Ugh.

So, I figured out in the last 3 days that I am NOT cut out to be Travel Agent. Trying to get tickets for our flight to Ethiopia made me want to pull all my hair out and run in circles screaming. Thankfully, I made it through and am NOT bald.

First, we had tickets all set up with Northwest/KLM. Perfectly lovely tickets with bulkhead seats and bassinettes for the babies. A nice little layover where my parents and sister/brother-inlaw/nephew (who are traveling in Europe then) could meet us....and especially the babies. But, one small problem. Apparently the Government of the Netherlands feels that two small Ethiopian babies are a threat to national security. Traveling through Amsterdam (even though we are just in the airport for 4 hours) would require visas for the babies. 80 dollar a piece visas that could lengthen our stay in Ethiopia by 2-5 days. Scratch that idea.

On to number 2. Call British Airways. We flew BA when we went to get Eliana, and even though the food was surprisingly good, we found them way too, well... British. Everything had to be just so. They were extremely picky, they took our bulkhead seats away several times, and we sat by some VERY weird British people. (Ex: the 80-something couple who were hiting, biting and yes, throwing food at each other on the 8 hour flight home from London). We were willing, however, to give it a try. The only problem was that, after being on hold for hours on end, they were on able to give us a quote for seats. Nope, they said, we had to send them about 10 documents and then wait 48 hours for a quote. Scratch that.

So, on to number 3. Ethiopian airlines. This one initially seemed easy. I called, booked very reasonably priced flights, and got set to pay, and NOPE. You can't pay over the phone. You have to have them e-mail you a form, fill it in, and fax them it back along with copies of your card, passport, etc.... OK, FINE! I thought, I will go through the riggermarole and do it. Only, they never sent the e-mail or the itinerary. I called twice (on hold over 30 minutes each time), they would take my e-mail, promise to send it, and then.....NOTHING. UGH.

Number 4 was a nice, pleasant travel agent in the East Coast somewhere. Overall a very painless process, but the outcome....2,600 a piece for the tickets for Tony and Me and 500 or so each for the babies to sit on our laps. The flight included 4 take-offs and landings and plane changes (with 2 infants, let me remind you) and 5 on the way back. Couple that with about 6,500 in charges.... Ok, scratch that one, too.

Enter, Lucky #5. Our winner of a travel agent, Candy, from Seattle. She finally got us on an Ethiopia Air flight for a great price with only one plane change.

So, it only took 3 days, about 500 phone calls and enough "keep holding, your business is important to us..." nonsense to make me crazy, to finally do it!

We leave on July 26th at 4pm and come home on Aug 5th about 4pm. We are on our way....