Wednesday, May 25, 2016

9:00 am – We had finally reached the day of departure.  After months of planning, weeks of packing, and days of running around with the couple – Jeff and Grace Shergalis – that would take our place while we were gone, we were finally ready.  The 13 of us, along with Jeff and Grace, took a few minutes to acknowledge the Lord and ask for guidance and safety before we headed out.

We had the whole day set aside to make the seven-hour drive to Istanbul where we would fly out Thursday morning.  Our flight was at 8:50 am, which means we needed to be there at 6:00 am.  After all, we were 13 people with 13 check-ins and I still had to purchase the baby’s ticket.  A couple of our friends, a father and son, were driving us down in their two vehicles.  We would all spend the night in two apartments I had rented on booking.com.  The apartments were only a few minutes from the airport.  This way we would be able to tackle the two flights to the States with 11 kids with some energy on Thursday after a full night’s sleep.

9:15 am

We started boarding the two vehicles.  I was driving a 9-passenger van that we had been borrowing for a few days.  Stefan (the father) was driving his 7-passenger Opel.  I had all of the luggage and Katie and the littlest 6 or 7.  The older boys road with Stefan and his son Michael.

9:30 am

We were on the road to America.  We had plenty of time to reach Istanbul, eat dinner, and then prepare for the an eventful Thursday.  There was a document check of literally scores of documents – birth certificates, passports, visas, etc.  Everything was good.

11:30 am

We pulled in for our first pitstop in Burgas which is the last city before the Turkish border.  We leisurely disembarked from the two vehicles and made our way into the mall that contained the closest Burger King to our house in Varna.

11:45

I ordered 5 Whopper meals and 20 cheeseburgers or something like that.

12:30

Everyone had finished eating and made a last stop at the restroom before the border which was another hour or hour and a half away.  We started out to the cars.  We were only 5 hours from our destination.

12:35

I made the unfortunate discovery that I was not carrying the document for the van I was driving.  I had not changed my pants all week and had had the registration in my back pocket.  I had changed my pants for international travel.  Yes, the document was sitting back in Varna.  It started to rain – literally and figuratively.

12:45 pm

We had come up with a plan.  I called back to Varna so they could take off with the document and meet us halfway with one of our cars.  Stefan, Michael and the boys took off.  Katie, I and the little kids sat down at a cafe in the mall.

2:30 pm

Stefan and Michael had met Krassie and Jeff and were on their way back.  Well, a quiet dinner was out, but we would still get a good night’s sleep.  Our estimated time of arrival was between 8:00 and 9:00 pm.

3:30 pm

We were on our way to the border in our van.  I figured Stefan and Michael would catch us as our van maxed out at 67 mph.

4:00 pm

We pulled into the last gas station in Bulgaria before crossing into Turkey so we could fill up the vehicles.  After all, gas was 3 or 4 dollars a gallon cheaper in Bulgaria at only $5.50 a gallon.

4:15 pm

We prayed and began the arduous task of crossing the Bulgarian side of the border.  It took us only 20 minutes or so.  We thought that would be the difficult side.  We thought wrong.

4:35 pm

We start across the Turkish side.  Everything began as planned.  However, both vehicles had Stefan’s name on the title, and although his son was driving one of the cars, they did not want to let him through.  We waiting around for an hour.  Then the border guards had a shift change.  The conversation began all over again.  Ever sit at a border patrol for 2 and 1/2 hours with 11 kids.  Yeah, it’s not on my to-do list.

7:30 pm

We had finally made it into Turkey and started on the trek toward Istanbul and the two apartments we had rented for the night.  It was raining.  We saw a pizza hut.  Forget the nice Turkish dinner.  We just needed to forage for grub.  We grabbed 8 large pizzas.

8:30 pm

The concept of “fast food” or “to go” is lost in the cultural exchange.  We finally got our pizzas “to go”.

11:30 pm

We eventually hit the megalopolis of Istanbul.  I have driven in New York, Chicago, LA – all cake-walks compared to the ridiculous highway setup of a European city.  There are no blocks.  No 90 degree turns.  Everything weaves and winds and it can be nerve-wracking.  We finally reached our “hotel” that we had booked on booking.com.  It was about 12:00.

12:00 am

We are met by someone who explains to us that the apartments we booked are not in the same building.  They are not on the same street.  We drop off Stefan, Michael and our older boys at apartment #1 and forge on to apartment #2.

12:30 am

We lug luggage and lay little ones to sleep.  I find parking on some road down the way and walk back to the apartment.

12:55 am

I lay down to sleep.

4:45 am

I wake up to deliver Santino, Rocco, Gianni, and Noah’s clothes to them that were in our vehicle.  Katie gets the girls and the baby ready.

5:30 am

We leave the apartments for the airport.

5:55 am

We arrive at the airport, unload our luggage and say our goodbyes to Stefan and Michael.  Our flight was not until 8:50 am, but with a lot of luggage and a lot of passports, and an EXTRA security to get into the airport, three hours is minimum.  We make it through the first security with 13 check-ins and 5 or 6 carry-ons and a stroller.  We set up base at a pillar as I begin the search to find a British Airways window in order to add Michael to one of our tickets.  We didn’t need a seat for him, but they must put it in their system and one pays a $100 or so insurance fee.  At least, that is how it has always worked up until now.

7:00

I had finally found the British Airways window, but could not procure an employee.  At 7:00 the gate opened anyway so we just made our way to check-in.  There wasn’t much of a line and we still had an hour and fifty minutes.

