We arrived safely in Moscow in early December from the States. My husband Jake had been living alone in Moscow since August while I moved in with parents and waited for our son to be born. We decided to wait until Wylie had received his two month year old shots before making the trip. Jake flew back from Moscow the day before to pick us up. The trip from Florida
generally lived up to my nightmarish expectation with a 2 month year old, an 18 month year old, two strollers, two car seats, and five carry on bags distributed between my husband Jake and I.
I must admit that the kids were better than expected for the most part. The first hurdle came when we landed at the Atlanta airport. We were supposed to arrive in Terminal A and fly out of B. Instead we arrived in Terminal N and flew out of Terminal E - or something like that to the effect of arriving and leaving out of opposite ends of the airport. We checked with the gate agent upon receiving this news - we were assured we had enough time to make the connection. We loaded up the two strollers with all the luggage and Wylie's carseat (stroller 1) and Anna in her carseat in stroller number 2. I was holding Wylie in a baby wrap on my chest pushing Anna. Jake was pushing all the luggage on the other stroller. After boarding the subway, we noticed it took a while to leave - about 6 minutes. We figured it must be because we were starting at the beginning. We arrived in Terminal A - and again a long delay - about five minutes. Next stop Terminal B - delay again. I watched a pilot and stewardess get off and start walking.. not a good sign. What do they know? Jake and I kept looking at each other confused. I kept shrugging my shoulders. Jake noted that since getting on the subway, about 14 minutes had passed yet we had only progressed two stops. At this rate, we would miss our plane. We decided to run for it. Not realizing that I would be running in an airport, I decided to wear some new boots with a healthy 2 inch heel. Jake took the lead - his fast walk and long legs necessitated my jog to keep up. I held Wylie's head in one hand and pushed Anna's stroller with the other... about a 1/2 mile into the journey, a very nice employee offered to help. She took Anna's stroller so I could hold Wylie with both hands while jogging. By the time we completed the journey (which we estimated at 2 miles), the flight was boarding, I was literally drenched with sweat and had blisters forming on the balls of my feet. But, we made it.
When we got to New York, we asked if we could get some assistance to change gates because I couldn't walk very well. Damned boots! There were literally two airline employees with empty wheel chairs standing around looking bored at the Delta gate. I asked if I could get a ride to our next gate. They said no since I had a baby strapped onto me. Seriously? One lady offered to call her supervisor to see if they could make an exception since I couldn't walk. While we waited for the verdict on the support, Jake learned that we had to catch a bus from one side of the airport to the other. After coming to this realization, the Delta supervisor called and said the employees sitting there with empty wheel chairs could not help me. We didn't have time to argue - so the jog started again. The pain in my legs and feet quickly brought memories of the end of the walk I completed around Lake Washington in middle school - 55 miles in 19 hours. With each step, pain shot up my leg. I had worn either flip flops or cowboy boots 98% of the last four years while completing my PhD at the University of Texas in Austin. The boots I was wearing were the heaviest shoes I was bringing to Moscow, hence my decision to wear them instead of packing them. Oops.
We finally reached the area where we had to catch the bus. Jake had trouble locating the tickets at first so the woman left the desk and started to shout directions to about 80 people standing around. Almost immediately after she turned her attention from Jake, I pulled the boarding tickets from his back pocket. She said - "Wait here." The cold wind was whipping our faces from that spot as the automatic was fixed at open. She literally cleared the entire room full of people at this point. I alternated between watching the space on the two buses fill, our two massive strollers with car seats, and the clock realizing that if we didn't get on the bus, we could easily miss our flight to Moscow. We kept trying to politely show her that we had the tickets - she kept forcefully reminding us to "Wait Here!" After the over-sized room was completely empty, she took our tickets. Then, to my surprise, she walked out to one of the buses (seemingly completely full) and screamed that everyone needed to move back because we had to fit the babies on the bus. We crammed the stollers up onto the bus and squeezed in. While getting off the bus, one of the tires on the BOB stroller popped. Perfect! Jake pushed the stroller at a tilt. After a brisk and painful (for me) walk to the gate, we found our plane was already boarding.
We made it to our seats and did a quick low five to celebrate making the flight. Little did we know at the time that we were sitting directly behind the WORST crying toddler I have ever encountered in my life. I am a seasoned traveler, so that says a lot. Besides the two 2-hour intervals that he slept - he cried the entire way to Moscow letting out piercing screams every 2-3 minutes... except when his mother would carry him around the plane. He had her well trained. I wanted to give her a basic lesson in behavior analysis, but figured she wouldn't probably appreciate it or understand (given she spoke Russian). Wylie slept through the wails for the most part. Anna didn't sleep at all. Of the entire 25 hour journey, she literally only slept - or tried to sleep - the last two hours of the flight to Moscow. What 18 month year old does that? About 45 minutes after she fell asleep, I had just finished feeding Wylie and changing him, I had just closed my eyes for maybe a minute with a little smile thinking - 'At Last!" and Jake pulled out his computer to work on videos for work when the little terror in front of us woke up and started wailing again. Jake took his jacket and put it over the space between the two seats - like that would block the noise.. Anna woke up and then she started wailing. Our whole section of the plane started fidgeting in silent protest and discontent. I also wanted to start crying because it was the first quiet moment we almost had. Thank God for the ipad - Caillou and Super Why calmed her down and kept her occupied until we landed. It was almost 10am in Moscow. There were a few inches of snow on the ground and it was about 15F outside.
