Salt Lake City to Luxembourg

We flew to Luxembourg on Saturday, July 19, 2014. We checked 11 pieces of luggage and walked through the airport with three car seats, a double stroller, three kids, and five carry-ons. 

We flew non-stop, on a 10-hour flight from Salt Lake City to Paris; and then took a one-hour flight from Paris to Luxembourg. 

some of our luggage

Otto did amazing. He stayed in his seat, he told us when he needed to use the bathroom, he ate snacks, drank water, and at about 11 pm told me he was ready to go to sleep. He turned off his screen, handed me his headphones, I tucked a blanket around him, and he slept until we landed in Paris.

Ingrid did great, as well. We were lucky enough to sit in the bulkhead, so the flight attendants attached a cradle to the wall where I could lay her down once she was asleep. She was content, happily ate dinner rolls, and fell asleep on and off for the duration of the flight. 

Aksel, not so much. He cried and cried to get out of his car seat. He didn’t eat much. He didn’t drink much. If I was sitting by him, he cried for dad. If dad was sitting by him, he cried for me. He refused to sleep until Ben walked up and down the aisle with him. After getting him to sleep, Ben transferred him to his car seat and he slept for an hour. Then he was awake for the duration of the flight. Pure misery. He cried. He fussed. He tossed. He turned. He was a hot, sweaty, inconsolable mess. I swear to never fly with another child under the age of three ever again. 

When we landed in Paris, we struggled to get off of the airplane, get our car seats, stroller, bags, and family together. This was the hardest leg of the journey. The Charles De Gaulle airport is big and we needed to wait for a bus to take us to another terminal. Ben and I hadn't slept, Otto had actually slept enough to be acting human, but Aksel and Ingrid were fussy and impossible to soothe or control. 

I struggled to get all three children safely onto the bus while Ben struggled to get the bags, car seats and stroller onto the bus. Then we struggled through customs and security. People were not pleased with the behavior of our children (neither were we, but what could we do?!). 

After the hardest 1.5 hours of our life, we realized we had another 45 minutes until our plane’s departure to Luxembourg. A gate had not yet been assigned, so we walked the boys around in the stroller, fed them snacks, nursed Ingrid, and tried not to get irritated with one another. 

Once the gate had been announced, we rushed to the gate, struggled to get the boys through the doorway, onto the tarmac, up the stairs, and onto the plane. 

Otto sat right down, buckled his seat belt and started telling me over and over again that the airplane needed to take off. 

Aksel immediately melted down and became hysterical about having to be on another airplane. Ben tried calming him down. I tried calming him down and he just got worse. As I held him and looked down at him I felt terrible for him. I knew he was exhausted having only slept an hour or so. It was hot. He was sweaty and on the verge of a fever and throwing up. He couldn’t understand what we were doing or why he wasn’t in his bed and I began to cry. Ingrid, who was being held by Ben, started to cry and I knew she need to nurse and go to sleep. We switched children and I nursed Ingrid to sleep during take off. Ben, by the grace of God, was able to get Aksel to sleep during take off and I think the entire plane was grateful. 

The flight attendant passed out water and chocolate bars and Otto and I chatted for the duration of the flight about chocolate, the airplane, and our new house in Luxembourg. 

I offered many prayers on our trip. For safety. For peace. For our children’s ears not to hurt. For Ben and I to be able to survive. For our children to not melt down. For our plane not to crash. But mostly for gratitude that we had made it. That even though it had been incredibly hard, we were surviving and the journey was almost over. 

After the airplane landed, Aksel continued to sleep and we put him into the stroller, still asleep. I carried Ingrid and held Otto’s hand as we made our way down the stairs, across the tarmac and into the small Luxembourg airport. 

Otto announced he needed to use the bathroom, so the three of us made our way into a strange bathroom with a giant sliding door. I wasn't paying close enough attention to what he was doing because he began peeing all over the floor, wall, his clothes and toilet. It was kind of hysterical that we had made it that far without any major incidents and not that we were in the Luxembourg Airport, Otto had made the biggest pee mess I'd ever seen. I cleaned everything up as best I could and then we walked away. 

leaving the Lux airport

Our luggage immediately appeared on the carousel and Ben unloaded 11 bags and bins, three car seats, and five carry-on bags. I stayed by the luggage while Ben went and got luggage carts. He started loading and hauling our luggage out of the airport where the Stake President, Carlos Rodriguez, and Benelux car service were waiting. The car service was blown away by the amount of luggage we had. We put all of the luggage into Carlos’ van and the carseats and ourselves went in the car service. 

We drove about 15 minutes and pulled up to our new home. A pink row home in a neighborhood called Gasperich. Carlos began unloading luggage. Our landlord, Fernand, and his wife were waiting for us, and we began the process of touring the house and trying to remember everything Fernand was trying to tell us when all we wanted to do was collapse in a bed. 

After what felt like an eternity, we found a pack-n-play, and I put Ingrid to sleep. Ben began to make dinner and the boys ran around. We ate taco soup (we brought from Utah), and snacks. 

We forced ourselves to stay awake until 7 pm and then we put everyone to bed. 

I told Ben I wished we had taken more pictures during our journey here. It obviously wasn't high among our priorities during that time, but I wish it still the same. Ben said he doesn't need photos -- that the pain has been seared into his eyelids and he can see it whenever he shuts his eyes. I laughed for a long time about that.