Traveling BlacktoPoland

Saying “see you later” or “hasta luego” to my friends and family was not that difficult because I know I will see them again. But, it is the children I feel like I will miss the most. They change so rapidly! One day they cannot walk and the next time you see them they are running. My heart is sad for a moment. Then, it breaks a little bit when my nephew says, “mommy can we go to Aunt Dee Dee’s house?” *insert ugly cry* 

I love those little boogers! My nieces, nephew, godchildren, and my friend’s children… I am not crying! You are!

I have seen my Mommy, my Ma-ma, and my Grand -grand. I have visited my sisters and gone to my niece’s baby shower. Yes, I am a Grandaunt and that makes me feel old. LoL! 

My niece said, “Well at least you don’t look like it.”

She has a point. *shrug*

I have quit my job and my car has been bought by my stepmom, Tyra. All of my clothes are packed again. My tickets have been purchased and I think I am ready to go. 

As we get into the car for my Daddy to drop me off at the airport, we both fight back tears. I think that is the hard part, to not let the tears fall as they well up in your eyes. Because we all know that once the first tear drops it is over. But, I feel like the relationship my Dad and Mateusz were able to develop while he was stuck in the USA helped my dad grow comfortable with me moving to Poland. 

My friends and family know that I do not make life decisions on a whim. They are well thought out and I have rationalized every scenario in my head to the point of exhaustion. Being a thinker is a gift and curse. 

I know it was Mateusz being in the USA and visiting everyone with me that put everyone a little at ease. To this day my Grandmother is still not sold on the idea. LoL! In her mind we should have been married already and I should not have LEFT without being married. Little does she know, I was leaving the USA whether I met Mateusz or not. But, that is neither here nor there. 

My family and friends know that Mateusz will do whatever he can to make sure I am taken care of and to make sure I am safe. He is my calm in the middle of the storm. And I am his safe place.

For my long journey to Poland, I flew American Airlines. Thank you Daddy! And I must say that they were diligent at making sure all of the passengers wore their facemasks. At this point in the USA air travel was starting to increase a bit. Airports looked a little more crowded compared to March 2020. It was October 2020 and travel life almost looked the same as before.  

All of my flights within the USA were full and the airports represented the same volume. Then, I was at my last stop before I crossed the ocean to Europe. My flight from Chicago to London was empty. I had an entire row to myself. Some passengers were able to move to business class. 

The crazy thing is I checked to see if my luggage was on the plane and it was heading to London. I did not think too much of it because I was heading there also. Little did I know, my luggage was on an earlier flight to London. You see there was a delay for my previous flight, but my luggage boarded a plane without me. So, when I arrived at the London Heathrow airport and continued to baggage claim, guess who was waiting for me. 

My luggage; the people who work there were so confused and happy when I claimed all 4 of my suitcases. LoL

Now I have to lug all of these suitcases from one terminal to the other and you guessed it! The terminals were not connected and I had to take the city train from Terminal A to Terminal B. Oh! And I found out that I could not take the cart on the train with me. Are you f******* kidding me?!?!

I am hot, sweating and aggravated. But, I am cute though! I bought an outfit for this trip because you know everyone talks about dressing the part and being trip ready without having to get ready. Guess what? I will NOT do it again. *rolls eye*

You know you have to try something to say you won’t do it again. Well, I tried it. 

I got to the next terminal to check my bags for Brussels Airlines and I had to wait because they were not sure if I could fly to Brussels due to COVID-19 restrictions. So, I tell Mateusz this information and he is trying to figure out how to get to London. He filled out his forms to drive to London from Brussels, and then I was informed that I was able to fly to Brussels. 

Mateusz, I am on my way! 

I arrived in Brussels and I am with my boothang! Now we can start our journey to Warsaw, Poland.