Day One of London, Amsterdam, Paris

Thursday

I woke up at 2a, Billie had fallen out of bed and woke me up yelling. I went in, put her back under the covers and tried to go back to bed. I was just too nervous to sleep. I tossed and turned for a while before finally falling asleep. The alarms started going off around 6a, and I snoozed the first 3 or 4 alarms before finally getting up. I woke up Lola because I was super jittery and excited. I kept saying “vaccaciones, vaccaciones, vaccaciones” while I rubbed on her stomach. She woke up reluctantly, but once up she was pumped. Lola was bugged by the temperature in Billie’s room being too cold (the sensor was going off). She went in and turned on the space heater and came back out, but Billie woke up soon after and came over into our room. I left for Starbucks and picked up some coffee for both of us, and a cake pop for Billie.

Billie didn’t want to go to daycare, a trend as of late, but after a warning of “5 minutes” she agreed to get ready. I put her in her Polo sweater because her Tita would pick her up later today and I figured it would please her to see clothing she had bought. Lola hopped into the shower and was taking a while, so it fell to me to take Billie to daycare. Originally Lola had told me to wait for her to take her so she could hug, but it was running late, so she just said goodbye and a kiss through the door of the shower.

On the way to daycare, Billie was distracted by her tablet and I, of course, started crying. Billie noticed and asked why “Papi has tears?” I told her that she was my best friend and I was sad to leave her. Rather than reacting, she started talking about a book we had read the night before Elephant and Piggy ("We’re in a Book"). Leaving Billie at daycare was tough, I cried and eventually, because of me, she started crying. It was alright. Eventually she headed off to play with her friends in class. I drove back home crying.

Once home, Lola and I finalized everything, throwing tablets and phones, chargers and coats, the works all around. The dogs could clearly tell something was going on. I felt bad for them, but Kyle would be over later today (Thursday) so they’d be fine.

Thrilled to be flying.

Lola’s mom picked us up at the house. They chatted in the front seat in Spanish while we drove to the airport. It was mostly about little topics relating to Billie, every once and a while I’d pick up on a word or phrase and catch the gist of the conversation. We arrived at the airport and Lola and I hugged Mercedes and headed in to check in. The check in wasn’t without hitch, as we picked a machine that was apparently broken. After going all the way through the process, an employee of American stepped in and told us we had to move to another machine. On the way to the gate, we ran into Myndee and talked for a bit. We joked like we always do, and Lola rushed to finish her cold brew.

Once we got to the terminal we sat for almost an hour, rushing to download movies and audiobooks before it was time. My phone kept hopping on and off wifi and it kept pissing me off. We finally boarded. On the flight, there were a lot of open seats so Lola and I spread out across the row, putting a seat between us. On the flight, Lola fell asleep for most of it. I played some games, watched a movie for a bit, talked to my neighbor. Lola woke up about 20 minutes with an upset stomach. Upset to the point she needed the vomit bag. For several minutes she sat with the bag against her mouth and I wasn’t sure if she would do it or not. We hit some turbulence and I feared the worst. We landed in Dallas without vomit.

Having fun, but tired of flying.

Lola assumed she was dealing with too much caffeine and we headed to the skyrail to get to terminal D. Lola turned to me when we walked into the terminal, “I wish I didn’t feel sick.” I felt bad. But I figure it would pass, so we sat down to eat. I was worried about my cholesterol so I ate a turkey sandwich. Lola ordered a buffalo chicken sandwich and some fries. She picked at it, but left most on the plate. We had 30 minutes till the plane began boarding.

Scott and I having fun.

The flight wasn’t very packed when we got on and we sat in our seats, hoping the seat next to us wouldn’t be taken so we could stretch out. Eventually a lady, who looked to be from an African/or someone embracing African heritage by her dress, came for the seat. When she saw she was next to us with so many other seats available, she immediately called the steward to ask to move to another seat. He said no, to sit down, even as she protested. Once the flight was done boarding, he moved her into another seat. He did it for all the passengers on the flight, spreading everyone out to give room.

We took off and it was a long flight! 8 hours, 15 minutes. For most of the flight, Lola slept, while I watched a tv series on Netflix I had downloaded before. The meal they served was pretty good, some sort of pasta with cheese and red sauce. Eventually Lola couldn’t sleep anymore and we played some Mario Kart on the Switch. After a while, a flight becomes too boring for anything.

The flight attendant I mentioned earlier, who was directing seating, turned out to be hilarious. He was joking with everyone the entire flight and was so funny. His name was Scott Chan. He took a picture with me. His approach to his job made the whole flight better.

- Dan