Getting through the UK border

Took off from Chicago airport, took a sleep aid and snoozed through the 8 hour flight to Dublin. Got the the passport control and started getting my passport checked when the officer started giving me a hard time. He told me my UK visa from my last trip did not roll over onto my next trip. When I tried to explain that I wanted a new one he started telling me it was not allowed. I tried to explain that I had the UK border control laws in my bag explaining that my returning on a visitor visa was perfectly legal..."I don't care about the laws"...were his exact words in my attempt to defend myself. He raised his voice and said..."do you know that I have the power to put you on a plane and send you back right now!?"..."I know that, please don't"..."even if you make it to the UK they will just throw you out as soon as you get there!"...yeah...I was pretty heartbroken at this point and couldn't stop the tears from pouring out :'( After over 20 minutes of this torment not to mention that everybody else getting their passports checked nice and easy were allllll staring...urg...he finally sent me to another part of the airport where I chose passport-check line with a lady who looked much much nicer than the big scary Irishman with the large white beard. She didn't give me as hard of a time but instead gave me a week-long tourist visa to Ireland and told me to get my passport stamped by the UK border control or else I would be breaking the law by being here.

I sat in the Dublin airport bathroom for 2 hours crying my eyes out just trying to become stable enough to tackle the next flight. I tried using my phone but it wasn't working (hadn't topped it up for Janurary), tried using the internet as a desperate plea for help and prayer but it cost loads of money and kept freezing up. So irritating! So I decided to distract myself with some gilmore girls while I waited out the next 3 hours. I think most people who saw me watching a film on my computer with tears streaming down my face were bewildered but decided not to ask any questions...not sure if I liked that or not :S

Finally got on the plane and sat next to a really lovely family with two small children who I was able to tell my sob story to. It was nice to talk to some friendly faces. I was the first passenger off the plane in Edinburg and started walking through the checkpoints you would regularly see getting off of a flight but...there was nobody attending the desks...thought that was weird...went through the stiles where you get your passport stamped...still not a soul...k...really weird...finally went through a few hallways, some metal tables, filing cabinets, and sliding doors and I was standing by baggage claim and there was Andy and Linda sitting on a bench waiting for me...ummm...no passport control?

So I was quite confused. No visa means no staying in the UK right? Long story short, we found some policemen who were hanging out with border security and told them our whole story, back to back tourist visa and all. They were so friendly and welcoming and very happy we were trying not to break the laws :P After some phone calls we went backwards through passport control (apparently this is not really allowed but cuz of the situation we were made an exception), met up with a UK border control guy who explained that I cannot get a stamp because I was already in the country but I was welcome to stay stamp-free for 3 months at that point "you should get your husband to take you on a romantic trip to Pairs" then upon return I will get another tourist visa which will enable me to stay through to June when we will return to Alaska and begin my application for a spousal visa.

So that is my story...lets just say it took 2 days to get over the extreme anxiety that we experienced during my entrance back into the UK, still not over jet lag so waking up at 10am is a major chore and I dont' get tired until after midnight.

It's good to be back in the UK especially knowing that Andy and I will not need to spend any length of time apart again :) Crazy busy coming back but nice to be in our own flat finally :)

A day trip to Chicago :)

The last day in Alaska was an absolutely wonderful one. After weeks of constant snow it finally cleared into a wonderful winter day with blue skies and no wind. No problem to fly out that night. We got my dad and the kiddos and went for a good long ski. Dad and I took Andy and the kids through all the hardest ski trails in Valdez. Including Skyline, Roller coaster, The Knoll and Otter Hill. They did so incredible! No complaining or anything :) We spent the rest of the day packing and saying goodbye. When we got into the car to drive ten minutes to the airport. During the drive the wind was picking up and the snow started coming down...it didn't look good. We got to the airport and found out that there would be a delay in the plane landing due to weather. Later on we found out there was only a half mile of visibility...the flight later got cancelled :( We went over to Grant Aviation and got to be 4th on the standby list. We waited around a few hours trying to decide if we should drive Andy to Anchorage and just let me miss my flight, book a new one and possibly get to Scotland a few days late or to keep waiting. Considering we still did not even have a seat on the potential plane that may or may not even make it into Valdez (or back out again). We talked to some of the other passengers and with the help of the ticket agent (and some vouchers to stay in a hotel complete with personal hot tub) we convinced some people to give us their seats and they could get the flight in the morning. Long story short...we got the plane out and right after we took off Valdez got socked in right after we took off. Sprinted from Grant aviation to Alaska airlines and made my flight with not ten minutes to spare :)

