Our big trip
Day one
13 Dec 2006
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We have arrived! After 26 hours of flying we are here safe and well, but exhausted. Who was it that said we would be bored during our 2 hour stop overs? The one in Melbourne maybe, as we were delayed by an hour but in Hong Kong we just had time to go to the toilet and change. Sam and Katie were born travellers, they we fantastic! Katie cried twice in the last two hours before London for a minute each time. During the flight to Hong Kong, Katie slept the whole way, we had to wake her up for breakfast, Sam watched TV, ate his supper and then slept. Gav and I grabbed some sleep but not lots.
The flight from Hong Kong to London took 12 hours and yes it was long! Sam discovered the interactive games on his TV screen; he loved the Virtual bowling and soon became an expert. He even beat Daddy, who was trying to win. Katie also enjoyed it but she called it Cricket. After lots of food, including phenomenal hot chocolate and marshmallows, and waiting we descended from the skies and landed at Heathrow. Of course, we had to land at an out bay which meant that we had to be bused to the terminal. Katie and Sam had long given up on the idea of pulling their hand luggage and some lovely ladies helped us to the terminal. A word on luggage, something we learnt, make sure your hand luggage is light and easy to transport.
Our next step was to get through Passport Control (Immigration), we got a lovely English man who was a dead ringer for Niles from The Nanny, he asked our reasons for coming and where are jobs were located, he stamped our passports but then he spotted Katie’s teddy bear and asked for his passport and visa. Katie’s response was to look at him with a confused expression. He told her that Sam the teddy bear couldn’t enter the UK without a passport or visa; our sleep deprived girl didn’t understand any part of the joke.
The next part of our long adventure was to get from Heathrow to Wimbledon without losing our luggage or a child. For anyone who saw us at the Brisbane airport you would understand that this was going to be a challenge. Of course Scrooge (that’s Gav) had already told us that we were catching the Underground to Wimbledon, not the Express but the long one. Well, when our four big bags and four big hand luggage bags were all piled up realisation dawned on both of us that we weren’t going to be able catch any sort of train, fast or slow. Off to catch a taxi! We scored a great taxi driver who was full of information. We won’t tell you how much it cost because all of you were convert it, however, much to Scrooge’s delight it turned out to be cheaper than two lots of four train fares.
We arrived in Wimbledon at our flat at 3.30pm. We moved our luggage inside and put the children’s coats on and left for the shops at 4.00pm and yes it was dark. At a lovely 12 degrees it was fresh and crisp. The children felt a little bit cold as their responsible mother had forgotten to put on their gloves and scarves. I can only improve in this area. We bought some groceries and came home for a bath and dinner. The whole family was in bed by 6.40pm.
Locations Visited: Brisbane , Melbourne , Hong Kong , London
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