Some how we made it.

So we left on the 26th of March for Prague. Our flight was scheduled for 4:30 pm out of Logan. We were still running around packing and organizing stuff in the house all day. At 1:30 the car showed up to take us to the airport. Not the large SUV we had asked for...it was the standard town car. What was the problem you may be asking? Well, we had 8 suitcases, 6 Carry ons, 2 car seats, Logan's pack n' play, and the 4 of us. So they called back to the office and left to get the SUV. They were back about 2:10 or so and we hurried to finish up with the house. Got all the trash out and everything buttoned up by about 2:25. We made it to the airport by 3 and piled all our stuff out onto a porter and his flat bed. He took all of our stuff inside and stacked it at the front of the line. Pam and the kids waited with the luggage and I got in line. The line was well outside the ropes and halfway down the concourse. After waiting in line for maybe 20 minutes they started calling for people on our flight. We went right to the front and got all checked in and off to security. We actually had no issues through security but it was crowded and very slow. We came out the other side got our shoes on and headed for the gate. A man met us halfway to the gate asking if we were the Hodson's. Seems we were one of two groups they were waiting for. The seats were of course halfway to the back of the plane so it was a fun walk with lots of apologies for accidental contact of carry ons and various body parts bumping off and into people already seated. We got all our stuff stowed away and were off right on time.
The first leg of the flight was 7 hours and went from Boston to Frankfurt, Germany. Alex, of course, chose not to sleep at all but was well behaved and didn't cause any real issues...that is until we were landing in Frankfurt. On final approach, Alex had a coughing fit and tossed her cookies all over herself and her seat. The flight attendants were about to buckle in so they quickly gave us a bottle of water and a bunch of napkins. We stripped the dirty clothes off of her but did not have anything to change her into...so wrapped her in a Lufthansa blanket. As we roamed the airport the blanket went from a skirt to a toga until Pam was able to get Alex her first memento of her trip to Europe - an oversized 'Germany' T-Shirt. Alex promptly fell asleep while waiting for the next plane and had to be woken up for the bus ride and the walk to the plane. Alex then slept the entire plane ride to Prague - all 55 minutes or so - and we were unable to get her actually awake to get off the plane. We went up the jetway with Alex in the Stroller now and Pam carrying Logan. And me with about 4 or so bags hanging from my shoulders. Once at the top of the jetway we found the door to customs and baggage claim was closed and locked. Yes we were the last on in Boston and the last off in Prague. After about 10 minutes a man showed up and opened the door for us. We breezed through immigration and went on to baggage claim. Our bags of course were almost all alone on the carousel so were easy to retrieve. Unfortunately we were one bag short. I got in line at the baggage office and was told the bag was not lost it was in Frankfurt and would arrive on a later flight. They then asked for an address or phone number they could call to deliver the bag to. I explained we didn't have an address yet and she gave me a claim number and phone number to call when we had an address.
So now we have 3 carts full of luggage and a stroller with a sound asleep 3 year old. We start working our way out of baggage claim alternately pushing one cart ahead 10 feet then the next. Once in the customs area 2 nice men from baggage claim on their way to a smoke break help us the last 30 feet out to the terminal. Now the fear we have at this point is this: it is an hour after landing and with our luck the woman and driver who were there to meet us have left. By a stroke of luck however there is a woman holding a sign with Hodson on it. She has brought a large van with a driver and we quickly load up the bags and get the sleeping children in their car seats and strapped in. We have made it to Prague.

Temporary Housing

We seem to be finally all set with our temporary housing in Prague for the first 30 days. This will give us time to explore the city a little and not be rushed into picking our permanent residence. Move One is the relocation company we are dealing with in Prague. Jitka has been our contact and has been very helpful. She helped us sort through many options until we finally settled on this flat. It is right next to a large park and is maybe a little less then a mile from the office. Here is a google map of Na Švihance the street the flat is on. They will be picking us up at the Airport on Tuesday and helping get us situated in our temporary flat. We will continue to work with Move One to find our permanent housing as we sort though options.

Overseas Packing Complete

The movers handling the overseas move showed up bright and early on Monday. They packed all day Monday and Tuesday. Everything going over was either boxed or wrapped in brown paper and bubble wrap. We had a few close calls but we seem to have avoided having anything super critical accidentally being packed and shipped. At one point I was afraid my truck keys may have been packed. They did however take a 12 foot ladder we had not intended to go... Not sure what we will do with that? Maybe offer it to the maintenance man at our flat in Prague. Wednesday they came back with the ship container on a truck and loaded it in the driveway. I actually finally got rid of the fish tank I had not been able to sell, to the driver of the truck. They took that on Wednesday as well. When I got home on Wednesday night the house was very empty. Pam had set up air mattresses for us and for Alex. Logan is using his pack and play. I fear the air mattress was not rated for my weight as I found myself flat on the floor by 2 in the morning. I made my way down to the theater room and slept on one of the couches there. One thing I never thought of until Tuesday night was we had packed up all our lamps this meant any room we had without an overhead light has no light. So we are living here now no frills sorting through the remaining stuff until our flight Monday.

Professional Move to VT

Instead of having to get a storage facility Pam's sister generously offer up their garage for our use while we are way. The movers showed up Monday morning bright and early in fact none of us were really up yet when they showed up at 7:30 am. They spent the whole day packing up boxes and getting stuff ready to be moved out to storage. Pam and I spent the day saying yes that goes to storage no that is going to Prague etc etc. I was on my laptop trying to work so I watched Logan most of the time and Pam chased them around the house.
Tuesday was loading day where they loaded all the stuff they packed up the day before on the truck. They brought along some different people on this day to help with the heavy lifting. One being one of the mover's 19 year old son. When he saw the Supra in the garage he commented that he was sure his Honda could take it. Later in the day Pam took him for a ride and he came back wide eyed with a better understanding of the word fast. They again managed to get everything loaded up without incident including the upright piano they had to get down from the second floor.
It was very impressive to see how much they got packed and moved in 2 days. We are now left with the stuff going to Prague in the house and the other storage stuff we have found in the last week we have to get to Pam's sister.

Moving out has started

So for the last three weeks we have been packing and moving full force.
Two weeks back we filled up a 14 foot U-haul and I made a run out to my parents house in West Brookfield. It took most of the day to load up and the closest I came to death was when a wheel on my giant craftsman tool box came off and it tried to crush me so I considered it a great success.
It took about 2.5 hours to coax the poor 175k mile U-Haul truck out to West Brookfield. The truck was in need of some repair I am sure as you never got the feeling the engine and transmission were really connected. The engine would race often without actually changing the speed of the truck. We got the truck unloaded and returned the next morning with no incidents.