23 Hours to Istanbul

Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m., we embarked on adventure:

We moved to Istanbul.

With this:


3 bags, 8 trunks, 5 boxes, a stroller, 2 carry-ons, a travel guitar, 2 backpacks, and a diaper bag.

It only cost us $2150 to check our bags through! Well, not only, but that is how much it cost. Yikes. But it was either pay to check our stuff through, or pay to buy it again, so I think we got out ok.

We left Greensboro at noon after saying some tough goodbyes. After a 4.5-hour layover in D.C., we flew for 7.5 hours to Munich, where we had a 4-hour layover. And then we flew 2.5 hours to Istanbul, arriving at 3:00 p.m. local time.


Lane is now an international traveler with almost 6000 airline miles on her frequent flier program card!

Our friends and a rental van came to pick us up and we were at their home (where we'll be staying for the next six months while they go back to the States) by 5:00 p.m. We sent emails home letting them know we (and all 16 of our bags!) made it, ate some dinner, and went to bed. Lane did alright, all things considered! She woke up every 2.5-3 hours but after I fed her she went back to sleep. I'm hoping that she gets over jet lag quickly! Then we'll start working on sleeping through the night (yet again)...


Happy 4th of July from Little Miss Independence!

Lane did wear her 4th of July dress that Mimi bought her all day long on Sunday. We changed her into it on Sunday morning when we landed in Munich.

This makes the second time in my life that I have moved out of America and landed on foreign soil on a holiday. Back in 2002 when I moved to Poland I left America on October 31st and landed on November 1st (All Saints Day). It makes me wonder how many other times I'll move on a holiday.

So, from here on out, you'll be hearing about our adventures in Asia, starting...maybe tomorrow. Today we're unpacking and resting. Tomorrow we'll begin real life.