As stressful as it is to prepare for a trip like this with a baby, our travels couldn’t have gone better. We’re so thankful. For my two mama friends traveling this route this Christmas, I have to say that the 5:50pm DEN->FRA night time flight is really ideal for those of us traveling with infants. I think we had about 30mins of bedtime fussing (the passengers around us were likely starting to get nervous about their own prospect of getting some rest) but then Ayo fell asleep for the remainder of the flight. The bassinet is so helpful, as is cool head when baby wonders why he is being stuffed into a suspended shoebox. I should have used the time to catch some zzzs myself, but instead I finished a book, which was glorious.

The last thing we did before we left the country was to cast our US ballots. According to isidewith.com I am most compatible with Jill Stein, but Tall Mountain told me it would be a waste of a vote to vote Green Party. Sorry, Jill! Here is my first-time voter smile on an adrenaline high from last minute trip preparations:

Sadly, Lufthansa only lets you position baby facing towards the aisle. Ayo was watching everyone go to the toilet, pinch his toes and the stewards play peek-a-boo with him, so we covered him up like this. A win-win solution for everyone:

He might not have had a full night’s rest but he probably slept the most comfortably out of all the passengers:

We went to the lounge to wait for our European flight only to find out that TM actually qualifies for the Senator’s lounge. While American Star Alliance lounges are usually kinda lousy, serving pretty disappointing snacks (cheddar cubes and shiny tasteless apples if you’re lucky), the European ones are each different. We always have fun in Frankfurt with their beer on tap, homemade spreads on baked potatoes, ice cream or fresh latte macchiatos. It makes it so much fun to transit there. The Senator’s lounge is even a step up, providing Scotch or fresh goulash in a spotless, minimalistic, beautiful lounge. The only sound you could hear was businessmen clinking their glasses…until we arrived. Here’s me trying to entertain Ayo before he began to entertain them.

Improvising during nap time:

We were all a little groggy all day today, but so happy to be here…especially after hearing that this weekend is the Salon du Chocolat! No way! Someone must have told the chocolatiers that we were coming to town. I’ll be a lot less groggy after gorging on chocolate tomorrow, I promise.