Jun 11, 2014

European Vacation Day 1: Getting There

When we got out of the Air Force, many of our friends headed to Germany.  In fact, had we stayed in, our next assignment would have been in Germany. This makes me a little sad when I think about it so I try not to think about it.

Our friends Tami and Wes left Misawa a little before us and went first to Monterey, CA for 9-ish months and then to Argentina for one year.  We dreamed of visiting them in Argentina, but alas, the first year or two of starting a new business is not a great time to travel.  After Argentina, they went to Germany joining many of our other Misawa friends.  That is when Wes started planning our epic trip/reunion to Europe. Doug started planning it with Wes on a strictly hypothetical basis.

Sure, we'd been saving for a vacation for a looooong time, and sure we had frequent flyer miles for the tickets, but are those good enough reasons to flit a quarter-way around the world?
(The answer is yes.)
Wes got some other families on board and started the "Convince-Douglas-To-Come Campaign" in earnest.
(Are you wondering if I needed convincing? I didn't.)

Pretty soon plans were taking shape and a reunion was being planned and we actually had to commit.  

When we bought the plane tickets many months ago, I still couldn't actually believe we'd actually go. I wondered if Doug would back out.  

Evidently, just because you have money set aside in account labelled "vacation" doesn't mean you have to use it for a vacation.  Turns out you can use it to pay bills.  At least that's what I'm told.  
Fortunately, even Doug is susceptible to peer-pressure and soon we were all in--(if skeptical it would really happen.)
 
When we got on the plane in San Diego, early in the morning on May 26th, kid-free, I was still more anxious than excited.  (Could have been the sleep deprivation and angst at leaving Linky.)

When we got to Atlanta, it started to feel a little more real.  

And when we were actually in the air listening to announcements in French, I got very excited!
(and then I fell asleep again.)

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