7:15

I explain to the lady checking us in that we need add the baby’s ticket and she says “no problem”.  She taps away on her computer for a few minutes and finally comes up with a $248 price to add the baby.

I say, “No way!”

She gives me some explanation about there not being any more available tickets in economy class or the class we were in.  I told her we are not talking about a seat here.  We already have the seat.  It is hard to argue with incompetence and ignorance.  At least she was being nice.  Then her colleague chimed in.  He was not so polite.

I told them to call British Airways.

7:30

Miss Brains, whose English is nominal, gets someone in London on the line.  She explains the situation, and then asks for my credit card.  She tells me it will $205 or the roundtrip ticket.  I said, “That, I am willing to pay.”  I proceed to give her my credit card number which she dictates to someone I am not seeing in London.  Weird.  No receipt.  This is eastern Europe after all.  It is all about compromise and risk and bluffing and calling bluffs.

7:45

After getting off the phone and typing furiously on her computer, she says, “We have a problem.”  She talks in Turkish to her colleague and a heated exchange ensues.  She says that she will be right back; she has to go get her cell phone.

7:50

She returns and says that she cannot find the ticket that I just bought with my credit card over the phone in London.  She calls them back.  More heated exchanges.

8:00

Now, we still have to go through customs and security and then get to our get which will undoubtedly be at the end of the airport.  I am informed that Michael’s name was typed in wrong which is why she couldn’t find our ticket in the computer system.  She now has to reticket half of us.  (Our tickets had been purchased in two separate transactions)

8:15

They begin checking our luggage in.  It was not – throw a piece on, tag it, move it along, throw another piece on.  It was excruciatingly slow.  Both the man and the lady were taking pieces but quite slowly.

8:30

They check-in the last piece and I demand that they get us to the front of the custom’s line.  She hands me some red passes which I grab and we march off toward customs.

8:32

I approach a desk where a security guard is sitting.  I throw the passes down and yell for everyone to just keep on walking.  I did not have time to be interrogated by someone who simply wanted to exercise the power of their uniform.  We sort of overwhelmed that person and got in line.

8:40

I hand the customs officer 13 passports.  These are people you don’t want to try to rush.  He deliberately looks through the passports, checks faces, stamps.  As we walk toward security, I yell out the game plan and the gate number.  I will go through first and hold the plane.  Everyone else, get there.

8:45

I make it through security, grab my laptop bag and belt and then bolt for the gate.  I yell back to Tino to grab my wallet, phone and shoes.  I sprint barefoot.  Those moving sidewalks are hard on sock feet.  I only made that mistake once.  Sure enough, our gate is all the way down where the big planes are going to New York and Washington.

8:50

I show up at the desk in front of our gate.  I am sweating.  My belt is hanging off through one loop.  I am barefoot.  The woman there says to me, “We are closing the gate, where are the others?”  I said, “They are coming.”  She said, “Call them and tell them to hurry.”  I stare at her expressionless, happy that I did not jackslap her into next week.

8:55

One by one, my group shows up.  We board the bus and then the plane as naturally as can be.  I have a cool family who accept abnormality as normal and who adapt, who are unselfish, and who don’t panic.  We board and we sit like it had been just another day in our lives.

1:00 pm

Not the slightest problem on the plane from anyone.  We land in London and after standing in another line for an hour to get our boarding passes with the baby added, we settle in to 4 hours of layover.  Not the slightest problem from any of the 11 children.  We just don’t do “needy”.  You kids are so awesome!  Katie, you are amazing!  I love experiencing our rich life with you!

5:00 pm or so

We board our flight for Newark, NJ.  It is 7 or 8 hours.  We don’t have the slightest problem from any of the kids.  The baby whimpers off to sleep.  Katie sat in the row behind me with a couple of the kids.  She tells me at some point I have to watch the movie “Brooklyn”.  It is about an Italian boy and Irish girl in New York City.  Now I am crying.

10:30 pm

We land in Newark.  Stand in line for a few minutes and walk up to customs.  He tells us that we are the biggest family he has ever processed.  His old record was 9.  He is a nice guy.  He puts my passport through the system and says, “Oh, no.”

10:45 pm

He says it is random, but that I have to go for a “security check”.  He leads me to a room and Katie and the kids commence waiting again.

11:45 pm

Police officers walk back and forth.  NO ONE HAS SAID ONE WORD TO ME YET.  I had been sitting there an hour.  Russians, Iranians, a Jew, and many Americans – we are all treated as guilty until proven innocent.  The reverse is simply a mantra that has been beat into our heads, but that is now how our society works.  You are guilty until proven innocent.

Finally a police man walks by and says my name and that they are working on my case.  Just a few more minutes.

12:05 am

I am called into an office.  “It is a random check,”  says the police officer who is nice enough.  Whatever.  I have learned to be “cattle” by living in eastern europe for so many years.  There is no point in arguing in certain situations or voicing outrage.  I sense that this is one of those situations.  My US passport did nothing to expedite my situation.  I was a criminal until proven innocent.

How many Ruby Ridges or Wacos or child confiscations by the CPS or any of the hundreds of stories that the media doesn’t report have to take place before we realize that we are not as free as we are led to believe?

12:15

I am “reunited” with Katie and the kids and our luggage.  I am never given an explanation for the security check although I inquire politely.  “It is just random,” is all I ever get.

Friends meet us out front who had been waiting for quite some time.  Thank the Lord for good friends.

It had taken two days with enough stories to fill a book.  Two days teeming with emotion, but we had done it and we had done it together.

We had gone from East to West!