The Hallie Chronicles

Iron and Light · Post by **Iron and Light** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 9:24 am

hey everyone. I've decided that I'm going to put a post here everyday, if possible, just to keep all of you updated

. So, here it starts!

Day 1 (of 25):

____________________

Here I am, sitting in the GTMO Bay aiport, waiting for our plane (that has now been delayed to 3pm est time) to take off. Yesterday, we had to rush to pack. We had late notice about travel dates- 4pm notice, to be exact, and we had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING packed or prepared, figuring that we had at least 4 days until we would leave. GTMO is different, though, and we only have one flight off the island that is guaranteed to take off- the Saturday flight. So, here we are, with 25 days ahead of us- 25 days of lovely traveling, and don't take off to Vietnam until Monday. We'll arrive in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday- talk about a TON of flying time! I'll try and keep everyone updated daily, and hopefully will be able to get some photos on here, too

.

Lena

V-lady · Post by **V-lady** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 11:07 am

I hope you have a good trip, I&L! $\:D/$

Ruthie · Post by **Ruthie** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 1:14 pm

Ah, going to Vietnam would be so amazing. (we'll have to take a trip there together in a few years, eh Lena?

)
Anyway! I hope everything goes well, and YES! Pictures! $\:D/$

LizzieG · Post by **LizzieG** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 1:25 pm

I'm so excited for you and your family, I&L! Looking forward to seeing pictures! $\:D/$

Iron and Light · Post by **Iron and Light** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 9:45 pm

Day 1 (continued):

_____________________

So here I am, in a hotel room in Florida. I just arrived here at about 10 pm est time. Late, I know. Our plane was delayed, and it was 6 pm est time by the time we finally took off (the plane was SUPPOSED to take off at 1:55 pm)! Crazy, crazy, but what can you do? The plane trip was the worst one I have EVER been on, and trust me, I've been on a LOT of planes. We were the VERY last seats on the plane and sat directly over the engines. Our seats vibrated, we smelled fuel, and it was so loud that our ears rang for ages after we got off. There wasn't even a movie to take our minds off of our discomfort during the 2+ hour flight

. My seat wouldn't even recline because it was right in front of a first aid kit, and behind that were the bathrooms! Yes, we rode right in front of the bathrooms.. a horrible experience, let me tell yous, especially when we're sitting there eating and kids who don't even blink while doing phlegm-filled coughs open-mouthed while in a line right next to you. Our 'meals,' if you can call them that, consisted of cheese on hotdog buns, a Twix bar (of which, my mom [the health-food fanatic that she is] didn't let me eat all of it) and some Fritos $\:D/$ . And my mom only showed as much pity on me as she did because of how absolutely pathetic the rest of our food was. Lovely. So now I'm sitting in the room starving and exhausted. It's too late to order any food, so I'll just have to keep telling my growling stomach that it's all the airline's fault while snacking on a tiny bag of 'Snyder of Hanover' pretzels. A lot of good that does

.

Anyway, I've gotta get to bed. Tomorrow is the last day of peace we will have before embarking on our 'trip of the ages.' I keep telling mom it's the 'calm before the storm,' and even tomorrow will be busy! Both of us have to get shoes, haircuts, and gloves (not to mention some other random things for Hallie) and not knowing the area, we only have two shopping centers to try. Let's hope they have everything! So, with that being said, I'll sign out and get back to you tomorrow. One plane ride down, eleven more to go before this is all done and over with! Yayness (especially considering I cannot stand flying

).

Lena

EDIT: Well, I'm still up, so here are some photos! They might be a bit big though. Please forgive me for them if they're huge

.

Us at the door before leaving to catch the ferry to take us across the bay to the air terminal- VV

Here I am on the ferry going across the bay $\:D/$ - VV

Us on the plane- FINALLY!! (Yes, we look like death- we only had three hours of sleep the night before!)- VV

Our plane was so small that one of the flight attendants had to pull a collapsible chair out from the wall and sit in the aisle! And.. I have the photo to prove it

(yes, I couldn't help but take a photo of it while laughing).- VV

Here we are- all the way in the BACK of the plane (row 33 on a plane with... 33 rows.. to be exact

).- VV

V-lady · Post by **V-lady** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 1:26 pm

Lovely pictures! I think ya'll look great considering your....not so fun experience.

