Hooray!!! We made it...barely. lol Yesterday is not one that I would want to repeat anytime soon for sure.
Doodle started my morning around 430a yesterday (Central European time I think?). Finished packing up, showers, last minute details. Shane got up around 6-630 and we got ready to go. Thank goodness for our dear friend Jess who came to help us bring our dogs to the airport. Our little Fiat rental just wasn't going to cut it. lol
The airport at Jerez de la Frontera....not my favorite. We got there right around 8 and barely made our flight at 935. Jerez is a bit of a puddle jumper airport so an hour to check in is not unreasonable...usually. No one knew how to check the dogs in, no one knew how to deal with Shane traveling on orders (thank goodness I always pack his passport even when he tells me not to worry about it). Clearly being on PCS orders, we had a few more bags than generally required when traveling and not one person offered to help. Did I mention that Doodle had been up at 430? The meltdowns began early and only got worse once the dogs had to be taken to the terminal. Oh boy. lol
Flight from Jerez wasn't bad...luckily a pretty quick one. Once we made it to Madrid we had to go find the dogs to transfer them from the one airline to the next. Two hours and fifteen minute layover...one would think it would be enough....boy were we wrong! We had to wait for the dogs at baggage claim, take them to the check in counter, get our tickets, take them back down to baggage claim, go back through security, find our way to the train (security and baggage claim was done alone with Doodle, five carry ons and a bag of food...no trolly allowed - Shane had to take the dogs down to baggage claim), then make our way to the terminal. Security to the terminal...twenty five minutes. By the time we were done we literally walked on the plane and took off a good ten to fifteen minutes later. This was our LONG flight totally about eleven-ish hours. Thank goodness Doodle slept about five to six hours of that flight. She did start to get pretty restless and slammed her hand in a bathroom door, but all in all, did great for such a long flight!
Arriving in Dallas. We were back in the States! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Still had to go get the dogs again...oh and our luggage. Gotta love customs. Three trollies holding two dogs, five carry ons, four checked bags, a carseat and a Doodle. lol Thank god for Southern hospitality...it was the first time in the entire day that someone asked if we could use some help...YES PLEASE!! lol Made it through customs, rechecked luggage, checked the dogs and finally had a little time to breathe. A five hour lay over sounds like forever, but this time around was much needed. We were able to grab something to eat, make a couple of phone calls, let Doodle stretch her legs and thank goodness she fell asleep!
1035p Central time we boarded our last flight and headed off to MS! 1150p we were on the ground waiting for all of our stuff. A quick drive down South 55 and we could just stop. lol Doodle was so excited to have her dogs back and to see "Bunkka" (Grandpa).
We are so glad to be back and hope that maybe things can start to slow down a little! :D
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