The flight to Chicago was fine, didn't sleep much but that's ok. Landed in Chicago and went into town. Amazed at the huge buildings, great architecture and artsy sculptures I wandered all over the city. Went up the sears tower, to the Navy Pier, down the Magnificent Mile aka Minnesota Ave. and even got to go over to Moody Bible Institute and go on a tour through the campus and museum. I even got to see the giant silver jelly bean!!! I had no idea where it was or how cool it is!

So the trip to Chicago was a success!!! Best layover I have ever had :)

Christmas day cont.!!!

Managed to finally get out of bed. We opened presents, went to church, spent the whole day putting together steam engines, hair pins, and eating too much chocolate :) we finished off with a wonderful christmas dinner complete with Christmas Crackers. Such a good day!

The next day we met up with a few friends to play showshoe baseball. It didn't exactly work out how we had planned especially with 45 mph winds so we played showshoe olympics with facefirst snow angels, races, spinning games, and more! So much fun!

Since then we have been havin some game nights with friends, playing in the snow, and getting Andy on skis for the first time! He did so well and only fell twice! He's definitely getting the hang of it and has a new favorite winter activity. Just wait until we get him on a dog sled!!! We're going skiing again tonight and tomorrow morning :)
Tomorrow afternoon Juaquine and Mandi (brother and sister-in-law) are going to arrive from Fairbanks for the weekend. That means another Christmas! It will be good to see them since I haven't seen them since our Alaska Wedding. I cannot wait to see them again. We're planning a double date and some fun times hanging out drinking tea. Isaiah and Lily are quite excited aswel :) Only 16 hours!

Christmas!!!

It is finally here! I'm laying in bed begging the clock to say it's 8am! My little brother set the time for everybody to get up and for some crazy reason he picked 8!!! What sort of a kid is he!? SO here I am bored out of my mind, nothing is new on facebook, pintrest has even lost my interest, I just want the next 30 minutes to be gone so Christmas can really start!!!

Yesterday was tons of fun. We went and played outside in the snow for a few hours sledding, making snowmen, building forts, having snowball fights, and throwing my little brother down hills :P Spent the afternoon lazing around watching A Town Called Panic. It was really funny! then the rush ensued about 3:45 when we realized we needed to make a 4th trip to the store, had to get everybody dressed for church at 5 practice our songs we were performing, make dinner, clean the house, and look pretty all in 1.25 hours! It was a bit crazy to say the least. The christmas eve service at my church was fun. So many cute kids performing christmas songs, a poem, the Christmas story from Luke, and lots of visiting with friends. We came home to our "traditional" Israeli Christmas-eve dinner. with olives, cheese, meat, avocado, different types of salad, and much much more. We sat on the floor and had loads of fun.

After opening up our one christmas-eve present, drinking some mulled wine, and skyping Andy's family we crashed into bed about midnight :)

The beginning of our Alaskan Adventure!!!

Traveling in Alaska is never boring...NEVER! We got to Glenallen about 4pm very excited about getting home in time for dinner. We start leaving town and see a sign saying Thompson pass is closed. This happens every now and then when avalanches are prevalent or if there has already been one down and they are clearing it out. So this was one of those instances :( We went out for dinner at the Caribou, a restaurant in Glenallen...the only restaurant in Glenallen :) We met up with a few friends there who were in the same situation as we were. After a few hours we heard the pass was opened and we were able to drive all the way to Valdez!

We got to Valdez and Andy was surprised at how much snow there actually is here...that is putting it lightly. He was more astounded :D There was about 5 or 6 feet of snow on the ground and the last few days it has been snowing constantly!

