Sheep Guarding Llama

Tuesday.  Today dad and I had to run up to Batavia to deal with some errands.  We had to get to FedEx and drop off some stuff that I needed to get shipped off so we hit the FedEx out by the new developments on the Buffalo side of town.

We stopped at Tim Horton’s there to get coffee and donuts while we were out there.

This evening I went down to the NTG Offices at the Ralstons’ and worked there for a while.  Then we decided to go to Letchworth to do some scouting and videos to prepare for MangoCon which is coming up in September.  We put in probably two hours out there getting pictures and videos.  I’ve not seen Letchworth in at least a year and possibly in two.  We took the girls there but it has been quite some time.

It is so hard to believe that going to Letchworth is not something that we do all of the time.  Growing up it was such a huge part of life; now we go years between trips there and I forget that the girls are not there enough to think of it as a place that they regularly go.

It’s also national selfie day.  I got to see the old train bridge that is being torn down.  It’s been there my entire life, it is not going to be the same Upper Falls without the old train trestle.

It was nice to get the see the park again.  It’s been too long.

It is Monday morning at dad’s in Peoria, New York.   No plans today.  Dad and I just hung out and relaxed out on the farm. We’ve not seen each other since Christmas in Galveston.  I’m out at his place all week while Dominica and the girls get time to visit her family in Frankfort.

It’s Father’s Day today.  I came out last night to dad’s place so that we could celebrate Father’s Day together.  I got a good night’s sleep and feel much better.  It has been nearly a year since I have been out to dad’s house.  Amazing how the time flies these days.  So much has happened since then.

More or less first thing we drove separately over to Geneseo and went to the Omega for breakfast.

We had a good day hanging out.  First in Geneseo for breakfast, then we dropped off the car and went back to the house and spent the day catching up.  In the evening we went over to Perry and had dinner at John and Sarah’s there.  I had the best fried shrimp dinner that I have had in a very long time.  I’ve decided that their shrimp is better than Red Lobster’s, for sure.

We had a very nice Father’s Day together.  Dominica and the girls spent the day out in Frankfort.

For the first time in 2016, we woke up in the United States!  Hard to believe that we have been out of the country since 2015.  Sure it was the very end of 2015, but still.  Such a long time away.

We would have slept in this morning but, given the time lag from Europe, we were all awake pretty early anyway, even without an alarm.  We got a great night of sleep, though, and are well prepared to get back on the road this morning.  I was up first at six thirty and Dominica not all that long after me.  We didn’t wake the girls up until we had to so that they could go down to get breakfast and in no time we were off on the road again.

We got out to Frankfort to Dominica’s parents’ house.  Truman the Boston Terrier was very excited to get to see us.   He has missed us.

We hung out for most of the day with Dominica’s parents.  In the evening I packed up the car and drove on to my dad’s house which is about three hours further to the west.  Tomorrow dad and I are celebrating Father’s Day together and also returning the rental van to Enterprise in Geneseo.  Originally it was going to get returned somewhere else, but Geneseo said that they would take it for us without any charge, which is awesome.  We love Enterprise.

It was very late when I got out to dad’s place.  We spent a little time catching up, but not too much.  I’m exhausted, all of the travel is catching up with me and we need to do things in the morning so more or less it was straight off to bed for both of us.

I’m sleeping on the futon in the basement.  My first time alone in a quiet space in a very long time.  I slept great.  The futon is super comfortable and the basement is very cool which helps me to sleep a lot.

It’s mad, crazy, wild travel day here in Romania for the Miller Family!  Finally the time has come to begin the real trip from Romania, through Turkey and on to the United States.  We had to be up very early and before we could go to the airport we had to figure out how to return the rental car that we have had for three months.

Returning the car turned into rather a fiasco.  We had the wrong address as to where to return it and it turned out that we had not communicated to them correctly that we were going to be returning it when we did so after much driving around and maybe an hour of trying to get to the right spot finally getting there – there was no one there to turn it over to.

That made for a stressful start to the day, but Bucharest airport is easy to deal with and we were to our plane in no time and our morning was underway.  First leg of our journey is the very short hop from Bucharest to Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport where we got snowed in six months ago during the blizzard.

That flight was quick and easy and it was still morning when we got to Ataturk.  We know our way around there a bit already and it is a nice airport to deal with, even if it is huge and crazy.

We had some time to kill as part of our layover so we took some time to use the restroom and collect ourselves, during which the girls spent some time running around in one of the empty gates.  Liesl even managed to make some friends and play with them for a while.

Once we found our gate was sat outside of security for probably an hour.  Everyone relaxed while I went hunting for food items.  I got a selection of things and brought them back for everyone.

The girls and I made friends with a girl who was of a Surinam background but grew up and lives in the Netherlands.  We got to chatting for a while.

Once it was time for our flight we faced the security for the US bound flight.  Several layers of additional security at what is already one of the most secure airports in the world.  The degree of security is just off of the charts compared to American airports.  Unlike the US which has one security checkpoint midway through the airport, Ataturk as security to enter the airport, then the mid-airport checkpoint, then the International terminal security then gate security.  It is extreme, but effective.

We boarded our flight and are bound for New York City.  This flight is so long.  But really, even though it is incredibly long, I feel like I am getting used to these long flights and I really do not mind them at all.  The girls did really well flying next to me, they napped or watched their own shows.  I watched a series of movies as Turkish Air provides unlimited in flight movies and great food.  It really was a comfortable, enjoyable flight.  I didn’t get any sleep but I caught up on my movie watching for the season.  I actually get so many first run movies while doing these flights that I wonder if you factored in the cost of popcorn and stuff at a normal movie theater how much the flight really costs!

Everything went quite well.  We landed in New York at JFK in the evening and did well getting our luggage and getting out of the airport.  We know our way around JFK well, the weather was good and the AirTrain is working again unlike our last time arriving at JFK which was a total mess.  And we know exactly where our car rental place is now.

We got to Enterprise and got underway getting our rental car.  We had some credit card issues as we often do when switching countries.  Had to spend nearly an hour on the phone getting things working.  But everything got sorted and in not too long we were in our car.  At first I got us a Fiat 500 SUV, but we found that we could not fit into it so they switched us out for a minivan.  Enterprise Rent-a-Car at JFK is always so good to us.  They make everything so easy which we really need when we are getting back from Europe.

It was not yet dark and we were underway in our minivan to start driving up to Frankfort, New York.  A long drive after a long day of flying.

We got north of the city and swung into the Dunkin Donuts on the circle just north of our house in Peekskill and grabbed coffees for the road (and some tuna melts as those are available again after two years being off the market!)

The drive north went fine but we were all very tired and realizing that the drive to Frankfort was going to be too far for us and that we were going to be seriously exhausted by the time that we would arrive and it would be the middle of the night.

So at the last minute we booked a room at the Hampton Inn just off of the Thruway just west of Albany and checked in there for a nice night of sleep.  We were all very excited to get into the Hampton with modern showers, great beds and good air conditioning.  So we were very happy with the decision to stop.  And we get our Hilton Honors points, too, which we need to earn quickly as we are only in the US for such a tiny amount this year.  So we are more willing to use the hotel given the need to do that.

It was probably two or three in the morning when we got into bed.  What a long day.  Up very early, dropping off the car, one short flight, one really long flight and many hours of driving plus many hours of airport logistics today.  But here we are, back in the US after our longest ever time away.  Six whole months in Europe, what an adventure it has been.  And we have no idea to where we will be off to next!