We were the last to get off the plane in Moscow. When we got through the gate, a woman hurried us to an escalator which would take us to customs. After we went through the doors, we realized there was no elevator and started to turn back - asking her where the elevator was. She said something in a harsh Russian tone. We motioned to the massive strollers filled with babies and luggage. She said something gruffly in Russian again - my guess something to the extent of - Deal with it! Then she slammed the door closed, locked the door, and walked off. Jake looked at me smiling and said - "Welcome to Russia!" He managed to get both of the strollers up the escalator. We collected 7 suitcases weighing a total of 370 pounds, which Jake loaded them onto three carts. So now we have three massive carts and two loaded strollers with Wylie in a Mobi wrap on my chest. We were the only travelers in the terminal at this point. There were at least six airport employees watching us try to figure out how to move everything. Not one lifted a finger to help us which really surprised me given the babies if nothing else. Again, Jake managed to move everything.
Our driver was waiting for us on the other side of customs. He and Jake loaded all of our luggage into our black Mercedes (that Jake had purchased a few months earlier when he first arrived in Moscow) and another van. Soon after getting in the car, I got to experience Moscow traffic. There was a big accident somewhere so it took us an hour to get to our apartment rather than 20 minutes. On the way, Jake learned that he had to go to work for an important meeting. He had time to help get the suitcases in the door and then left for about a four hours. The nanny was waiting to help unpack = bonus. By this point, I had been awake the better part of 2 days and poor Jake had been awake the better part of 4 days. Including the travel he completed just before picking us up in Florida and almost immediately after dropping us off in Moscow - he traveled almost 18,000 miles in less than 5 days.
The time zone changes were tough on Wylie, Anna, and I. The first night, Anna only woke up once crying while Wylie was up every three hours. Last night Anna was up a few times and Wylie was up every few hours again - but wouldn't go to back to sleep after eating. As such, I was feeding him or holding one of them from 12am to 6am. Everyone is quiet now - going to try to get some sleep. Starting at the ground floor - seems like things can only get easier right?
I must admit that the kids were better than expected for the most part. The first hurdle came when we landed at the Atlanta airport. We were supposed to arrive in Terminal A and fly out of B. Instead we arrived in Terminal N and flew out of Terminal E - or something like that to the effect of arriving and leaving out of opposite ends of the airport. We checked with the gate agent upon receiving this news - we were assured we had enough time to make the connection. We loaded up the two strollers with all the luggage and Wylie's carseat (stroller 1) and Anna in her carseat in stroller number 2. I was holding Wylie in a baby wrap on my chest pushing Anna. Jake was pushing all the luggage on the other stroller. After boarding the subway, we noticed it took a while to leave - about 6 minutes. We figured it must be because we were starting at the beginning. We arrived in Terminal A - and again a long delay - about five minutes. Next stop Terminal B - delay again. I watched a pilot and stewardess get off and start walking.. not a good sign. What do they know? Jake and I kept looking at each other confused. I kept shrugging my shoulders. Jake noted that since getting on the subway, about 14 minutes had passed yet we had only progressed two stops. At this rate, we would miss our plane. We decided to run for it. Not realizing that I would be running in an airport, I decided to wear some new boots with a healthy 2 inch heel. Jake took the lead - his fast walk and long legs necessitated my jog to keep up. I held Wylie's head in one hand and pushed Anna's stroller with the other... about a 1/2 mile into the journey, a very nice employee offered to help. She took Anna's stroller so I could hold Wylie with both hands while jogging. By the time we completed the journey (which we estimated at 2 miles), the flight was boarding, I was literally drenched with sweat and had blisters forming on the balls of my feet. But, we made it.
When we got to New York, we asked if we could get some assistance to change gates because I couldn't walk very well. Damned boots! There were literally two airline employees with empty wheel chairs standing around looking bored at the Delta gate. I asked if I could get a ride to our next gate. They said no since I had a baby strapped onto me. Seriously? One lady offered to call her supervisor to see if they could make an exception since I couldn't walk. While we waited for the verdict on the support, Jake learned that we had to catch a bus from one side of the airport to the other. After coming to this realization, the Delta supervisor called and said the employees sitting there with empty wheel chairs could not help me. We didn't have time to argue - so the jog started again. The pain in my legs and feet quickly brought memories of the end of the walk I completed around Lake Washington in middle school - 55 miles in 19 hours. With each step, pain shot up my leg. I had worn either flip flops or cowboy boots 98% of the last four years while completing my PhD at the University of Texas in Austin. The boots I was wearing were the heaviest shoes I was bringing to Moscow, hence my decision to wear them instead of packing them. Oops.
