The Big Move...

We left the U.S. on July 5th, and about 24 hours later we arrived in Cairo. A trip like that is definitely not a good time when traveling with small children, but we survived it! 🤪💪🏻😴 We flew from Illinois to Paris, where we had a five hour layover, and then we had a four hour flight to Cairo. 

Rhys LOVED watching the bags moving along the belt.

Rhys only slept about two hours on the overnight flight to Paris, but he somehow had plenty of energy. Ian slept the last few hours of that flight, but he was NOT happy to be woken up when we got there.

We found a quiet spot in the Charles de Gaulle airport lounge, where some of us were able to get a little sleep. We took turns entertaining Rhys, who had no interest in sleeping, whatsoever.

After 24 hours in transit, we were beyond exhausted, and we were very grateful for the VIP service that had been arranged for us. We were greeted just after we got off the plane by someone from Ahlan VIP Services, who took us in a private car directly to their airport lounge. They handled border control, visas and baggage collection while we waited in the lounge and helped ourselves to complimentary snacks and drinks.

When Bea and I went to the bathroom in the airport lounge, she asked me what the "small black dot" at the back of the toilet was. We decided it was probably some kind of bidet apparatus, so I tried to figure out how it worked. I stood facing the toilet and used my foot to push on the button to the left. The result was...surprising.
😱🌊😂

So, yeah. I was soaked. We just stood there for a minute, having no idea what to do. Finally I made my way to the family bathroom, where I hid until Bea brought me a change of clothes. Bea told the cleaning ladies about the situation (they didn't really understand until they followed her to the bathroom). I apologized, but they didn't seem to think it was a big deal. They laughed at my soggy state, and then they apologized for laughing. 🤷‍♀️ But seriously...what is the point of a stream of water that shoots ten feet across the room?!

When it was time to leave the airport, we were SO ready to get to the hotel. A mini bus arrived for us, and the driver and the Ahlan guys were able to get all our bags into the back. When we got to the Tolip El Galaa hotel, we dropped into bed exhausted and slept until 11:00 the next morning. 

^^The view from our hotel

We spent two days in Cairo, taking care of moving-in necessities. We signed the lease for our apartment (Bea and the boys were excited to see it for the first time), and we settled all our suitcases at a friend's apartment for the summer (we'll pick them up when we get back in August). 

^^We managed to spend an hour at the Cairo Festival City Mall, where the boys were happy to get McDonald's for lunch. 😬Bea and Kevin got Chinese. I got Sbarro, but it didn't taste like the real thing.

We got room service for dinner one night (the whole thing was less than $20! 🙌🏻), and the other night we ordered Dominos. 

^^This is the front yard of our new apartment. We can't wait to move in and get settled. 

The two days in Cairo went by quickly, and then we were in the air again on our way to Paris. We'll be staying in our old town, Saint Nom la Breteche, for ten days, and then we'll be off again to the beaches of Greece. Serena met us in the airport in Paris, so we're all together for the summer. 🥰