Rocky Start to Michael's Trip

Michael left yesterday for Germany. After a long night of throwing up once an hour with a stomach bug he felt horrible so I dosed him with Pepto and kicked him in the butt to get out the door. He was not going to miss this flight on my watch. I admit I was a little harsh on him. I felt bad he was sick but seriously he couldn't miss the flight! I did offer to drive him but he was stubborn. He took the pepto and sucked it up. He finally got out of Raleigh and fairly smoothly got out of Charlotte, and then Atlanta to land in Frankfurt. Or so the Internet said.

We have strict communication rules in the Eads Household. You call when you get on the plane and you call when you land. Michael was suppose to land at about 3AM Eastern time but I told him to call me anyway so I know he made it okay. So I woke up at 1AM, 2AM and then 4AM. At 4AM I was still groggy but made a mental note he should have called by now. I got up at my usual 5AMish...okay 5:30AM (I was tired...I had been up the whole night with a puking husband!) and am worried but not too worried yet. He is probably waiting until he knows I am awake and able to talk to call.

I get ready, get Lily to daycare, get to work. By now it is almost 8AM and I am worried. He would have landed five hours ago. No excuse for not calling. By 9AM I am panicking. I called his work to ask if they had heard from him, then I called the hotel to see if he had checked in. Neither one had seen him. So I narrowed it down to three scenarios and rationalized them each.

1. His plane crashed into the ocean and I was a young widow. But I checked the news and nothing was reported so scratch that.
2. He went to the hotel and crashed from exhaustion and a crappy flight and was sleeping. Well that got scratched when I called the hotel to see if he checked in.
3. He got really really sick on the plane and they had rushed him to the doctor or hospital and no one had my contact info! I filled out our passports with his parent's info since we were going to be together the majority of the trip. This what I was totally 100% convinced of. Until 11:30AM....

He finally called. Other than controlling the urge to reach through the phone and slap him I was so relieved. They had some phone/money issues. His boss wanted him to buy a pay as you go phone to use there and swore they were all over the airport and were really cheap. Yeah right. None to be found. Then he tried to get money out of the ATM like the bank told us to do and the ATM was broke so he couldn't even buy a calling card. THEN the guy that was suppose to pick them up they couldn't find. So a million hours later he finally got his hands on a phone that worked. Whew.

I still can't really call him though. But at this time he is already in bed so no biggie. I did call Verizon today and they are sending me a phone that works tomorrow and I will keep my number, etc. What a pain in the arse.

So not a smooth start. They didn't even get to do any of the training that they were suppose to do today...except for the wine tasting that was on their agenda. I am so jealous! They got to tour a winery. All those that know Michael can imagine how he sounded when I talked to him last. Although it was no Meg's graduation party. Who knows by the end of the trip maybe he will be wine drinker?

Probably not though....