We finally reached the area where we had to catch the bus. Jake had trouble locating the tickets at first so the woman left the desk and started to shout directions to about 80 people standing around. Almost immediately after she turned her attention from Jake, I pulled the boarding tickets from his back pocket. She said - "Wait here." The cold wind was whipping our faces from that spot as the automatic was fixed at open. She literally cleared the entire room full of people at this point. I alternated between watching the space on the two buses fill, our two massive strollers with car seats, and the clock realizing that if we didn't get on the bus, we could easily miss our flight to Moscow. We kept trying to politely show her that we had the tickets - she kept forcefully reminding us to "Wait Here!" After the over-sized room was completely empty, she took our tickets. Then, to my surprise, she walked out to one of the buses (seemingly completely full) and screamed that everyone needed to move back because we had to fit the babies on the bus. We crammed the stollers up onto the bus and squeezed in. While getting off the bus, one of the tires on the BOB stroller popped. Perfect! Jake pushed the stroller at a tilt. After a brisk and painful (for me) walk to the gate, we found our plane was already boarding.
We made it to our seats and did a quick low five to celebrate making the flight. Little did we know at the time that we were sitting directly behind the WORST crying toddler I have ever encountered in my life. I am a seasoned traveler, so that says a lot. Besides the two 2-hour intervals that he slept - he cried the entire way to Moscow letting out piercing screams every 2-3 minutes... except when his mother would carry him around the plane. He had her well trained. I wanted to give her a basic lesson in behavior analysis, but figured she wouldn't probably appreciate it or understand (given she spoke Russian). Wylie slept through the wails for the most part. Anna didn't sleep at all. Of the entire 25 hour journey, she literally only slept - or tried to sleep - the last two hours of the flight to Moscow. What 18 month year old does that? About 45 minutes after she fell asleep, I had just finished feeding Wylie and changing him, I had just closed my eyes for maybe a minute with a little smile thinking - 'At Last!" and Jake pulled out his computer to work on videos for work when the little terror in front of us woke up and started wailing again. Jake took his jacket and put it over the space between the two seats - like that would block the noise.. Anna woke up and then she started wailing. Our whole section of the plane started fidgeting in silent protest and discontent. I also wanted to start crying because it was the first quiet moment we almost had. Thank God for the ipad - Caillou and Super Why calmed her down and kept her occupied until we landed. It was almost 10am in Moscow. There were a few inches of snow on the ground and it was about 15F outside.
We were the last to get off the plane in Moscow. When we got through the gate, a woman hurried us to an escalator which would take us to customs. After we went through the doors, we realized there was no elevator and started to turn back - asking her where the elevator was. She said something in a harsh Russian tone. We motioned to the massive strollers filled with babies and luggage. She said something gruffly in Russian again - my guess something to the extent of - Deal with it! Then she slammed the door closed, locked the door, and walked off. Jake looked at me smiling and said - "Welcome to Russia!" He managed to get both of the strollers up the escalator. We collected 7 suitcases weighing a total of 370 pounds, which Jake loaded them onto three carts. So now we have three massive carts and two loaded strollers with Wylie in a Mobi wrap on my chest. We were the only travelers in the terminal at this point. There were at least six airport employees watching us try to figure out how to move everything. Not one lifted a finger to help us which really surprised me given the babies if nothing else. Again, Jake managed to move everything.
Our driver was waiting for us on the other side of customs. He and Jake loaded all of our luggage into our black Mercedes (that Jake had purchased a few months earlier when he first arrived in Moscow) and another van. Soon after getting in the car, I got to experience Moscow traffic. There was a big accident somewhere so it took us an hour to get to our apartment rather than 20 minutes. On the way, Jake learned that he had to go to work for an important meeting. He had time to help get the suitcases in the door and then left for about a four hours. The nanny was waiting to help unpack = bonus. By this point, I had been awake the better part of 2 days and poor Jake had been awake the better part of 4 days. Including the travel he completed just before picking us up in Florida and almost immediately after dropping us off in Moscow - he traveled almost 18,000 miles in less than 5 days.
The time zone changes were tough on Wylie, Anna, and I. The first night, Anna only woke up once crying while Wylie was up every three hours. Last night Anna was up a few times and Wylie was up every few hours again - but wouldn't go to back to sleep after eating. As such, I was feeding him or holding one of them from 12am to 6am. Everyone is quiet now - going to try to get some sleep. Starting at the ground floor - seems like things can only get easier right?
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