Post by **Catspaw** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 6:34 pm

I agree - those are very nice pictures.

I hope that your trip goes well, Iron and Light! Your start may not have been as smooth as you wanted, but at least the flight took off eventually.

Taq · Post by **Taq** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 8:19 pm

If possible, keep the updates coming, I&L! You'll treasure your account later... as an eighth grader, my family traveled to China to adopt my brother. I still have my account with words and pictures, and it's funny to see what details I included!

Iron and Light · Post by **Iron and Light** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 10:30 pm

Day 2

_____________________

Haircuts, shopping (buying a pair of awesome black leather boots), Chinese for lunch, Thai for dinner- a nice, uneventful calm before the storm that awaits us first thing tomorrow morning. Some highlights from today include a 60+ year old woman with psychedelic blue hair (mottled by strands of gray

), a waitress with band-aids all of her hands (with visible red blood underneath.. you don't even WANT to know what was in her nose, peeking out), and some guy needed a cart so badly that he decided to hold it outside of his passenger side door through the window and drive away with it... lovely- a shopping cart thief $\:D/$ .

At 12 pm, we will arrive at the airport to leave for Vietnam on four separate flights (JAX to Dallas, Dallas to LA, LA to Hong Kong, and Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam). I might not be able to post for the next couple of days; it will depend upon internet access and time.

V-lady · Post by **V-lady** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 9:47 am

Wow, interesting times!

I hope your remaining flights go smoothly. And take lots of pictures!

Hannahjiejie · Post by **Hannahjiejie** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 12:47 pm

Wow. I'm prayin' for you two! Btw, lovely pictures. You and your mom are gorgeous

Like Taq, I also have memories of going to China - to pick up on of my little sisters. Cherish the memories!

The Top Crusader · Post by **The Top Crusader** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 12:07 pm

I know twin brothers who went to Korea to get wives, if that is at all relavent to the discussion. $\:D/$

Over the Rainbow · Post by **Over the Rainbow** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 12:35 pm

Sounds like a interesting, but exciting experience.

The pictures are VERY lovely, and I can see where you get your beauty from.

I'll be keeping you in my prayers, sweetie.

Iron and Light · Post by **Iron and Light** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 8:45 am

Wow.. it's been forever since I updated this thread. Sorry everyone. I seriously didn't mean to leave you all hanging, I've just been really busy. We're leaving for north Vietnam tomorrow, Hanoi to be exact, and they charge by the minute for internet up there so I figured I HAD to update y'all on at least part of our trip. We're now on day 14 of our 25 day trip. Wow.. over half of the way there. I can't wait to get home. I really miss my family, and having my own bed again wouldn't be that bad, either

. Anyway, here's a bit about days 3-6. I'll have to add pictures later, as well as a bit about days 7-14.

~Lena

Concerning Days 3, 4, and 5.

