We survived. Barely.

You may notice the lack of a post for any point after London. There is a very good reason for that. I am trying my best to erase all of memories from that point.

So, I will give a quick summary, possibly omitting some of the most horrible details, just because I don't want to relive them.

When we arrived in London, we had a very long walk to get to British Airways' customer service desk, as Air Canada hadn't given me any boarding passes for the rest of our trip. When I arrived there, I discovered that Air Canada HADN'T booked us any flights after London. They had told me they had, and that I just needed to get my boarding passes when I arrived in London.

Thanks, Air Canada, for stranding me and my two young daughters in a foreign country! That was really kind of you!

Thankfully, the nice gentleman at the desk booked us on new flights to Madrid then Las Palmas at no extra cost to us. We didn't get on first class from Madrid to Las Palmas, which was very frustrating because we had actually paid for first class on that flight. But whatever, I was just happy to have a flight.

Then, a lady from British Airways convinced me that I wouldn't be able to take my double stroller through customs in Madrid and that I would have to check it in London and pick it up in Las Palmas. HA! I'm a moron and I listened to her and checked my stroller. Went through the airport, bought some hideous yoga pants (the only pants I could find) and rushed to our next gate to get on the flight.

When we got to Madrid, I had to carry my carry-on, the girls' backpack, my bag of pee-soaked clothes and the girls, because at this point they were so exhausted that they both refused to walk. No one from either airline would help me, and I had to go across the whole airport like that, on my own. I got to a point where I put Sophie down and said 'goodbye' because I refused to carry her any more. She followed me screaming at the top of her lungs.

On the bright side, I have never gone through customs quite so quickly. I'm pretty sure that the customs agent looked at my screaming children and the dead look in my eyes, and knew that no one but their real mother would take them anywhere. He very quickly stamped our passports, didn't ask me a single question, and just waved us through.

It took about an hour to get across the airport to our next gate and Sophie and Josie screamed the entire time.

When we got to our next gate, we found a Hello Kitty ride, which finally shut them up. Once they had been calm for a little while, and lady about my age with a girl Josie's age came over, and we visited for a bit to discover that she lives about 15 minutes away from us. So at least at the end of this horrid trip, I made a friend and we are going to get together once the girls and I are settled in.

We have spent the last two days trying to recover from this trip. It may be the last time I go on an airplane, so if anyone wants to see me again, you will have to come out here.