PLANE (and shuttle and train and bus)

Legs of our journey to Osaka:

Van to Indiana

PLANE (and shuttle and train and bus) to L.A.

Ship to Tokyo

Train to Osaka

Leg 2 is complete! We hit some traffic on the way to the Indy airport but got there in plenty of time. I was giddy— singing and whooping and cheering and jumping as we made our way through security. It was my first flight since 2017 (also from the Indy airport) and the boys’ first flight ever.

The whole crew! We managed to pack for a 2.5 month international trip with one rolling carryon and one backpack per person.

Shout out to my friend Anthony who rode with us and drove the van back to my mom’s house.

Indy!

Fascinated by the moving walkways

Calvin sat by a window and some friendly strangers

The boys were (mostly) well-behaved

On this trip, we’ll do 6 total flights from 4 different airlines. These first two were Southwest.

We were able to check 6 of our rolling carryons for free, but Chance faithfully pulled his!

Viewing our second plane. No in-seat entertainment, but that will be something new and fun for the longer flights!

Denver to L.A. had a lot of neat scenery! (And Calvin spied the NFL stadium for the Chargers and Rams)

He just did this on his own :-)

Welcome to Los Angeles!

Poor Colson’s backpack was extra heavy because it had our toiletry bag inside.

An Uber for 7 would have been very expensive, so we opted for public transportation! If we’re going to solely use it in Japan, might as well get used to it! One of the gals in our worldschooling group offered detailed directions to help us navigate the route (shuttle bus then metro train then bus then a short walk). She included pictures with highlighted areas and even tips on how to pay for multiple kids. Who needs Google maps when you’ve got Becky maps?! An Uber would have been $70x2 for all of us. We paid $1.75x6, a savings of $130! Yes! Plus, it was an adventure and good training for Japan.

The boys love “birdies”

All tuckered out. We reached our hotel at 6 pm, which is 9 pm Eastern time, plus an early morning and long day of travel

I love seeing palm trees! L.A. was actually the first place I ever saw palm trees (my sophomore year in high school at the Free Will Baptist National Convention)

We dropped off our bags at our hotel, and then I went with the middle three boys to a walkable park meet-up with several from our worldschooling group. We’ll meet the rest at a meet and greet on Day 1 of the cruise.