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Days 3, 4, and the first half of day 5 all we did was travel. First, we flew from Jacksonville, Florida to Dallas, Texas. That flight was delayed a few hours due to bad weather in Texas and mom and I were both worried about missing connecting flights. Thankfully, all flights out of Dallas had been delayed, also. We were delayed even further upon arriving in Texas and were, yet again, concerned about our next connecting flights. From Dallas, we flew to Los Angeles. What a nightmare! The whole airport was a swarming mess. There were people everywhere bumping into me and each other, yelling in multiple different languages- German, French, Spanish, different Asian dialects, etc... There were absolutely no markers or signs to inform us how to move from the main airport to the international side, and it was only the grace of God that got us where we needed to be on time. If you were to ask 15 different people which way to go, you'd get 17 different stories (two of the people would each tell you two different versions). We finally found our part of the terminal, only to be informed that our flight was being delayed for two more hours. What a nightmare. We were exhausted. By the time the plane took off, it was 1 am on Tuesday. We had started our journey Monday morning. The flight across the Pacific took 15 1/2 hours, with a one hour stop in Seoul, Korea to refuel. The flight itself was awesome. We flew Cathay Pacific and it was the most incredible flight I've ever been on. They waited on us hand and foot and both mom and I felt as if we were in first class. The food was awesome and the plane itself was state of the art. Our only complaint was the size of the seats- they were a bit on the small side. At 8 am on Wednesday, we finally arrived in Hong Kong. Our plane was so late that we literally had to run to our next flight. Thankfully, the airport in Hong Kong was awesome, and ladies were standing around with signs showing us which way to go to our gate. We immediately took off for Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. Around 12 pm on Wednesday we arrived in Vietnam. Thankfully, all of our baggage made it (even though we about panicked because one of our bags came out dead last), and we eventually found our ride to the hotel. Both mom and I forced ourselves to stay up until 8 pm that night. In two days, we'd had a total of 3 hours of sleep and both of us felt like death. At 8, we crashed and fell asleep until the next day, dead to the world.

Concerning day 6

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On Thursday, all we did was shop for souvenirs. After eating breakfast at the free breakfast buffet that comes with our room, we headed out to find some loot $\:D/$ . It was awesome. There's a really cool store right next to our hotel with multiple little vendors on all of it's four floors. Some of the shops have fixed prices, but most of them allow you to bargain, which is always fun. Day 6 was a little 'calm before the storm' in and of itself, just like day 2 was. After shopping for a little while, we came back to the hotel and ate dinner before falling asleep at around 8 o'clock yet again. We had to get good rest because we were getting Hallie the very next day!

darcie · Post by **darcie** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 10:17 am

Wow, an eventful first week, to be sure! Can't wait to hear about the next week and about Hallie.

It's so true that international flights are so much nicer than domestic carriers. When we flew Air New Zealand to England it was awesome. $\:D/$ Oh, and LAX is a crazy airport.

Taq · Post by **Taq** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 11:52 am

Phew! I'm getting tired just by reading about international travel. I'm glad you successfully made it to the other side of the world, I&L!

Post by **Catspaw** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 1:07 pm

Charging by the minute for internet access is definitely not conducive to ToOing! Thanks for updating us now, Iron and Light.

It sounds like you've already had a lot of neat experiences.

Hannahjiejie · Post by **Hannahjiejie** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 3:25 pm

because we were getting Hallie the next day...

Ach! Don't leave us in suspense Lena!

*waits not-so-patiently for Day #7*

I'm still praying for you all!

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 12:17 pm

Isn't Lena coming back today (or tomorrow)? Let's pray for her safe return trip!

We love you, Lena!

I'm sure that she needs prayer for:
- Comfort of little Hallie on the plane ride back. Pray that she will sleep peacefully for hours and hours, and that she won't cry too much (24+ hours of plane flights can seem a whole lot longer if Hallie cries for most of it.). Pray that everyone stays well, and that they bring home no travelers' illnesses with them (Plane rides get even longer when there is sickness + crying.).

- The safe passage of all luggage and carry-ons (It's hard to juggle lots of suitcases and a little baby.). Pray that everything gets back safety, and that nothing gets forgotten in hotel rooms, or in taxies or in airport sitting areas.

- Safety in customs. Pray that God would quicken the process of waiting through line after endless line, and that customs officials would be gracious and efficient with all documentation. Pray also that all their documentation remains without errors and that it will get them all safely home.

- The hearts of her family back home. Pray that their hearts would be preparing for a happy reunion of everyone and their new sister. Pray that God would make it a reunion of such joy and fellowship, that they will forever remember it as one of the most blessed moments of their lives. Pray that they would give all the glory to God for allowing their precious little daughter/sister to finally come home.

- For Hallie. That she would adjust to her new home quickly, and that she would soon feel, even while she's so very young, the sweet love of God which is poured upon her through the love of her new family.

Baragon · Post by **Baragon** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 8:26 am

I've been waiting to hear how everything went.... Come on, I&L, update!