cool little flaps that come down so you can rest your head against them while you sleep, and they give you socks, headphones, a sleeping mask, and a blanket. It was much more comfortable than any flight I've ever been on, though I think I've only flown on Alaska/Horizon and Southwest. After watching a movie and eating dinner, the kids managed to fall asleep, I got a few hours of sleep in (maybe about 4) but Hyrum couldn't sleep a wink while sitting up, and of course he didn't have a fan, which almost spells death for Hyrum.


The airline creates a false night after dinner where they turn off all the lights and automatically close the windows. That's what saved us. The kids were uncomfortable sleeping, but they managed to do it. So even though we were way off our American schedule, some of us got in enough sleep to ease some of our jet lag and help us feel more like it was actually supposed to be 10am rather than 2 am when we left the plane.

Though the plane was nicer than most you'll find out there, I'm not anxious to repeat such a long journey any time soon.