Our Bags Are Packed, We're Ready to Go....

It's 11 PM the night before departure and we're exhausted.  It's been an incredibly long week and we'll get to that in another post.  But suffice it to say, lots of tear, lots of anguish, and wee modicum of stress.  Now we stand at the precipice.  Let me give you an idea of our schedule and what we need to accomplish when we wake up.

Our flight tomorrow is in two parts.  We leave Houston and fly to Newark, have a layover, and then off to Geneva.  This particular schedule means we're flying Continental/United and that has a couple of advantages.  First, because the Whiz has flown so much on CO/UA, he's a Platinum frequent flyer.  This isn't important EXCEPT for the fact that when we fly tomorrow we each get 3 bags plus 2 carry-ons with the checked bags having a maximum weight of 70 pounds.  And believe me, we're going to max it out.  Big time.  The second advantage is really a benefit for Swiskers, who's flying with us on the same flight.  He gets the benefit of a layover in Newark before take-off for Geneva.

Now onto the schedule.  Our flight leaves Houston at 10:45 AM.  Swiskers needs to be checked in 4 hours in advance.  4 hours!  Bipeds only have to be checked in 2 hours in advance.  I don't know what they do during that time--maybe a pedicure, a nice massage, and then a good brushing--but Swiskers has no clue he's living the good life.  OK, he does have to fly in cargo, but he is a cat after all.

So here we go:

5:30 am  Cheez Whiz and SoulSwister awaken, happy and refreshed (I know sarcasm doesn't translate well in the written word, but trust me--it's in there)

6:30 am  Drop off Swiskers at CO Cargo.  Pray all the paperwork is correct for the Kitty Passport

7:00 am  Wake the munchkins.  Won't that be fun?!?

8:00 am  Begin Operation GBF--Great Big Ferry.  15 bags and boxes to check plus 10 carry-ons plus 5 bipeds.  How long does this take?  Who can fathom these mysteries?  We're only about a mile from the airport.  But we only have one rental car--a Tahoe--which is helpful, but not nearly sufficient.  However, the hotel, a Holiday Inn Express (which makes me qualified to do all things!) has a shuttle.  So in a perfect world--and who doesn't live in a perfect world, full of singing bluebirds, etc.--we load the Tahoe and put all the overflow on the shuttle bus and we do it one trip.  CW is expecting about 5 trips.

Sometime between 8:00 and 9:00 am  Refuel and return the rental car.  Take the shuttle back to the terminal.  Check in.

10:10 am  Board the aircraft.  Is it too late for a Bloody Mary?

10:45 am  Lift-off for Newark

2:30 pm (East Coast time now)  Arrive Newark.  Wrestle carry-ons and munchkins off the plane.  Make our last US phone calls

5:00 pm  Board for Geneva.  It's definitely not too early for a scotch.

5:45 pm  Houston, we have lift-off

7:45 am (Geneva time--that's +6 to the East Coast, +7 Central) Land.  Wrestle carry-ons and munchkins off the plane. Get the bags/boxes/etc.  Clear customs.  Find our driver.  Head to  Duilier

11:00 am ?  Arrive at the house and unload

1:00 pm ?  Swiskers arrives after being cleared by the pet service.  Yes, he gets his own escort.  He has no idea how good he has for a stray that was taken in two years ago!

3:00 pm ?   Rental car delivered--a VW Passat station wagon

5:00 pm ?  Internet and TV set up (we have rental furniture until our stuff arrives)

7:00 pm ?  Collapse.  And throw the alarm clock out the window!

Forecast for Geneva arrival is Sunny and 82.  You figure out the Celsius equivalent--I'm too tired!

Pray for us!