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The last few days flew by and while the weather is much sunnier now, it’s still quite cool and now that we have had some family time we were ready for warmer weather and the trip to continue (sorry friends, we will come back!). Today was all about getting ready to travel in this new world, filled with restrictions, requirements and ever changing nuances. I spent some time over the weekend calling different places to compare prices and processing times for the PCR test. Since almost everything is closed Sundays and today was technically a holiday in some places it wasn’t easy finding something that wasn’t super expensive or ready in time for our planned departure tomorrow! We ended up having to take the train to a bigger city, but since the day was nice and carnival was in the air, it was a good day to get out. The train was full, but not like it used to be during this exciting time of carnival in Germany. We watched the others as they were rotating from beer to wine and then on to shots, at 10am on their way to Köln, the place to usually be for carnival in Germany. We got off just before Köln and took a leisurely walk to a small shipping container that served as a testing centre, where all of us in a matter of minutes got swabbed in the throat and nose (with the same swab!). Since we had time to spare, we went through the mall in search of a sleeping sack for Kalina. There is always an item that gets left behind when packing, this time it was the sleeping sack (better than forgetting Ashleigh’s glasses last time!). We did find one and then headed back to Wissen for lunch and some Kölsch. Our loyal driver uncle Johann picked us up from the station and the afternoon was spend packing up, hoping PCR results would come back negative and on time. We took a final stroll up the hill to my great grandmas for dinner and then called it a day!
It was a short but restful night on the plane for all of us. Kilian fell asleep just fine with his stuffy and pack of Oreos nearby. Ashleigh and Kalina looked cozy and I got a few hours in myself. We woke up to a hearty breakfast and then landed shortly after. I had chatted with one of the pilots the night before and he invited Kilian to the Cockpit upon landing. One of the pilots even got out of his chair and let Kilian sit there surrounded by the many controls. It didn’t take us long to get through customs and find our way to the train station. The 2.5 hour ride was tough, as we were all exhausted and changing trains twice didn’t help either with all of our luggage. We got picked up at the train station and were all glad to finally have arrived at our destination. We did catch up with Oma for a bit, got welcomed by her delicious Gulasch and then all passed out until 9pm. The kids were both wide awake for at least 4 hours in the middle of the night but then finally fell asleep until late into the morning.
The following day was relaxing with kids napping and us catching up on a few things. We timed the rain for a nice walk to my great grandmas place for dinner and the kids got to meet their great great grandma which was pretty exciting. The highlight at night was for Kilian to get his first official haircut by my great aunt. He loved it and almost fell asleep during it, so it must have been a good experience for him. Now he doesn’t look like a wild rascal anymore and should be good for another few years! We spent the other days walking up and down the hill a few times a day visiting relatives. Highlights included going shopping for some goodies, and attending a kids birthday party. Overall we had a lot of good visits with family, exactly what we wanted to do! Bedtimes for the kids were all over the place and since we were staying up later Kilian was even fortunate enough to watch the stars on our nightly walks. Looking back over the last few days, they all seemed to have blended together. Going forward I will try to keep the entries more organized, but it was nice to have a relaxing start to our trip! The weather even improved, but it’s still a bit too chilly for our liking. Stay tuned for more travel plans! What a few weeks it has been! It seems Ashleigh and I find ways to bring a ton of excitement into our lives all at once. While we didn’t plan on selling and moving out of our place until later this year, the market seemed favourable and we accepted the challenge. We sold our house in record time, and then spend countless hours moving out. With the help of Ashleigh’s parents who gladly looked after the kids we managed to just get it all done in time for us to leave for the airport. Kilian was excited for new territory and told every stranger in the airport that he was going on a plane (and so were they, but he didn’t know that of course). After a quick lounge visit we made our way to the gate just to be the last to board (as it always seems to be the case). The flight director suggested we switch our seats around a bit to be in the same aisle plus Kalina was apparently too big for the bassinet. While Kilian did get a window seat he couldn’t look out since he is too short so he thought we were in the air the entire time we were making our way out to the runway, and couldn’t tell the difference about being at the gate or in the air. The kids bag kept him entertained long enough to get us to cruising altitude and then he couldn’t wait to start his favourite movie - the paw patrol movie. Not even food or drinks got him to look up from the screen. Ash and I falling right into routine asked the attendant to dish out dinner at separate times so we both got to spend time with Kalina and enjoy our dinner. This is our first time flying Air Canada in their signature class and it is quite impressive with enough privacy and space. Since Kalina didn’t fit into the bassinet Ashleigh got to snuggle her while I finally was able to settle into my own bed with a glass of wine and time to write the very first, but hopefully not last blog post! While I am looking forward to writing again, the last few weeks have been so hectic that I am curious to see how we fall into the travel routine with two kids. Will there be enough free time? For now it’s fingers crossed that Kilian falls asleep across from me, and if I am lucky I may also get a bit of sleep before breakfast. So here is to the beginning of our journey!
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November 2022
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