Travel Day

Since our travel plans were changed pretty last minute, we decided to spend our last night in Denver at the hotel attached to the airport. No fighting traffic, and we could sleep in (until 3:30 am).
We stayed at the Westin DIA, which was beautiful. I wish we had had time to enjoy the fluffy beds!

Here is the swanky lounge

And the view


Saturday morning we  ran over to the airport at 5 am. Because of our massive amount of luggage (we checked 11 pieces!), it took forever to just get our boarding passes. Then the lines for security were horrible. By the time we got to the gate, we barely had enough time for Miles to hit the restroom before we boarded the first plane.  I thought that it had to get better, right?


Our seats were scattered on this flight, but we did at least end up sitting by the kids. I sat by Lily, with Clara on my lap, and Matt sat with Miles. The girls were great on this leg of the trip, and the man next to Lily complimented her behavior. Overall, this flight was a win (once we boarded).

We landed in Philadelphia, and I guess it had to be around noon. We had a 5 hour layover, but after the craziness of the morning, we did not want to leave the airport. We got a bite to eat, bought some Dramamine for the kids, and let them play in the play area for a while. I thought I had taken a picture of that, but I don't find any.
Now, when we had first booked our travel for one direct flight from Denver to London, I had requested a cot for Clara. A shelf thing folds down from the wall, and the cot attaches so baby can sleep. Of course, now that our arrangements were changed, the cot was already taken. So I got the pleasure of holding a 10 month old the entire 6+ hour flight. At least she slept, which is more than I can say for myself.

Some cool artwork at the Philadelphia airport


The flight from Philly to London was a little less fun than the first. Miles slept the entire time from the Dramamine (judge if you want, I'm trying to get them used to being 6 hours ahead!). Clara slept a lot, and only had one short fussy time. The lady sitting next to me was so helpful and understanding with the kids. That was so nice. It was hard for me to sleep while holding Clara, and I only managed a couple of small catnaps. I did listen to an audiobook, which was nice, and had a cup of wine.

We landed at Heathrow about 9 am, I think. It could've been an hour either way, with my current memory. And our flight to Leeds was due to leave in one hour. I had no time to reenact the opening of Love, Actually in my head. We had to go through security again, fill out a customs declaration or something, and have our visas checked. Then we literally ran to our gate to be the last ones boarding our final flight. Lily had a fit or two on the way (she hadn't slept much overnight), and Miles had an outburst or two. Luckily, this was the shortest flight, at only about 40 minutes long.
I do want to mention that the people at Heathrow were among the nicest people I've encountered. A couple of the security ladies seemed really grouchy, but once they saw Clara they were very sweet to us all. Plus, after getting into the airport, Lily was scared and refusing to step onto the escalator. Matt was ahead, and I was holding Clara, so a wonderful woman picked her up and carried her during the whole ride. I was so grateful.

Upon landing in Leeds, the kids made it clear that they. were. done. Honestly, after nearly 24 hours, I didn't blame them. We picked up our luggage (minus two small pieces that were gate checked. They hadn't made it), and blew right through customs.

This post is getting pretty long, so I'll save our car shenanigans and first full day for tomorrow.

Here is a sneak peek though (the entrance to an English park)