We have made the most out of the snow and all put on snowshoes to collected our Christmas tree :) It has just been snowing and snowing and snowing. I have grown up in this little crazy town and still am amazed with the amount of snow we get every year! Andy learned what a

snowblower was and has throughly enjoyed it :)
Our house finally looks all Christmas-ified with the tree in it. We decorated a gingerbread house today, went christmas caroling, and played in the snow for a few hours. I'm feeling the Christmas feeling :)

Alaska Day 1

We are currently driving through the mountains of Alaska! We just had to stop and wait for a moose to cross the highway!!! It feels like I'm driving through a winter wonderland almost too good to be true. The snow is all stuck onto the branches of the trees, the mountains are completely white, the lakes are all frozen and covered in snow machine tracks and moose tracks.

The trip to Alaska was far too long and much too eventful. We went to bed at 11pm and woke up at 1:30am to start driving to Edinburg. I slept for an hour on the flight from Edinburg to Paris and when we arrived we found out that all the security personnel went on strike. They would stand outside the barriers to security with megaphones and signs yelling and changing...slight unnerving :s So we went upstairs to find out that we had to go through security to board our next flight...the line was about a mile long and had thousands of people standing in it...and our flight took off in an hours time. So I found a guy named Ollie and a woman named Elaine (see picture)

who were both on the same flight to Salt Lake City. We stood in line and would take turns finding French workers who were not too pleased to have people asking them questions. We finally figured out that all the planes were delayed and at the last second the workers would yell out a destination and you would shove your way through the masses, get to the front of security, then have to run to your gate and barley get to your plane. None of the connecting flights were still valid. Everybody's schedules were totally thrown down the drain. So...talk about stress. I kept with Ollie and Elaine and we were able to figure out the system and get on our plane ok. The 11.5 hour flight turned into a 13.5 hour flight. So that was no fun but we eventually made it to Salt Lake city where my 7 hour layover had changed to 5.5 hours. I took advantage of the free internet, starbucks, and restaurants. It was an ok layover. I slept the next 5 hour flight to Anchorage where my dad and Andy met me. The weather was too bad in Valdez for planes to fly out so my dad drove to Anchorage to pick up Andy and I from the airport. Andy arrived at the airport several hours before me and was quite surprised to see my dad waving at him in the airport :)

So we spent the morning doin some errands around Anchorage including a huge shop at Sams Club and Fred Meyer (oh how I have missed you!). We are currently driving to Valdez. I'm slightly bummed that we're missing a day with my brother, sister, and mom.

But visiting with my dad has been amazing and Andy is able to see one of the prettiest places in the world all snow covered! It is such a different place in the winter :) I am so ecstatic to be back at home especially in the winter. There is so many things we have planned in order to give Andy a tride and true wintery experience <3

Dundee day 5-6

Shepherds, angels, innkeeper, mary, joseph, and some wise guys :P The nativity at CBC was absolutely hilarious. The kids all mimed a recorded play so the kids were free to focus on their acting. If you could look past the shepherd who kept putting his crook around his neck, the angel with her wand up her nose, and the wise men who almost fell off the stage it was a very well done play. Complete with a dance party in the stable :) We got home and were having a nice relaxed sunday-lunch when Linda asked us if we had our passports...such an obvious question that she almost didn't mention it...we didn't. We had been so busy getting ready to go to Dundee that we totally forgot that we were going from Dundee to Alaska...meaning the UK to the USA...you need passports to do that apparently :P So Andy was a gent and spent his afternoon on a train going back to Glasgow just to get our passports. What a good guy.

While he was away I went to a frozen lake with Mike, Linda, and Tom. The almost-visa-fiasco was just about too exciting for us. Just thinking about what would have happened if we hadn't remembered before going to the airport :s So that made Monday much more relaxed when we realized there was nothing else vital that we hadn't forgotten :) Monday was spent packing and just general hanging out. It was pouring down rain so it made it feel better staying inside with the first day not having sun. Off to Alaska on Tuesday morning!!!