After what feels like a lifetime, we've finally arrived at our first big trip of 2018. I remember when Jenn first put up the "Countdown to the French Open Trip" on our chalkboard in our apartment. It had just reached the 100-day prior mark. This morning we left our apartment in Newport Beach and grabbed a Lyft to take us to LAX. More then any other trip, we were probably the least prepared for this one. Although we've been meticulously counting down to it, the last month or so really snuck up on us. We were packing and printing out boarding passes right up to the point where Ulises picked us up in his Kia Optima. 

And so for the final time in 2017, we begin one last adventure. You might call it our grandest adventure of the year,  and I wouldn't blame you. This morning we woke up before the sun ever came out, I went for a run at 4:30 AM, while Jenn finished up her last minute packing and got ready. We spent most of this past weekend planning, packing, and preparing for today, and so we were ready. Our Uber picked us up at 5:45 AM and drove us for almost an hour and a half to LAX. 

We've made it. The wait is over. The countdown on the chalkboard in our kitchen that started in the mid 100's has reached zero. The trip we booked almost eight months ago and have been refining up until today is here and it couldn't have begun better. We spent Thursday morning working from home and getting ready for the big trip. An hour after an incredible lunch at our favorite Indian take-out, Masalacraft, we called for an Uber and had a Turkish gentlemen drive us from our apartment to LAX. 

The wait is finally over. Our journey to the far east is about to begin. Today started like most any other weekday. We woke up and went to work. Jenn had a busy day at the office but was able to have a nice lunch with her dad. Me on the other hand I had to bounce from meeting to meeting (Pomona to Ontario and then home). Luckily I got home a little before Jenn so was able to pack up the the car, make sure everything in the house was in order, and wait for Jenn to get off work. 

When we left you yesterday the trip seemed to be off to as rocky of a  start as we could have imagined. There were points during the day that  getting on a plane going anywhere didn't seem like a possibility.

During our flight into Atlanta we had a free 15 minutes of Wi-Fi which I  used to book us a night at the Atlanta Gateway Marriott. We ended up  arriving into Atlanta on-time but to no surprise to either Jenn or I our  bags weren't there. I was shocked but Jenn really handled that like a  champ. We went to the luggage desk and had an extremely nice lady who  spent a good half hour trying to get someone in LAX to rush our bags in  time to make our 4:45PM flight to Zurich. We left there at around 1AM  feeling somewhat confident that our luggage would be there when we got  back later in the day.

What a day. As I write today's entry I am sitting on a flight headed to Atlanta. Why Atlanta you may be wondering? Well let's start at the beginning.

The lead up to this trip has been intense. This past weekend Jenn hit her toe into the couch and found out on Monday that it was broken. Two days ago Jenn and I realized we had more stuff to bring to Europe then would be physically possible to bring in our suitcases. And today has been the nightmare travel experience that people always tell stories of but we have never had to experience ourselves.