Eindhoven Here We Come!

Today we are off on a new adventure as a family. Over the past couple of months I have been planning and booking everything for the next couple of weeks in Europe.

We tried to sleep in a little this morning as we don't need to get to the airport until around noon, and I know sleeping on the plane will probably not happen.

After arriving at the airport and dropping our bags we go up to security only to find that for some reason my TSA precheck isn't on my ticket, I must have typed the number wrong when I booked the ticket. I send the kids through with Nate while I go back down to the ticket desk to have them fix it to make sure I don't have any issues on other legs of the journey. I also don't want to dig through my bag for liquids and electronics to remove.

Nate is going to be working the first week of our trip, so his company is paying for his plane ticket. He was able to upgrade to comfort plus seating with a little extra leg room, so his seat is 20 or so rows ahead of us.

Our first flight is to Minneapolis, MN. We have no issues with the flight, and have a short one hour layover. That gives us just enough time to stretch our legs and use the bathroom before loading on our plane to Amsterdam.

The screen at my seat freezes about 45 minutes into our flight. I wait for them to get done with the dinner service before asking them to reset my screen.

For this flight I had ordered a special "kids meal" for the kids as Kailey especially hadn't eaten well on our Australia flight last fall. When they bring their meal it is tortellini with carrot sticks, fruit, and crackers. Landon eats his well but Kailey decides she doesn't really like it part way through. I tell her she needs to eat it or she will be hungry, as breakfast is a long time away.

I had chicken with mashed potatoes and veggies, a roll, a chickpea salad, and a white chocolate lemon blondie. Like our flight to Australia they also provide wooden disposable silverware.

By around midnight Minnesota time I tell the kids to shut down the tablets to try get some sleep. The kids and I are sitting in the middle 4-seat section of the plane with one empty seat. I try to get each kid to lay down a little to get more comfortable, but neither one can get comfortable and they maybe shut their eyes for 30 minutes. Eventually I try to stretch out and I put my legs across Kailey's lap and rest my eyes for a bit, bit I didn't sleep either as I was worried K would get uncomfortable from me.

Even though I don't sleep, getting the pressure off my tailbone is refreshing as I find airplane seats very uncomfortable on long flights.

I scroll through the movies offered by Delta and not much sparks my interest. We have free wifi through Delta SkyMiles so I listen to some podcasts on YouTube and then later listen to my music playlist while playing a game on the seat back screen.

Nate had suggested I watch the F1 movie, so after I give up on sleeping I decide to start watching it. Kailey tells me several times throughout the night that she is hungry, probably because she is still awake when she should be sleeping. I had packed one granola bar for the kids and so I give her that, which satisfies her for all of maybe 30 minutes. Then I split a baguette from my airport Panera Bread lunch with her and Landon.

Eventually breakfast comes about 90 minutes before we are to land. It is an egg and cheese hand pie, which I think will be right up her alley as cheese is her favorite food. The crust is pretty good, however she doesn't like the texture of the filling which I agree is rather unpleasant. The other thing they served was Greek yogurt which is pretty sour, and neither kid even opens theirs as it was also served on our Australia flight, and they didn't like it then. 

All that to say Kailey basically didn't eat breakfast and after a while she starts crying that her stomach hurts which is what she typically does before throwing up. I had packed some sickness bags along so I dig one out for her just in case. I try to comfort and calm her and try to distract her to get her mind on other things.

Thankfully we land in Amsterdam without incident. There are several people in danger of missing connecting flights so we wait on the plane to make sure they get off first. After we get off the plane we grab a croissant from a bakery to get a little bit of food into Kailey which does help her to feel better.

Next we head to customs before heading to the train station below the airport. We buy tickets and then head down the stairs. We could have boarded the train that was at the platform but we weren't sure if it was the right one. We ask a guy and he tells us it isn't going to Eindhoven. After the train leaves we learn it actually would have brought us there. We only have to wait 8  minutes for the next train. 

The train is busy but we manage to find seats. We have a 20 minute train ride to Utrecht where we transfer trains. The new train is even more busy and we ended up standing in the train for 40 minutes before people get off and we are able to sit for the remaining 20 minutes of the ride.

Landon wondering if the upstairs level was for picking your nose? The finger up is actually saying it is a quiet car.

Getting off the train in Eindhoven we have around an 8 minute walk to the Pullman where we will be staying. The weather is cool and on the verge of raining.

Nate had been working a lot while on the flight with the free wifi, and he has an online meeting he needs to join soon, so we need to find some lunch quickly.

We head to a place called the iWok & Go but they don't take credit cards and we don't have cash yet. After we don't find an ATM quickly, Nate decides to go to a different place nearby called Tony's that is also Asian food. While Nate orders food I walk to the city center to find an ATM. There are none in the locations were they were on my last visit, which is not surprising since that was 14 years ago. I eventually find one a bit further away. Then we hurry back to the hotel to eat lunch as it just starts to rain.

Tiny snails with racing stripes on the wall just outside our hotel.

While Nate is on his video call Landon lays down on his bed and promptly falls asleep. Nate says he should stay up a little longer so he doesn't wake up at 3am. We wake him up but he is really out of it and starts looking for clothes to change into thinking it is the start of a new day. I am having digestive issues due to my odd eating on the plane, so I stay back at the hotel and Nate takes the kids to explore the town. Kailey decided she didn't want her coat and it starts raining while they are out. They step into a grocery store to get some breakfast foods and it stops raining by the time they come back out.

I took this picture from our hotel window of it dumping rain while Nate and the kids were gone.

For dinner we eat some of the snacks they had bought, slices of plain bread because they forgot to buy butter or jam, some chips, and some kind of Dutch desserts Nate had bought. Since we had eaten lunch around 4pm, this is fine for a little snack before bed.

Nate has another meeting in the evening and we are all struggling to stay awake, so when he is done with his meeting we all go to bed around 8:30pm.

Nate and I are each sleeping on a twin-size bed and they are pushed together to resemble a larger bed. I would best describe the beds as slightly more plush than a rock. Landon has a roll away bed that is also very firm and Kailey has the plushest bed of all....a blow up mattress we brought from home.