Posted by Annalisa in Well Friday (2nd July) saw “me” packing frantically as most of it was left till the last minute and not because I was being lazy or putting it off, it’s because the week turned out to be more frantic than usual. Typically when you want an easy week, it generally ends up in the opposite direction! To my credit, I did pretty well considering it pretty much was a ‘grab and dash’ situation. We managed to arrive at Sydney Airport on time, check in and have some time to catch up with family before our 8.00 pm flight to Melbourne. My father flew in from Vietnam earlier in the week getting Visa’s ready for his India teaching post so it was great to have the few hours of catch up with him.
The flight to Melbourne was pretty cruisy and the kids handled well considering it was their usual bedtime at this point. The trick was to keep them up until 10.45 pm when our flight was due to leave Melbourne which wasn’t too difficult as we pretty much got off the domestic flight and onto the international flight. I’m thinking that the only advantage to travelling with young children is that they let you on the plane before anyone else! My plan was that we’d get on at 10.45 pm, settle them in and they’d fall asleep pretty quickly however I forgot that of course they want to serve you dinner at 12.30 am and with 400 people on the plane, it wasn’t a quick process. Not soon after though, David and I sat at the ends and made a makeshift bed for them between us, lights out and off they went. Four hours later Lily woke up and proceeded to be sick until Hong Kong – not exactly in keeping with my plan! Have to mention the Qantas Cabin Crew as they did a great job in assisting us however I was sooooo looking forward to Hong Kong.
We flew into Hong Kong at 6.00 am (I’m not sure whose time zone this was because I was completely lost as to the date and time) and we made a mad dash to Starbucks as it was the only place open. We didn’t have much time as Customs decided to up-end my handbag and search and analyse every stitch in it! Funny how you always feel guilty when you’ve done nothing wrong and thoughts of Shapelle Corby didn’t help my nerves at all! Anyway back to Starbucks with two coffees, a water and some banana bread later we were A$40 poorer! Seriously, that’s how much it cost us! As quickly as I was happy to be in Hong Kong, I was over it and just wanted to get back on the plane, which we almost missed as the final call came up – luckily there were two others they were waiting on so we didn’t feel too bad. I was quietly praying Lily would be okay for the longest part of the trip but was told that a lot of kids don’t handle on planes when its nighttime, something to do with not being able to see the horizon and natural light so they lose their bearings … and their dinner so it seems!Thankfully the last 11 hours went smoothly, kids got some sleep, I got some movies in, David played on his iPod (of course), everyone was happy! Actually the last part seemed to go a lot faster than overnight to Hong Kong but all in all, wasn’t too bad. That is if you ignored the screaming baby, the incessant beeping of the seat belt sign that malfunctioned from Melbourne so would beep for 20 odd minutes at a time, every time they put the seat belt sign on or the other four or five people that were also ill on the plane, not too smoothly at all really (can you hear the sarcasm yet?). So you can imagine my delight when they advised we’d be a half hour early with our landing, which they made up by holding us in the air for 15 minutes so not so early but we were here and that’s all that mattered after 24 hours of travelling!
The flight to Melbourne was pretty cruisy and the kids handled well considering it was their usual bedtime at this point. The trick was to keep them up until 10.45 pm when our flight was due to leave Melbourne which wasn’t too difficult as we pretty much got off the domestic flight and onto the international flight. I’m thinking that the only advantage to travelling with young children is that they let you on the plane before anyone else! My plan was that we’d get on at 10.45 pm, settle them in and they’d fall asleep pretty quickly however I forgot that of course they want to serve you dinner at 12.30 am and with 400 people on the plane, it wasn’t a quick process. Not soon after though, David and I sat at the ends and made a makeshift bed for them between us, lights out and off they went. Four hours later Lily woke up and proceeded to be sick until Hong Kong – not exactly in keeping with my plan! Have to mention the Qantas Cabin Crew as they did a great job in assisting us however I was sooooo looking forward to Hong Kong.
We flew into Hong Kong at 6.00 am (I’m not sure whose time zone this was because I was completely lost as to the date and time) and we made a mad dash to Starbucks as it was the only place open. We didn’t have much time as Customs decided to up-end my handbag and search and analyse every stitch in it! Funny how you always feel guilty when you’ve done nothing wrong and thoughts of Shapelle Corby didn’t help my nerves at all! Anyway back to Starbucks with two coffees, a water and some banana bread later we were A$40 poorer! Seriously, that’s how much it cost us! As quickly as I was happy to be in Hong Kong, I was over it and just wanted to get back on the plane, which we almost missed as the final call came up – luckily there were two others they were waiting on so we didn’t feel too bad. I was quietly praying Lily would be okay for the longest part of the trip but was told that a lot of kids don’t handle on planes when its nighttime, something to do with not being able to see the horizon and natural light so they lose their bearings … and their dinner so it seems!Thankfully the last 11 hours went smoothly, kids got some sleep, I got some movies in, David played on his iPod (of course), everyone was happy! Actually the last part seemed to go a lot faster than overnight to Hong Kong but all in all, wasn’t too bad. That is if you ignored the screaming baby, the incessant beeping of the seat belt sign that malfunctioned from Melbourne so would beep for 20 odd minutes at a time, every time they put the seat belt sign on or the other four or five people that were also ill on the plane, not too smoothly at all really (can you hear the sarcasm yet?). So you can imagine my delight when they advised we’d be a half hour early with our landing, which they made up by holding us in the air for 15 minutes so not so early but we were here and that’s all that mattered after 24 hours of travelling!