We are finally here

The trip was quite an ordeal. Omar got sick the day before we left, and I was hesitant to go but as we had already postponed once, I couldn’t postpone again. Omar woke up around 1am shaking and trembling, he was freezing. I held him and rubbed him for an hour until he stopped trembling and he fell back asleep. Then an hour later he woke up with a high fever. I think he must’ve been hallucinating, he was saying the oddest things, he was very hyper too. I gave him motrin, and an hour later his fever was still 103. It didn’t go down. Finally around 5.30am we managed to go back to sleep for two hours. I got about three hours of sleep and as you can imagine I was dreading the trip now.
The last two days leading up to this were very hectic, the movers were at our house all day long packing up everything. It was stressful on all of us. On the day of leaving, my cats were very upset. Omar was just sick so I couldn’t really tell what he was feeling.
It was such a chaotic situation, but we did manage to get in the car and head to the airport without forgetting too many important things!

It took a while to get everything sorted out at the airport with getting the cats checked in, and figuring out all of the excess luggage. We had a total of eight pieces to be checked in. Crazy!
But we did manage it all, thanks to a kind manager who was very helpful and my dear friend Melissa who kept Omar occupied and me sane at the same time.
The hardest part was to say goodbye, all morning long the phone was ringing off the hook and of course I had some tears to shed. And then to say goodbye to Melissa was really the hardest.
Waiting in the security line Omar got upset that she left and kept saying where did Melissa go?
He knew we were finally going on the big airplane mommy had been talking about for weeks.
Everything went smooth until we got on the plane. Omar had a huge fit, he cried and cried, screaming ‘Mommy come back!’. His way of saying ‘I don’t want to go’.
He did calm down after we took off, slept for a little bit and then we watched Thomas the Tank Engine. He was running a fever again and he threw up as well. I wasn’t feeling very good myself and had the one throw up bag that I could find handy just in case. Luckily I started feeling better after an hour or two. The last two hours of the flight, Omar slept. The flight attendants were extremely helpful, I was the last person to exit the plane, with a sleeping child and three bags, jackets in hand etc. They helped me carry my bags got me my stroller and made sure I was well taken care of.
I love KLM!!!

Our flight arrived earlier than expected, so my dad was still getting there. I made a quick stop in one of the stores to get some toothbrushes and browsed around a bit before heading out. Omar never woke up, he was out!
Finally my dad came and we headed over to my grandma’s house. Omar woke up and was hysterical. I could barely get him in the car, let alone the car seat. I finally resorted to holding him and he threw up again.
After being at my grandma’s for an hour he finally calmed down and got happy. I brought his trains and he played with those. My grandma had bought him a dvd which he watched for a bit as well. He played trains with my dad for quite a while, he liked that my dad smashed the trains together.
Omar and I took a much needed nap, and then a shower. My grandma made us an awesome dinner and Omar actually ate!
Then it was off to the airport again. I didn’t tell him we were going there, I didn’t want him to get upset again.
I had asked him a couple of times if he wanted to go on the airplane to see daddy and he consistently said no. He was still upset with Ramy for being gone so long.

Saying goodbye at the airport was hard, it was so great to see my dad and my grandma again but yet it was too short.
After going through customs we walked around looking at the shops as we had two hours before departure. Omar got real whiny again, I got him a train in the store which kept him occupied for a bit.
At the gate we had to wait a long time, finally when it came time to board, it was a mad house. Everyone was pushing and shoving trying to get on the plane. What ever happened to common courtesy? Omar had another meltdown, I can say this one was probably the worst ever. I had to take him out of the stroller and he refused. He threw himself on the floor screaming and crying, while we were standing in this huge crowd who were shoving and pushing trying to get into the plane. Of course nobody offered to help, I had the stroller, now four bags and a flailing child. I just started crying with Omar, I felt so helpless. I even yelled at him to just shut up, I couldn’t take it anymore. Finally a flight attendant came to my rescue, she took my bags and got us to our seats. Omar threw himself on the floor in the middle of the hallway, while everyone was still boarding and the flight attendant suggested to just give him a minute on his own. I then held him and rocked him until they closed the doors. Finally got him in his seat and he was a bit calmer until it was time for take off. He went nuts when I put his seat belt on. And it went on and on... we just weren’t taking off!
They then announced we had to wait longer because three more passengers needed to get on board. So I had to hold Omar again until he calmed down. It was such a nightmare. The best part was when we circling over Cairo, waiting to land. There were lights everywhere, it seemed like it was only early in the evening instead of 3am. We took a bus to the terminal and had to wait in the passport control line another 45 minutes. The guy who gave me my passport back was real flirty and I decided to take advantage of that and ask him if I can take my cats with me now. He went to look for someone to help me.
In normal circumstances they overnight until the veterinarian inspects them and decides when I can pick them up. Horus was so loud, he was screaming the whole time. Another guy came then and asked if those were my cats, I told him yes and he told me to follow him. Then he told me I pay him now and he will take my cats out. I felt like I was in some secret spy movie or something. I told him okay unless he took all my luggage as well.
He got another guy and they got all my stuff and went towards customs. I saw Ramy standing behind the glass waiting. At the customs they were unsure of what to do, they all gathered together, having some kind of meeting about it and because I was quite loud talking back and forth to Ramy they decided to let me pass without even checking a single piece of document.
I was very nervous at the time but also very relieved I got through!
Ramy’s dad said he was very happy we got everything as the normal procedure would have probably taken us six hours at the agricultural department to get the cats back.
I only gave the guy 20 dollars but in Egypt it is like giving someone a 100 bucks!
Omar went wild when he saw Ramy, he made these weird laughing noises that I never heard before. He was so incredibly happy! The fussing and crying stopped and he transformed back to sweet Omar.

By the time we got to the house and in bed it was gone 5.30am. It was lovely to sleep and we managed to get a good couple of hours in before getting up again.
That afternoon we took a trip to the supermarket and the mall. This mall called City Stars is huge. It has seven floors and just about anything you can imagine in it.
I had no idea this existed and it is only 5 minutes from the house. They even have a Starbucks but I haven’t gone in it yet. By the evening I was exhausted and so ready to go to sleep. Omar wasn’t tired at all and he finally managed to fall asleep around 1.30am.