3:45 a.m. and so it begins,,,

I'm not sure I really slept, but the startle of alarm's ring suggested otherwise. Our bags were packed and at the door when the shuttle came to get us at 4:15. We zoomed to the airport in relative silence as we geared up for the long trip. The brightness of the airport kept our sleepy eyes more attentive as we re-juggled items to balance our suitcases for weight limits. Now help me do the math... We were 4 pounds over in one suitcase but when we switched items, we lost 6 pounds from both without losing any items. Hmmmm...

The flight to DC was packed... Bob and I had chosen a window and aisle seat hoping no one would want in between us, but no luck.  They were nice though and the time went fairly quickly.

Then the big trip... 5:30 p.m.DC to Munich. We splurged by buying seats with 7 more inches and boy was it worth it. We had two seats to ourselves and settled in for the duration. My doctor had given me meds for my back so I was fairly pain free and the excitement of it all was really starting to sink in as we watched the map on the screen in front of us detail our trip.

We had some wonderfully fun flight attendants-Kelly and Ernie.  When I was waiting for the bathroom, Kelly asked me about our travels. I told her and she seemed excited for us.  When I returned to my seat, she and Ernie had brought our dinner with an added surprise... a big bottle of French champagne!! Bob and I were blown away by their kindness! We clinked our glasses as we once again kicked off this trip of a lifetime!!
Bob's viewer wasn't working so we took turns watching movies- The King's Speech and the one with Robert Downy Jr. on a road trip. We dozed,

watched, read, talked, played angry birds, and watched the map. We arrived in Munich at 7:00 a.m.

More to come...