A Great Journey

On Monday, July 25th we said goodbye to our Austin, Texas home and headed to the airport.  Our flight left Austin at 12:30 PM, so we were able to have a pleasant morning without rushing or waking too early.  Once we woke up, we had a little breakfast, did the final packing and headed to the airport.  

Check in was easy breezy and so was security.  The only hic-up was saying goodbye to Papa and Gram.  We're all going to miss them.  We found our gate and then looked at each other and asked "Wow, are we really doing this?"  It seems pretty unreal.

When we were loading on the first plane to LAX, the pilot invited the kids into the cockpit!  They were so excited!!

The trip to LA was uneventful.  Once there, we had to exit the terminal and enter through the international terminal.  We had to check in with Singapore Air and go through  security again.  It wasn't that big of a deal, but we didn't know that we were going to have to do it, so we were a little annoyed.   We made it to the waiting area for our gate in plenty of time.  Our flight left LA at 3:50 PM (LA time).  At 3:05 PM, we were asked to lineup for boarding.  Any family traveling with a child under 6 got priority boarding.  As luck would have it, we lined up behind another family that looked like maybe they weren't headed home either.  We said "hi"and the mom in that family asked where we were from.  I said that we were from Texas, but that we were moving to Singapore today.  She looked surprised and said that they were moving to Singapore today too!  Their names are Karla and Mike and they have a 7 year old son and a 4 1/2 year old daughter.  Their kids will be going to the school that shares a building with the school where my kids are going.  Can you believe it?!  They boarded ahead of us and were seated in a different section, but we promised to exchange contact info.  I felt so lucky to have just met somebody that was going to go through the same big change as me at the same time.  I'm sure we will be great friends!

We found our seats.  Row 52 seats ABCDE.  A was near the window with B and C next to it.  Then the isle and D and E together.  Scott sat with Wyatt in D and E and I sat with the girls in ABC.  I had to sit between the girls for takeoff and landing, but we could change during the flight.  Wyatt sat in seat E and next to him in F was a young teenage Japanese girl who thought Wyatt was so adorable.  She had him giggling and entertained instantly.  The Singapore Air Singapore Girls are amazing.  They are dressed in a Sarang Kebaya in Batik pattern.  Lily and Madeline were mesmerized by their beauty.  One greeted us just after we sat and brought gifts for the kids.  The girls got activity pads and Wyatt got a Transformers wallet.  They were thrilled.  Then it was time for hot towels to clean our hands.  Next we all got a menu for the in-flight meals provided and a little zipper bag that had a toothbrush, toothpaste and socks for each of us.  On our chairs we found a pillow and blanket.  All of the kids were pretty distracted by all of our newly acquired items and  the excitement of being on our way.

We started out to the runway, but in the huge plane I could hardly tell we were moving at all.  I had to check the window to be sure.  We flew in the Airbus380.  I think it's the largest plane in the commercial fleet.  It was huge!  Finally, we take off!  Our 11 hour flight to Tokyo has begun!

Each of our seats had a TV with its own controller, so we could each watch whatever we chose.  The girls wanted to check it out as soon as we could.  They were happy to find Gnomio and Juliet and wanted to watch it.  So, I got them set up with a movie and I took out my ipad to play games.  So far so good!  I was able to plug my ipad into my seat so that I didn't have to run down the battery in-flight.  Drinks were served, then peanuts, then dinner.  We had specially ordered vegetarian meals, so we were served first.  The main dish on our first meal was a rice/mushroom dish.  I loved it, but the rest of my family are not big fans of mushrooms.  So, they ate the roll with butter, crackers with cheese, cup of vegetables and fruit.  It seemed to be enough food.  After dinner, they cleared the trays and I had some tea.  Then, the cabin lights were dimmed and it seemed to be time for bed.  By this time, it was about 10 PM in Austin and I thought sleep was a great plan for the kids.  We arranged the pillows and blankets and tried to find a comfy position for everyone.  Madeline had her head on my lap (I sat near the isle) and Lily had her head near the window.  After a while, they were starting to get grumpy and still weren't asleep, so I gave them each a Benedryl, it worked like a charm!  Three sleeping kids!

Scott and I tried to sleep, but we were unsuccessful.  I started watching old Glee episodes and Scott read his book.  Later, I started reading a new book called Divergent by Veronica Roth.  It was very captivating and just what I needed (thanks Holly!).  The lights came up and everyone woke up when there was about 2 1/2 hours left on the flight.  Another round of drinks/meal/tea served.  This one was spaghetti and it was a little more popular with my family.  The kids watched some of the tv shows that were available on the inflight system.  Then it was time to land.  We put away all of our things and prepared to land.  We got in to Tokyo at about 6:30 PM local time.  We had about 2 hours layover.  We would be flying on the same plane to Singapore, but the crew changed so we had to get off and take all of our things with us.

As soon as we got off the plane, we met up with the family we had met at boarding.  We took this picture and then made our way to the waiting area for our flight.  The kid sat on the ground and played UNO and legos together.  We were all happy to be off the plane.  Everyone was a bit tired and touchy, but happy to be that much closer to the end.

Okay, so now here we are boarding our plane to our final destination...  Singapore.  We're all tired and sweaty (it was hot and humid in the Tokyo airport).  We find our seats (same ones).  The kids are again greeted with gifts.  We have hot towels brought to us.  Little bags with socks and toothbrushes.  This time, Scott sits with Lily and Madeline and I sit with Wyatt.  We take off.  Then drinks/dinner/tea are served.  I had fallen asleep before the meal was brought, so Scott woke me to eat.  It's all a bit foggy.  The girls and Wyatt were sleeping too.  Lily and Wyatt woke up to eat, but we let Madeline sleep.  Third Dinner was steamed veggies (with potatoes), some raisins, salad and a jello dessert.  There was a roll with jelly and ice cream for dessert.  The flight from Tokyo to Singapore was 7 hours.  After dinner I went back to semi-sleep.  The flight was pretty empty, so Scott moved over to the seat in front of me and the girls were able to stretch out between 3 seats.  Wyatt slept more too.  When we woke, it was more of the movies and tv shows on either the ipads or the in-flight system.  Finally, with about 1 1/2 hours left, the lights came up, final drinks were served and then it was time to prepare for landing.

Okay, something funny...  Every time one of the planes started to descend, I would say to the kids, "did you feel that? We are starting to land!  We'll be there soon!"  From there, Madeline would say loudly, in an excited voice, "We're GOING DOWN!!".  Ha ha ha.! 

The Singapore Airport is beautiful!  It's clean and modern.  There are beautiful plants and giant works of art.  The floor is interesting and the ceiling.  Local time it was about 2:30 AM.  We went through Immigration and then Scott collected our bags and I took the children to the potty.  Then customs and once we were on the other side, we easily spotted our driver.  He pushed one of our luggage trollies, and Scott pushed the other.  I held two little hands and helped direct #3.  Our driver took us to a waiting spot where he could return with the car.  So we waited and after a few minutes, he was there and loaded us in.  It was a 13 passenger van.  The kids got to ride in a car with no car seats!  We drove on the left side of the road and the steering wheel was on the right side.  

The ride wasn't long, may 20 minutes and then we were at our hotel/apartment.  Scott checked us in.  We all felt a bit giddy and excited to check out our new home.  As soon as we got in, we needed to learn how to turn on the a/c and water heater.  Then we face timed all the grandparents.  We didn't reach Grandma Cindi and Papa Kenny, but we'll keep trying!  We all took baths and put on pj's.  At about 5 AM local time, we climbed into bed.  We made it!