The Sawyer Stories

Unlike a nice summer trip, Spring Break vacations start on the tail-end of a work day. Michael and I loaded up our suitcases at 7 am and dropped them off in my classroom cubbies so they could taunt me until my last kiddo left at 3:30. While Michael was technically already in vacation mode, he was taking care of last minute trip to dos, including picking my mom up from the airport and giving her Tesla driving lessons. My wonderful mom agreed to come to DC to look after the Sawyer boys (Liam and Capital) while we are away.

After quick hello and goodbye hugs with my mom, Michael and I were off to the airport. We had anticipated crazy lines with TSA, so we had pre-gamed by getting me Clear and TSA pre-check. Upon arrival we were greeted by the world’s shortest lines and, to Michael’s chagrin, only one of us had TSA pre-check on our boarding pass…and it was not him. Somehow he survived the 5 extra minutes it took him to make it through security.

Thanks to Michael’s work travel, we were able to spend the wait time munching and sipping on free goodies in the lounge while we talked ourselves into making a quick shift to vacation mode.

When the time came, we headed to our plane and got punched in the face by stagnant, warm air. The plane was toasty, y’all. We stripped off layers and crossed our fingers air movement would accompany takeoff (which it did). We had big aspirations of falling asleep immediately to maximize the overnight flight toward jet lag. The flight attendants had other ideas. Many rounds of serving drinks and food led to hours of bright plane lights (thankful for a vegan meal option though!).

When the lights finally dimmed I blissfully dozed off for 2-3 hours while Michael clocked in at a measly 45 minutes. If you had to pick one Sawyer to function on little sleep…it isn’t Michael. We landed in Copenhagen at 9:30 aka 3:30 in the morning, and shuffled into a long line for passport control. Michael and I just kept gawking at the fact that Liam made this exact same trip ALONE last summer on his flight through Copenhagen to Sweden. That kid is so much braver than teenage me ever was.

One stop to the airport 711 and some ‘breakfast’ couscous and we were off on flight number two. This time I’m certain we were both asleep before the plan had fully boarded and our eyes opened moments before landing in Munich.

We cheerfully popped off the plane for the world’s simplest and most well-timed exit. Straight off the plane and onto the bus to the terminal. Off the bus directly into the Munich airport baggage claim, at our exact carrousel and just as our bags went by for us to grab. It was magical.

Let the adventuring being!