Lulu's Adventure!: International Traveller

Business Class travel is definitely the way to go when travelling internationally, or at least that's Lulu's opinion. After enjoying a snack in the lounge at the airport in Hanoi, it was up, up, and away for Lulu's first of many flights.

We confirmed the bulkhead seats for both international flights, though Lulu seemed to have plenty of foot room in any seat we were in. Note how much energy Joni has in this picture, taken moments after lift-off in our odyssey home.

After the 12 or 13 hour flight from Hong Kong to LA, we were "fortunate" enough to spend the night in an empty terminal at LAX. I say fortunate because by time we got our boarding passes from the United counter (not a big fan of United customer service, by the way), the last flights had left for the night and security didn't want to let us back through. We used the "our baby needs somewhere to sleep/eat" card to get someone to let us go through security, though that was no small feat either. Apparently coming into the country on a one-way ticket sets off some major red flags, because we got a thorough "screening." We discovered that our diaper bag had apparently come into contact with gun powder during our trip abroad, which is comforting. We passed Lulu back and forth as we both struggled to stay awake until our 6:00 am departure. As a side note, apparently no one has thought it would be a good idea to serve food or drink to arriving passengers at LAX between the hours of 12:00 am and 5:00 am. As for that McDonalds mentioned in a previous post, the 4:30 am opening hours are apparently discretionary. They eventually opened after 5:00, and Joni braved the long line (others started lining up before 4:30) to secure our breakfast moments before boarding.

I didn't take any pictures in Denver because we didn't expect it to be a long layover. However, after United refused to let us catch an earlier flight (which had many available seats and would've gotten us home 6 hours earlier than we did), I got the added experience of going out to baggage claim to pick-up my carry-on bag (which I had checked plane-side in LA) due to inadequate overhead room. The "longest security lines ever seen," according to the locals in line with me, took me an hour to traverse before returning to Joni and Lulu. I will acknowledge that an United supervisor did take a bit of pity on us and let Joni and Lulu wait for me in a semi-private lounge (apparently built to house the many travellers they know will be wronged in the normal course of business). After all of that, we bypassed many better lunch options to arrive at our departure gate at the appropriate time. However, the good folks flying from Colorado Springs to Denver (14 minute flight) were delayed 2 hours, so our plane was late in arriving. Throw in a rain delay, another flight getting to board at our gate ahead of us, and an hour delay on the tarmac, and you had a weary group. I was at wits end and obviously looked it, as Joni did her best to calm Lulu and I both.

It was a fitting end to a long trip abroad. Fortunately, the payoff, seeing Gabe and family at the bottom of the ramp in Wichita, felt every bit as good as we knew it would. There were many tears of happiness and relief. As you see below, Gabe filled the part of a big brother: first by apparently eating everything in sight while we were gone and second by welcoming his sister home with a big kiss.