The 5,690 mile trip...with a toddler!

As the day began, I was upbeat (minus saying good-bye to mom, brother and nieces) and ready for a full day of travel.  Jayden seemed to be cooperating and was informing he couldn't wait to get on the airplane.  My brother taught him, "what time is it?" "plane time!" LOL. So needless to say, he was excited.  The flight from Albquerque to Denver was a breeze. We were upgraded to first class and everything went off without issue.  Then we had a 4 hour lay-over, and this is when the issues began. We landed near the time of Jayden's morning nap.  Before he fell asleep, I thought it was important to get him one last good meal because we were about to start the long leg of our trip (8hours)! From this point on he was tired, bored and not wanting anything to do with another plane ride. "Plane Time" had changed to "No plane mommy." Oh goodness I was in for it, we still had 2 hours left of our layover.  We ate, then got the iPad out, played til enough was enough and then took a nap.  Finally, it was time to board our plane...and just because he shouldn't have, Jayden woke up!  But hey, this plane has movies mommy! Jayden was quite excited with the luxury seats and clicked on everything on the screen in front of him as if it was his iPad.  All was fine and dandy...except we we're STILL on the ground!!!!  Someone on board hadn't cleared their passport before getting on the plance and it was causing an issue!  My layover in Iceland was only 55 minutes and that included time to clear customs! AGH!  Instant panic took over my body.  When we finally departed, we were 65 minutes late which means we would be landing 10 minutes after my connecting flight took off.  What would I do, Phil's mentor coach would be waiting for me and I no way of contacting anyone.  All I could do was pray, and that is exactly what I did.  We ended up landing in Keflavik International airport at 7:15am and my flight was leaving at 7:25! I jetted off the plane as fast as I could. Jayden woke up wanting milk, and I had no time to stop.  I hit a huge line at customs and I just knew that was it, I missed my flight.  But I said another prayer, got through customs and continued onto gate 11. As I turned the last corner I saw another long line and guess what it was.. the line to board my plane. Woohoo WE MADE IT!  I was able to calm down, relax and get my baby some milk.  The last leg into Stockholm (3hours) was pretty easy.  Once I landed, I collected my things (harder than it sounds with a sleeping toodler, two suitcases, a stroller and a huge carseat) and proceeded to find my ride.  That was the easiest part of the trip, right after baggage claim I exited the area and there stood a man holding a sign that read "Michaela McDonald." Thank God. I had my ride and more importantly I had help ;)