Traveling demands a certain amount of flexibility, because no matter how prepared you are, unexpected challenges will arise. I would consider Jesse and I seasoned travelers, but neither of us were anticipating drama to start in our home country. At airport check-in we were informed that Jesse's passport, while valid, needed to be valid for three months beyond our return date....and mid-March was just about a week shy of this requirement. Yeah. So after a quick family huddle, we decided that Jesse would go to Seattle to get a new passport and that I would proceed on with the boys as planned. The first flight was just the three of us. In San Francisco we met up with Sally (GranMama) and she helped me get everyone to Vienna safely.
It was a challenge to get reunited with Jesse. He got his passport without problem. Then his flight got delayed in Newark. They boarded and sat on the plane for 5.5 hours waiting for the snow to stop. In Frankfurt they rebooked him on the next flight to Vienna. Sally and the kids and I had already left Vienna at this point and were taking the train to Salzburg. The four of us got the rental car and drove to Berchestgarten arriving in the evening. Jesse hopped on a train to Salzburg directly from the Vienna airport. Unfortunately, part-way through the trip the train engine had problems... They had to get pushed back to the station and get on a different train which doubled the overall trip time.
Finally Jesse arrived in Salzburg and took a cab to the house in Berchestgarten. We are so happy to be reunited!
Here are a few photos from traveling, our walk around Vienna, and taking trains.
