My Older Daughter's First Trip to Poland, On the Plane and in Munich

The plane raised through the air and my older daughter grinned from the strange feeling, telling me loudly how exciting it was.  She looked at the windows and all we could see were dark clouds and lightening flashing all around us.  The wings of the plane were not visible.

"Mommy!  Are we in the clouds?" she asked in disbelief.  "Look, look, everyone!  We are in the clouds!  I wonder if we'll see Angels!  Or God!"

When the pilot spoke over the intercom next, among the topics he discussed were that we would be experiencing turbulence for a while so it best would be to remained buckled in our chairs whenever we are not standing. 

I took my daughter to the bathroom where she gushed over the small space and how strange everything was.  And that she was "very unhappy" that I had a pair of disposable pull ups on her but I told her that I knew she was a big girl and that she knew how to use the potty since she was 1 1/2 but because the flight would be stressful and sometimes we might wait a long time to use a bathroom, I had them on her just in case so that if she did have an accident, nobody would know.  She nodded seriously and told me that she needed "my privacy to use the bathroom, Mommy."

We hit a patch of turbulence and she squealed in the bathroom but bravely did her business, washed her hands and walked with me to our seats.

We buckled her back in, a flight attendant double checked that she was buckled, gave us an extra pillow and blanket for her and suggested that we remove her shoes.  She also gave my daughter a coloring book, coloring pencils, a children's menu, and a puzzle, all of which she still has in a special box filled with her Poland souvenirs.

After a while of playing with headphones, pillows, singing, watching the television, and coloring, our meals came and she was not happy about spaghetti but I told her this was German spaghetti, it's very different, with a whisper and a wink.  She tried it, hated it and ate the rest of her meal and some of mine and her Dziadek's. 

Nap time came, lights were dimmed, windows closed and she stretched out, her head on her Dziadek's leg and her feet on me.  She fell asleep happily but at one point, pushed her Dziadek and told him "Dziadek.  You are in my space.  This is my space.  Where I am laying.  And you are in it, I need you to move, please.," very seriously.  A short quarrel interrupted while my cigarette craving father laughed and told her she was in his space and she completely disagreed.  She finally settled on switching positions so that her feet were on her Dziadek.  But then, later, woke up to tell him again.  Frankly, the seriousness of her voice was too funny to be angry about. 

And, considering the girl across the aisle from us was 5 years old, peed on her father, and started yelling for milk in her bottle in the middle of take off, I had to be proud of my little "gypsy" daughter.  We ended up giving the father of the other girl a pair of Pull ups, which he accepted.

My daughter looked at me and asked in a whisper "why the big girl had pee peed on her Daddy" and I told her that flying is hard for kids and that all we can do is just try and stay calm.  She smiled sleepily at me and said, "I love flying," before drifting off to sleep again.

We arrived an hour late in Munich.  When we got off the plane, she told each of the crew goodbye and told them "Thank you so much!  I mean, Dziekujem!"  By this point, many of them knew her name and wished her a wonderful trip.

We ended up missing our connection flight by 15 minutes.  But we were very happy with how Lufthansa handled it.  We raced through the airport from one end to the other with a 3 year old who's "legs were
still sleeping" and who giggled uncontrollably as her Dziadek grabbed her by her teddy bear book bag and picked her up and carried her for a bit.  Some people gave us dirty looks as we held onto her leash and carried her first in my arms or by the book bag by Dziadek or walking tiredly between us, but frankly, they were not in our shoes.

We made it to the next terminal 5 minutes too late.  But the staff was very understanding, assuring us that they knew we could not have made it, as had the staff on the plane when we arrived.  We were to take our connection flight 4 hours later. and they gave us each vouchers for 10 Euros at a restaurant in the airport.  Which I mistook for 70, forgetting that in Europe they cross their "7"'s, just like I do, but I was tired and stressed.

The staff allowed us to use a telephone they had for situations just like this to our family telling them know about the flight change.   Using the vouchers we were given, we found a restaurant with antlers, wooden decor, and women dressed in traditional German attire.  My daughter couldn't believe she was in Germany and told the lady how pretty she looked in her outfit.

Weinerschnitzel and french fries were ordered for her and she devoured almost the entire adult sized plate, leaving the french fries because the "German chicken nugget is so good, Mommy!"  My first sign that she would love the food in Poland without question.

We sat around, enjoying carrot salads, soups, frankfurters, and other foods I had grown up loving and missed terribly.

The airport had a glass ceiling with a fabric which was adjusted to either block or let in the sun and she marveled at it.  She asked the waitress a lot of great questions about Germany.

In the bathroom, she asked why there was foaming antibacterial hand sanitizer in each stall.  I explained how the instructions showed to use it, first you put some on a piece of toilet paper, then you wiped the seat clean, use the bathroom, then wiped it clean with the foam and toilet paper again.  She asked more questions about why the bathrooms had different signs for men and women and I told her it was the international sign for that, and that in the US it was just different from the rest of the world.

She also asked why the walls were all tiled and the tiles were shaped different, and why the towel for wiping your hands dry were different.  It was actually on a roll and you would wipe your hands dry, then pull and it would go to a new dry spot.  There was a lot of discussion in that bathroom, more than I think I have ever had with her in a bathroom before or since.  And I think that is when she realized how different it really is in America.

Finally, it was our time to catch our flight.  We were put on a standing shuttle to an airplane that she said was so small, "it looks like a toy, Mommy!  It's so cute!"

We went into the small airplane, where she and I again buckled in with a pillow between our bellies and the seat belt.  This time, she had the window seat and watched, with her nose pressed against the glass, the beautiful countryside underneath her.  When we were flying over Wroclaw, I pointed it out to her.  "That's the city Mommy was born in.  That's Wroclaw." 

