Think about it, we are a family of four, moving to another country where everything is different than the country we were currently living - It was definitely not a smooth beginning! Let me give you a little glimpse into how life was like right before we moved to Greece and right after we arrived there!
Right before we moved to Greece, I was still working at my elementary school as a classroom teacher, Yianni was still working as well and our house had boxes plus luggages everywhere! It was quite frustrating having to go to work knowing you were leaving (yay!), still needing to pack our life in boxes while having two small children running around wanting their toys that were mostly already all in the boxes! Our boxes and some furnitures were going to be sent to Greece via a boat shipping company and so we needed to make sure everything was packed up, especially since it was going to take three months for our things to arrive there. At the same time, we had sold our apartment and the new owner was moving in a few days before we left! So we had to make sure the apartment was clear and clean. There were days I thought we would never be able to get everything done. There were so much to think about. We had a one way ticket to Greece and so if something went wrong there was no way of going back (I mean we can always go back but it's not that easy). Some how we thankfully got everything done. We moved into my mother in law's house for a few days (she was already in Greece waiting for us) after we gave the keys to the new apartment owner and enjoyed quality time with family and friends who visited us before we left.
It wasn't mine, Yianni's or Sophia's first time doing this trip to Greece but it was Nicholas's. I didn't know what to expect but I expected the worst. It was end of June when we left and Nicholas was turning three in July. We had done this same trip with Sophia when she was the same age and it was perfectly fine. But this trip was difficult. Even though we traveled at night so that the kids could sleep on the plane, the newness, the altitude, not being able to move around, needing to wear a seat belt was just too much for him. I had a backpack for each child with small toys, earphones, stickers, crayons, snacks, water bottle, and God knows what else to be able to entertain them. And even though they liked it and played with it, there were still crying from Nicholas (loud crying to the point where other passengers began to look at me). He slept very little which means I slept very little and I just kept praying for time to move faster so we could get home. Resuming, everything was so chaotic because I was so focused on trying to make him calm (by using essential oils, singing, rocking him, giving snacks...) that we left both of the kids's backpacks inside the plane in another country! We tried to get it back but I honestly didn't care and just wanted to keep moving.
When we finally arrived at home, we felt so much relief! We were all exhausted! It was summer in Greece when we arrived so the excitement to go to the beach was through the roof. We wanted to enjoy and relax. During this time, we were living in the farmhouse because the city house was still under construction. We lived in the farm house all summer plus more unexpected months because there are always delays when you do construction. However Sophia and Nichola's schools had started in September and we wanted to be close to them instead of twenty five minutes away in the farm. It was their first time going to school in Greece that being close to them was important to me and our house is located on the same street as Sophia's school and less than 3 minute drive to Nicholas's so moving in was what we wanted most. Our boat shipment was scheduled to arrive some time in October and our house was still not complete. Until it suddenly was and we were able to move in. We were so happy!
Our shipment arrived late October and all was well in the world. Well, not really. Because as soon as we started opening our boxes to begin decorating our new house, I began to question where was one thing or another that I wasn't finding. I had packed everything so many months prior that I honestly couldn't remember what I had packed. So I kept questioning but I was also telling myself that I probably had decided not to bring that or another thing with us to Greece. Then, a few days later Yianni got a phone call from a woman claiming that fifteen or so of our boxes had been delivered to her hotel (that's located in the same city but closer to the farmhouse area) along with her boxes! We couldn't believe it. I was right all along but couldn't even remember that I was missing so many things! Insane! My husband called someone with a large truck to go pick up our boxes with him and turns out the hotel owners are known people in Astoria by the Greek community and owners of a known Greek supermarket there ( I won't mention names but I'm sure my Greek people from Astoria will know who I'm talking about). My father in law knew the owner and his wife (the woman who called Yianni) from there as well. They had just finished building a brand new hotel here in our beach town and they were here to open it up to the public. So what happened was that since both of us were shipping boxes from New York City, from the same company, to the same city/town, the company themselves put both of our things in containers near to each other on the boat. Once they took the containers out and began organising them in the truck for delivery, they probably got disorganized and didn't pay attention to what belonged to who and that's how our things got sent to them. Thankfully, our information (name and phone number) was on the boxes and that's how the woman was able to call Yianni.
So you can plan things all you want but something will always happen differently than how you plan it out. Thankfully nothing more serious happened - was it frustrating, stressful? Alsolutely but it was all worked out and if it wasn't that's ok too. What matters most is that the four of us are together and well enjoying every minute of our journey in Greece.
Has something similar happened to you? Share with me in the comments!
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