The flight

Wrote this yesterday on plane.... So much more to talk about today but exhausted.  Will try to write in morning....

We are on the flight from LA to Atlanta.  For a while there, I didn’t know if we’d make our 2 hour connection, but we are on the plane!  It’s been a lot of travel so far.  We left yesterday (kind of) from Suva at 2 pm.  The girls both had a hard time saying goodbye to their friends…even though we will be back in 30 days.  It was cute and touching to see how close the relationships are the girls have formed here.  It was a good send off.  Anyhow, we took the 3.5 hour cab ride to Nadia to wait 4 hours for the flight to LA.  We had Burger King in the airport (bye bye diet) and then felt sick afterwards, but the burger was tasty!  (First BK in  years…).   We ran in to friends from the embassy at the airport, who turned out to be on our same flight to LA.  It was great to have them to help entertain the waiting period.  I love that about Fiji….you seem to always know someone.   The girls were crazy hyper – SO excited!   We got on the flight – all four of us in one row.   I think everyone slept some except for me.  It was so uncomfortable – I wonder how much of jet lag is just not sleeping on your flight.  The flight was 11 hours and I think the girls slept for at least 7 of them.  I just couldn’t settle… the toilets flushing were loud, the man in front of me couldn’t stop coughing, the kid across from me opened up his window and it was daylight – which totally messed with me.    Finally we got into LA at 1:00 pm on Wednesday, which is funny because we left Fiji at 9:40 pm on Wednesday.  We basically flew back into time- which the girls find crazy. 

LA was loud and busy and crazy.  So many food options!  So much stress getting to our gate on time.  I kept saying Bula and Vinaka to everyone!  As soon as we went outside, Andie said, “America smells funny.”  I took the girls to the bathroom and whereas in Fiji I would be fine to let them go out and wash their hands or hang outside of the bathroom and wait for me, I was vigilant in sticking with them.  I think they thought it was weird…and I was probably being over paranoid…but I even made them come into the stall with me!   SOO different than the life we live in Fiji.   We got an awesome sandwich and the girls had fresh fruit with yogurt and granola.    Yum.  So many options-  There were like 18 different gums in the shop.  

Like I said, now we are on the plane to Atlanta and life is going to get quite busy over the next month.   I want to stay present while I am in the states and not be so jet-lagged that I am dreaming through it all.  I want to still feel connected to people and not talk about Fiji non-stop.   I am nervous about our jam-packed schedule but I want to see everyone, so it is what it is.   I’ll try to check in now and again and write a bit to keep myself grounded!  Until then…see you American peeps soon!!!  Gonna try and close my eyes…or at least watch a inflight movie now!

Goodbyes before leaving Fiji.  There were a few tears - even though they'll see each other next month!