Day 1 – The Journey Across (Sunday - Monday)

Our day started early by walking our dogs over to the in-laws house for their new home away from home. It was hard but easier than dropping off our cat as our doggies are used to this home away from home. They’ll be well loved.

We were met back at the house with great friends and some family who helped to see us off. Dereck’s brother and niece saw us off at the airport.

Checking in was a challenge as there were some complications with how the airlines made our reservations. We were afraid we wouldn’t make it onto the plane. After 30 minutes with a great problem solver agent, she got the ticket issue resolved and discounted the price of our extra bag in consideration of our patience with the issue. (Yeah!)

Flight 1 of 3: Phoenix to Chicago (~4 hours)

We were coming in for landing into Chicago when the plane did a sudden lift back up scaring most of us passengers. Apparently, an airplane was moving too slow to get off the runway. We literally flew right over the airport as we increased our altitude, turned around, and tried again. Safely landed.

Flight 2 of 3: Chicago to Amman, Jordan (~11 ½ hours)

We got ourselves to the international terminal and went to the ticket agent to see if there was any way to change our seats so that we’re seated next to each other. Good thing we went to the desk because they had to redo our tickets anyways. Got in the massive live for international flights' security. The most fascinating part was observing all the people from many different countries, different languages, dress codes, and passports. With about 40 minutes of waiting to get through security, it was great people watching.

Luckily, for such a long flight it went pretty smoothly. It had about 70 children on the flight. WOW! So many children flying internationally.

Flight 3 of 3: Amman, Jordan to Cairo, Egypt (~1 ½ hours)

The airport literally feels like it’s in the middle of a desert.

At the Amman airport, we walked towards our gate and met up with one of our future coworkers. She recognized my face from the school’s new teacher orientation Facebook group. It was great to wait for our next flight getting to know her.

We landed in Cairo about 7:15pm their time. Waited for about 1 hour to get through customs and was met by a helper, hired by the school, to help us get through customs smoothly. After getting through security and baggage pickup we were met by our school’s director, his wife (also a teacher), and one of the Elementary Assistant Principal’s. We were guided to the school’s staff bus, taken over to the hotel with the Elementary AP and given our welcome packet with all the necessary basics to get through the first few days.

Look at this beautiful view from the hotel.

By the time we arrived in the hotel room, it was about 9:30pm and we crashed.