She gushed over how beautiful it was.  "Mommy!  It looks like a fairy tale!"

The plane landed and I turned to her and said, "Welcome to Poland, baby."

She smiled and whispered, "Poland."  Then waved her arms and said, "I'm so excited, Mommy!  Hey, Dziadek, we're in Poland!  Where you and my Mommy are from!"

To be continued...

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My Older Daughter's First Trip to Poland, Our Departure

My Older Daughter's First Trip to Poland, Our Departure

The day of our trip was nearing and my father had told me that he would be accompanying us from Washington, D.C.  After all, this was his father and he should be there for the funeral.  My relief was immense.  And then, I had to begin reminding him to purchase his ticket and renew his passport quickly.  My father is extremely intelligent and driven but what daughter doesn't worry and make sure her father takes care of his non-work related business.

The relief, the night before the trip when my father arrived on my doorstep to come with my older daughter and myself, was immense.  The sound of my daughter's sleepy voice the next morning finding her Dziadek awake on our sofa was priceless.  "Dziadek!  Are you coming to Poland with me and Mommy?"  And the gigantic hug she threw around his neck when he confirmed her suspicions was a moment I think my father will always hold in his memories.

A few minutes later, my house was filled with a flurry of activity.  My daughter was dressed and her hair tossed into two "Kitki" (piggie tales), we adults pulled ourselves together and my husband was hugged and kissed by "his two girls", as he called us. 

We pulled away in my father's car to the airport and the adventure began...

After a drive filled with my father's techno music and a million questions and giggles from the backseat by my older daughter, we arrived at the airport.  My father smoked a cigarette while I put the teddy bear book bag with lease on my daughter and we all took a shuttle from the parking lot to the airport. 

As we sat down, my daughter announced to the driver and everyone else on the shuttle that "we are going to Poland where my Mommy and Dziadek are from!  And, guess what?  I'm Polish too!"  Her 3 year old eyes widened as she saw airplane after airplane take off and land on the airstrips.  My father pointed out a Lufthansa plane and said "See that biiiig plane?  That is the kind you will be on shortly."

Getting off the shuttle, she turned to the driver and waved, "Good bye!  Thank you very much!" and the driver smiled as she closed the door.

I wondered, "Is she going to talk to everyone she sees?  Is she going to be this happy on the plane?  How will this work?"

The sky above us turned dark, clouds blowing in quickly and bringing a massive thunderstorm.  My father smoked one more cigarette before we went inside.  The wind blew our luggage down and my daughter squealed as it blew against her forcefully. Lightening flashed across the sky and I started my usual pre flight panic in my mind.

My hand nervously kept squeezing the handle of the leash, reassuring myself that she was a good listener and that I had the leash as well, in case she was fidgety.  She smiled up at me, knowing that she had on a leash and the reasons why as she held my hand and watched as thousands of thousands of travelers walked through the airport.

We checked in and she noticed that the woman taking our passports had a Polish accent.  "Mommy!  Mommy, she's Polish, too!"  I explained that the woman was German, as we were flying through Lufthansa.  "Oh!  Cooool!"  The woman smiled at her but you could tell this was not the first time a child with an American accent and her mother had said this.  Perhaps, she did not realize this was no novelty but rather my daughter becoming worldly in a way many kids are never fortunate enough to experience.

We went through security and she stayed close to me the whole time.  Not out of fear, but out of an awareness I always thought she had about such situations but which we had never tested out before.  She removed her shoes and handed them to the TSA worker, smiling up at her and saying "Thank you!"  The TSA employees were all very patient and calm with us, smiling at her contagious joy at the entirely new experience. 

I kept her informed during the whole experience in the airport about what we had to do in each section and answered all her questions and she drank up every detail.  This child was a born traveler.  Did she have "Gypsy Blood"?  Very much so.

A mother with two children looked at my leash and commented what a great idea it was, with all the bustle of airports.  I knew I had made a wise decision but it would not yet become entirely clear why.

When we arrived at our departure gate, she asked more questions and began to play with a little German boy while we parents watched on, trying rather successfully to communicate to one another about our children.

My father and I watched out the large windows as the storm raged outside.  I asked him in Polish if the flight would be affected and he shrugged, trusting the pilot to know how to perform his job safely.  My daughter showed no fear at the storm, after all, the angels in Heaven were holding a party!

A plane taxied over to the terminal next to ours and passengers poured out, she watched fascinated.  "That is going to be like us, Mommy!"  Our plane was loaded with luggage and she watched, hoping to catch a glimpse of her luggage.

When it was time to board the plane and hour and a half after schedule, we were allowed to get on earlier than other passengars as we had a child with us.  She handed her ticket to the flight attendant and said, "Hi!  I'm going to Poland!"  The flight attendant told her, "Wow!  That's so nice!  I hope you have fun!"  She nodded and said "Thank you!  Oh, I mean, Dziekujem!"

We found our seats and she tried to help by looking at the numbers.  She sat between her Dziadek and myself, smiling and looking all around, pushing buttons, and asking questions. 

We buckled her in with a pillow between her stomach and her belt, her bottom completely against the back of the chair as the flight attendants double checked her twice.  I was also instructed to do the same as I was at this point becoming noticeably pregnant. 


I instructed my daughter to pay close attention to the flight attendants during the flight, not to jump around, cross herself and ask God for a safe flight and to behave the way I knew she could.  She took a piece of candy from her Dziadek, smiled at us both and the plane took off. 


We were off to Munich, Germany.  Our stop on the way to Wroclaw, Poland.

And she said "Weeeeeeeeeee!"...


To Be Continued...




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