We're leaving on a Jet Plane, don't know when we'll be back again....

I'm an Ameican Citizen now--waiting on our LAST flight home at our gate in Detroit!

Looking to the West, toward my future (see how bright it is?) on Mommy's NWA plane from Frankfurt, Germany to Detroit, Michigan

We are such good travelers--makes Mommy want to plan a vacation!

The Bassinet on the Lufthansa flight from Almaty, Kazakhstan to Frankfurt, Germany

Our trip is going well. Our driver picked us up as scheduled at 1:30am. He helped with our luggage and we were on our way by 1:45am. Andrew and Adelyn did great with the early wake-up call. In fact Andrew went to bed around 5pm, skipping dinner, so he got some decent sleep. Michael and I, on the other hand, slept for about 2.5 hours. Lat night, I was able to get a very nice Lufthansa reservations agent that told me there were 62 empty seats on today's flight, so we were in good shape for stand-by travel. Upon check-in, another very nice check-in agent, gave us bulk-head seating and even arranged for a bassinet at the last minute. We had some fussy moments on the Almaty-Frankfurt flight, but all-in-all they were both wonderful. Andrew has been the best little traveler--better than Daddy! Upon arriving in Frankfurt, we did have a bit of an issue. I thought we needed to go to the ticket counter and check-in for NWA....which was beyond passport control. Adelyn could not enter, due to no Visa for Germany (US Citizens don't need one, just a passport). So Michael stayed in the transit area, while I went to the ticket counter. I found there, that we could just go directly to the gate area and could clear security without a boarding pass (unlike in the US). Once that was solved, I found that Adelyn was listed as an infant without a seat and I was told, she needed a paper ticket, not electronic--another moment of panic. We were able to go into the NWA WorldClub and get signed up for internet service, where I could call employee travel on Skype. The agent changed her listing to an infant with a seat and that generated the electronic ticket--whew--good thing we had 3 hours. No one in Frankfurt could explain why an infant w/o a seat listing required a paper ticket. When I listed us before leaving, it gave me a confirmation and said "listing sucessful".

Now in Detroit, we landed safely and as we came in on the final approach, I thought of the significance of what this meant for our daughter. She was about to become an American citizen and have many opportunities, here, in our country. Opportunities that she would not have had in Kazakhstan-- had she grown up in the orphanage. Clearing customs was uneventful, no fanfare, fireworks, champagne or welcome reception. We simply handed over our "DO NOT OPEN" manila envelope, her Visa was stamped and through we went. One last flight to go and we're home!