it wasn't pretty but we did it

I must be a glutton for punishment because anyone who flies around the world with their kids alone once will vow never to do it again. I broke my vow obviously with this trip. I got lots of "you must be crazy" looks and a few "oh you poor thing" looks, even a few "you are a brave Mom" comments which were stated while the individual gave me one of the two previously mentioned looks. In the end, it sucked, but we made it. I had zero expectations for the travel. I really was planning on the worst so a few times I had to smile at the situation because my girls pleasantly surprised me. They both sat very sweetly and watched our DVDs while munching on crackers. I used this peaceful moment to use the airplane restroom. Bella finally fell asleep for an hour and a half nap after being awake for 10 hours and I used this time to eat the first two courses of my dinner with Addie. Addie woke up as we were descending into Portland, OR and was happy as a clam exclaiming "we made it to Portland! I don't want to land in the water, Mommy!" (this water landing thing is totally messing with her head-she really doesn't want to get her clothes wet).

There were tons of sticky moments too. Bella just couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep on the long leg of our trip (or the short leg). She got about 3.5 hours of sleep the entire travel time. It's better than nothing but not nearly enough to keep her happy. During the first flight I was walking Bella around the isles and returned to our seats to find Addie's empty. She had come looking for us and one of the flight attendants had scooped her up and enlisted her help with passing out immigrations forms. During our layover in Japan I left our passports and tickets at the front desk of the business class lounge. Luckily they were returned to me before I even realized I had left them. These are the sorts of mistakes that are made when you are strung out with adrenalin for 20 plus hours. Thank goodness Bella decided to have her poop of the day in that same lounge in the kiddie play room. I didn't have to wrestle her into a clean diaper at 30,000 feet. The sweet flight attendants kept refilling my wine glass to help me get through the flight. The only way to fly from SE Asia to the West Coast of the US is a little tipsy. Too bad I had to stay sober! I was peed on twice, vomited on, covered in ube flavored (purple) ice cream, and a little ripe with airplane stink by the time we arrived in the Pacific Northwest. I didn't sleep a wink on the plane so I almost fell over with exhaustion as we waited for the computer system to boot up at the immigration lines in Portland. I was definitely done with the trip by that time and couldn't believe that we were having to wait in our longest line of the day at the very end of our trip. I could see our bags going around the baggage carousel and feel the hot shower that awaited me at my parent's house. Waiting was not what I wanted to be doing.

We made it but I am vowing to make our return trip to Manila the last time I go it alone. It's definitely not an experience I would recommend.

Yay for this welcome sign!