Day 13: Travel Day and Final Thoughts

I went to bed about 10:30 pm on Saturday night.  At 11 PM, Eric came to bed to let me know there were loads of seats available so our slight upending of plans wasn't a waste afterall...something that had been weighing on me since we made the call.  However, I couldn't go to sleep.  The storm raging outside didn't help...but as the weather had done the whole trip, it cleared just in time for us to get in the taxi and head to the train station at 1:30 in the morning.

Now, one might think a 2AM train would be pretty quiet...and they would be right for the first couple of stops.  However, our kids quickly learned that there are people of a certain age that actually stay up that late and need to catch public transportation home at 3 in the morning. 

But, by the time we caught our 3:30 AM train to Mannheim, all was quiet and we all got some needed rest as we sped north.  ICE trains are super nice.  A silver lining was we got to ride one, our original plan was to take a slow train with multiple changes through the afternoon.  This was a much better alternative.

And we made it to Ramstein terminal with time to spare. 

Made the flight...along with everyone else that was competing.  And there was even a family larger than ours on the flight.  And we were back in the USA by 4:30 PM and on our way home.  When it was all over, we had been traveling for 27 hours total.  That was a long day.

It was a beautiful evening as we crossed the Chesapeake Bay, but John missed it once again.  Maybe next Space A trip he will be awake for it.  For the record, most of us are over jetlag, though Molly is still falling asleep about 7:30 and waking up before 6.  Maybe this fall we can start school around 8:30...if I can just keep them on this new sleep schedule.  #NotLikely

Everyone wants to know how the trip went.  And I tell all of them I wish I could have known at the start everything would go well.  I was constantly anxious about the next leg of the journey, which kept me from enjoying the present as much as I could have.  Though there were moments of wonderful calm and laughter and great joy.  A lot of people were praying for us. And those prayers were heard and felt.  I struggle to let go of things I can't control.  I don't know if I could have relaxed more if it had just been Eric and me, but I probably would have found something to stress about.  A wise lady at the library once told me she sleeps great ever since she gave all of her worries to God.  I need to work on that.  Because I sleep terribly!

But, I suspect vacationing Space A is like most things: It gets easier the more you do it.  So much of my stress comes from the unknown, and now we have experienced it.  I use to hate going to the beach, but then we came to love it as we simplified how we did it.  Space A and travel in general are probably a lot like that for me.  Though, in the future, I won't use Space A to travel to meet up with family.  That was emotionally draining, knowing I could be letting down so many people that I love...not the least of which my kids.  However, giving my kids the opportunity to see so many of the sights they have read about or seen in movies is worth it.  We hope to make it to France and Italy (Will's eyes lit up at the possibility of visiting Rome) before moving from this area.  As they say in Bavaria: Schaumamoi!