Bon Voyage

Well, it has been almost 1 week since we left the US. The trip was fairly uneventful, though very long. We left the house at 9 a.m. on Saturday, August 29th and arrived in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, August 30th at 8 p.m. local time (noon EST).

Here is everything we left with:

5 suitcases, H's car seat and stroller, and 2 carry-on bags.

The first leg of our trip was Atlanta to Toronto, Canada. H entertained himself on the plane, playing with "maggots" (magnets) and his Doodle-Pro--thanks Elaine!

Then, came the worst part of the trip...our looooong layover in Toronto. When we first arrived, we had to get all of our luggage and go through customs in Canada. Then we were stuck with our suitcases in the departure floor of the Toronto airport for about 7 hours until we could check our bags again. Once our bags were checked, we still had a 2 hours wait until we could board the plane. Unfortunately, the departure floor had very little in terms of restaurant choices. But, we survived! H entertained himself by looking at planes and snacking.

Once we boarded the plane, we knew we were in for a long trip when we saw this come up on our individual video screens:

That's right...6,928 miles to our destination!

H did great on the trip overall. He slept most of the trip from Toronto to Abu Dhabi. We flew Etihad (UAE's official airline) and they were great. Very comfortable, lots of overhead storage space, good food (and that says a lot coming from me!), and lots of entertainment choices.

We were glad to finally land in Abu Dhabi, though, and begin our new adventure!