We made it to Atlanta!
Travel wasn’t too bad. A friend of ours volunteered to drive us to the airport early Saturday morning. The flight from Munich to Frankfort was completely uneventful. Little C. slept through her first flight ever just fine.
We had enough time to change terminals in Frankfort and even had some breakfast in the Lufthansa lounge. When we boarded the next plane, C. started to become a bit tired and cranky. Initially, we didn’t have a bassinet for her. Sitting on my lap she couldn’t relax enough to fall asleep.
Surprisingly, however, the purser greeted us personally (wow – do they learn the names of their passengers by heart?!). She offered to make us change places with the two guys in the front row of the compartment. That was awesome! We got a baby bassinet and C. immediately fell asleep in it. She slept for an hour!
Then it was our job to entertain her for the next couple of hours. Not too easy! My husband and I took turns. Admittedly, I never had so much exercise on a flight ever before – walking little C. up and down the aisles, meeting other restless parents with little ones, changing diapers, getting hot water, heating baby food, singing silly songs and so on. During the 10-hours-flight, little C. maybe slept in the bassinet for two hours altogether. But we could also use it to have her sit in it and play with some toys which was really funny to watch.
When we arrived in Atlanta at 4.15 p.m. local time (which is 10.15 p.m. German time), we quickly got our luggage. We took a bus shuttle to one of the domestic terminals and from there the Atlanta public transport (called MARTA) to Buckhead which is located north of midtown Atlanta. I have no idea how long it took us to figure out which transport to use, where to go and which tickets to buy. It felt long though and exhausting. Maybe, because my husband and I were both a bit stressed and tired by that time. We worried about little C. because she seemed to be tired out and her front fontanel was quite sunken in (a sign for insufficient intake of fluids). We had a bit of a hassle with our luggage, too. (No surprise because we had to handle two big suitcases, one small suitcase, little C.’s car seat, two backpacks, the buggy and little C. herself in the ergo carrier). The climate (hot and humid) didn’t really go well with our autumnal travel attire either.
Fortunately, the hotel had offered to pick us up at the MARTA station in Buckhead. We arrived at the hotel at 6.30 p.m. local time which is well after midnight German time. Without any further delay, we put little C. and ourselves to bed. What a relief!
The night was short and we were the first at breakfast! Then we took it easy and just walked to a nearby Target to get some groceries (in particular baby food). It was lovely to feel the sunshine on the skin!
In the afternoon, my husband’s course met for the first time. I unpacked the suitcases, organized our room and tried to entertain little C. without her getting into everything. Yes, she is starting to crawl! To be honest, I have mixed feelings about that. The carpet in our hotel room isn’t the cleanest…
On Monday I checked out the area by foot (we don’t have a car for the next two weeks). I still have to find out, whether there are any parks or playgrounds in walkable distance. Maybe I will be able to use MARTA to get around as well. However, first, we (and little C. in particular) need to overcome our jet lag. For that reason, I try to go outside with her as much as I can. Poor husband, who has to sit in a windowless classroom all day long!
Well, I just looked out of the window… it suddenly rains heavily… maybe I need to get rid of my concerns and let little C. attack the dirty carpet. Can’t see another way to keep her happy.
