TRAVEL NOTES | SCANDINAVIA::DAY 1 | A FRANTIC START

We were already operating on very few hours of sleep. Nerves were on edge. The anticipation of the past two months of planning this trip was finally here.

The Uber driver was scheduled to arrive at 09,15. As we were walking out the door at 09,05, my son realised he forgot his debit card.

‘That is the first thing you should have packed!’, I exclaimed.

He ran back into the house, thinking it would be a quick retrieval. It was not. I ran into his room to help expedite the process. He was ‘100% sure’ it was on his desk. It was not. I overturned his mattress, pushed the desk over, and looked under the bed. Nothing.

‘The Uber driver will be here in two minutes!’, I panicked.

‘I need that card!’, my son was adamant about finding his card.

Finally, I decided that our searching time was over. As we walked out the door a second time, my phone rang. I was unable to answer it and was certain it was the Uber driver. It was.

‘Hurry! Hurry! Let’s go’, I screamed.

We ran down the stairs with our carry-on suitcases, backpacks, and a camera bag. And a pillowcase with another light jacket, a large scarf, and last-minute pieces of clothing. I thought I would try the ‘pillowcase travel hack’ and avoid checking in any luggage.

As we settled into the back seat of the Uber driver’s car, we now had time to unwind from a frantic start to our trip to Europe.

We arrived at the airport early. A bit too early as we followed the ‘rule’ of getting to the airport 3 hours prior to an international flight. We both would have liked to have had at least another hour of sleep.

As we waited for our turn to board, we heard the American Airlines agent exclaim, with much firmness, that they are serious about the two pieces of luggage allowance. She even mentioned that fanny packs were not allowed. She was randomly targeting customers and demanding they check in their bags and consolidate items into only two bags.

I looked over to my son, and then to all of our bags, and realised there was no way we could consolidate anything. I took out the large scarf and draped it over my shoulders to at least try to hide my excess bags. For this flight, we made it. I wished the agent scanning our tickets a ‘Merry Christmas’ and was relieved that we got through.

Our flight to Dallas took less than an hour. About 50 minutes. Then another five or so minutes taxiing to the gate. We were very thirsty and were lucky to find a Starbucks near our gate where we got free ice water. Our wait time was not so long. This time, however, we were not so lucky with our baggage situation. Once our turn came to scan our boarding passes, the airline agent took us aside and notified us of having to check in two of our bags. Our carry-on suitcases containing all of our winter clothes.

‘Can you guarantee that our bags will not be lost at Heathrow?’, I asked, annoyed. Heathrow is notorious for losing luggage and I was not about to be without our warm clothing for any amount of time.

‘Well, I assume they will do their jobs’, she stated. I wasn’t too confident about that but hoped for a good outcome.

My son urged me to just give her our suitcases. We really didn’t have a choice, so I reluctantly submitted them. As it turned out, the pillowcase hack did not work.

Despite our unfortunate luck with our bags, we did manage to get an entire middle row all to ourselves. All four seats. My son and I took turns sleeping for a while, stretching out as much as possible. I didn’t sleep as long as my son, but I did manage about an hour of rest.

When I booked the flight back in mid-October, I didn’t really pay much attention to the ‘American Airlines’ portion of the ticket from Austin to Dallas. I usually fly with either British Airways directly to London or with United Airlines via Newark. Since it was winter, I wanted to avoid a stopover on the East Coast. For my future travels, I decided I would avoid American Airlines and any stopovers in the US. There are options for direct travel to Amsterdam and London. Also, to Frankfurt with Lufthansa.

Now we were on our way to London. 8 hours and 30 minutes. Our second flight of four to our final destination.

Our winter adventure begins.