My Trip

I think I finally have some time and the mental capacity to start blogging about my amazing trip to Guatemala. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my cord to download pictures off of my camera, so those will have to wait until later. I've also decided to just blog about my whole trip on this blog. I'll probably just post some pictures on Baby Alex's blog when I get home.

I'm also going to break my posts up by event/day. I may blog more then one a day, so be sure to scroll down to make sure you don't miss a post. I can't even begin to count the number of God things that happened on my trip. It's amazing!!! I can't wait to share it with all of you.

Getting to Guatemala

I basically didn't sleep much the week of leaving. I was thinking about what I needed to take, was I going to be able to pack everything, could I leave Jay and Big Alex, could I travel with a 10 month old by myself, would I find everyone that I needed to.......

The night before I got everything packed - three checked bags (one having a pack n play), one carry on and a backpack. The alarm went off at 3:45 am. I wanted to leave the house no later then 5:00. I didn't want to feel rushed at the airport since I was going to have to take care of all of this luggage.

I got out the door without too many tears. When I got to the airport, I got a GREAT parking spot. I was so excited!!! I got one of those luggage carts and loaded up all of my stuff. I went up to the ticket counter and told the lady that I needed to purchase a lap ticket for Alex and that I had three checked bags and that I needed to pay for that. ($150)

She started the process of checking me in and getting Alex's lap ticket. She then told me that I couldn't take a third checked bag to Guatemala because of the embargo. I was surprised because I had called Delta earlier in the week to ask about the third bag (and the person on the phone knew where I was going). She checked her computer and said that I couldn't take the third bag.

Of course, I started crying. I was teetering on the edge anyway, so any little thing was going to push me over!! I apologized and told the lady what I was doing. I asked her to just stop what she was doing as I was going to have to take everything back to the car and repack.

She then asked me if we could call any of my checked bags a "baby item" I told her that we could - and it wouldn't be lieing as the one bag had a pack n play.

She let me check ALL three bags - and she never even charged me the $150!! Can you believe it!!! It was right then that I realized that all of your prayers were protecting and guiding me.

We got through security without a problem and didn't have to wait too long before we boarded the plane. Alex was wanting to get down, and I thought it might be a long day!

The flight from Louisville to Atlanta was pretty full - except my row. Alex and I had NO ONE sitting next to us. It was wonderful. I didn't have to worry about invading anyone's space, I could lay Alex down on the seats next to me, I could use all of the tray tables - it was heavenly!!

We had a very uneventful flight. We had an hour layover in Atlanta. I knew that this would be plenty of time to get from one gate to another. What I didn't know was just how much time we would have. We came in at gate B28 - we were flying out at gate B32. :)

The flight to Guatemala wasn't even 1/4 of the way full. It was kind of sad. In fact, I'm pretty sure there wasn't even any adoptive parents on my flight. So, we had a whole row to ourselves again. Alex fell asleep soon after we got up in the air. I was able to lay him down on the seat and eat the lunch that Delta actually provided. We had a really good flight. Alex did great.

As we landed, I got very emotional. I think it was a combination of what I knew I was getting ready to do, as well as memories from Alex's adoption. (not a good combination!!!!)

As we got off the plane, I about died. For you Guatemama's out there that adopted when I did and haven't been back - you would NEVER recognize the airport!!! It's BEAUTIFUL!!! I could not believe it it. The only thing that upset me is the "Welcome to Guatemala" sign that was just before going through immigration is gone. :(

All of my luggage arrived. (Yeah!!) And I had a luggage steward help me get my luggage off of the conveyor belt and outside.