In the Netherlands
Well, as I've been here two weeks now I should probably update!
My housesitter SR gave us a lift to the airport. We were running reasonably on time. I had spend the morning packing and weighing suitcases and pulling things out. 20kg each is a ridiculously small amout to travel with! But as it turns out I brought a good range of things and haven't missed my wardrobe (too) much.
Because of the packing and repacking I didn't get much of a change to clean the house, which I feel really bad about. The fridge in particular. Don't ask how many half eaten jars of peanut paste were in there :P
Anyway, we made it to the airport in plenty of time. My slightly overweight luggage was not questioned. Norah's boots kept falling off! She had to spend most of the trip barefoot.
callistra and lucretiae met us for lunch at the Dome, then we said our goodbyes and headed through immigration. This was where we had the first lie-down, kicking, screaming tantrum of the trip. Oh yay. But we survived and kicked our heels in the departure lounge for a while. Norah found it all very interesting and didn't have any problems with her ears on the take-off. She liked the in-seat entertainment system and spent most of the fight watching various kiddy shows. She started getting pretty sleepy when we landed in Singapore and was in tears saying she wanted to go home. She perked up when we got the to terminal. I got her changeplad into her pajamas and we brushed our teeth, then we found our gate. The plan was for her to fall asleep as we had a few hours to kill, but she didn't. She just played quietly with her sticker book, so that was all fine. By the time we did get through the gate she was very tired, and there was a bit of teddy bear throwing and shouting. She fell asleep as soon as she was in her seat.
I managed to get a little bit of sleep. Norah slept for about eight hours, which wasn't bad. Trouble is, it's a 14 hour flight and that still left us six hours to kill before we landed. The first three hours were fine. The seat back entertainment in that plane was a touch screen, and Norah loved the fact that she could control it. She kept changing what she was watching. Three hours before we landed she started getting cranky. Nothing would entertain her. There were things thown and drinks spilt, including on me. There was crying and tantrums. I was pretty tired myself at that point, and didn't handle it as well as I could have. Fortunately a stewardess and a random kind person did help out a bit, which saved my sanity. Norah fell asleep about half and hour before we landed, so we did get a bit of a break.
I felt awful when I had to wake Norah up to get off the plane. I left it as long as I could. The ground staff were very helpful and someone walked with us to where we had to catch the bus to the next terminal, showed us where the toilets were, and and helped with our hand luggage. We had to clear immigration and more security when we got there, but that all went smoothly. Norah was quite happy and we got through in enough time to call magpie666 and then go and get Pret chocolate croissants for breakfast. Mmmmmmm :) We found our gate, and even then we had time to find a Boots and get my favourite dedorant, which was rather nice to have after traveling for that long!
The flight to Amsterdam was uneventful, as was passing through immigration. Though Norah's falling-off boots were a pain. Our luggage was there! After bad travel experiences it always comes as a great relief to me to arrive at the same airport at the same time as my luggage!
magpie666 was there to meet us,and it was lovely to see him! We caught the train to Utrecht and enjoyed catching glimpses of snow and frozen canals on the way. We had one bad moment when magpie666 realised he had left the token for the luggage locker he had at Utrecht station in the locker instead of taking it with him. Luckily for all of us (he had things in tthere for me) the stations staff were able to be convinced it was his and open it for him, and everything was still there.
We caught a taxi the short distance to the house we were staying in (here) and started to settle in. After more than 30 hours travelling it was really nice to be able to have a hot shower and relax!
My housesitter SR gave us a lift to the airport. We were running reasonably on time. I had spend the morning packing and weighing suitcases and pulling things out. 20kg each is a ridiculously small amout to travel with! But as it turns out I brought a good range of things and haven't missed my wardrobe (too) much.
Because of the packing and repacking I didn't get much of a change to clean the house, which I feel really bad about. The fridge in particular. Don't ask how many half eaten jars of peanut paste were in there :P
Anyway, we made it to the airport in plenty of time. My slightly overweight luggage was not questioned. Norah's boots kept falling off! She had to spend most of the trip barefoot.
callistra and lucretiae met us for lunch at the Dome, then we said our goodbyes and headed through immigration. This was where we had the first lie-down, kicking, screaming tantrum of the trip. Oh yay. But we survived and kicked our heels in the departure lounge for a while. Norah found it all very interesting and didn't have any problems with her ears on the take-off. She liked the in-seat entertainment system and spent most of the fight watching various kiddy shows. She started getting pretty sleepy when we landed in Singapore and was in tears saying she wanted to go home. She perked up when we got the to terminal. I got her changeplad into her pajamas and we brushed our teeth, then we found our gate. The plan was for her to fall asleep as we had a few hours to kill, but she didn't. She just played quietly with her sticker book, so that was all fine. By the time we did get through the gate she was very tired, and there was a bit of teddy bear throwing and shouting. She fell asleep as soon as she was in her seat.
I managed to get a little bit of sleep. Norah slept for about eight hours, which wasn't bad. Trouble is, it's a 14 hour flight and that still left us six hours to kill before we landed. The first three hours were fine. The seat back entertainment in that plane was a touch screen, and Norah loved the fact that she could control it. She kept changing what she was watching. Three hours before we landed she started getting cranky. Nothing would entertain her. There were things thown and drinks spilt, including on me. There was crying and tantrums. I was pretty tired myself at that point, and didn't handle it as well as I could have. Fortunately a stewardess and a random kind person did help out a bit, which saved my sanity. Norah fell asleep about half and hour before we landed, so we did get a bit of a break.
I felt awful when I had to wake Norah up to get off the plane. I left it as long as I could. The ground staff were very helpful and someone walked with us to where we had to catch the bus to the next terminal, showed us where the toilets were, and and helped with our hand luggage. We had to clear immigration and more security when we got there, but that all went smoothly. Norah was quite happy and we got through in enough time to call magpie666 and then go and get Pret chocolate croissants for breakfast. Mmmmmmm :) We found our gate, and even then we had time to find a Boots and get my favourite dedorant, which was rather nice to have after traveling for that long!
The flight to Amsterdam was uneventful, as was passing through immigration. Though Norah's falling-off boots were a pain. Our luggage was there! After bad travel experiences it always comes as a great relief to me to arrive at the same airport at the same time as my luggage!
magpie666 was there to meet us,and it was lovely to see him! We caught the train to Utrecht and enjoyed catching glimpses of snow and frozen canals on the way. We had one bad moment when magpie666 realised he had left the token for the luggage locker he had at Utrecht station in the locker instead of taking it with him. Luckily for all of us (he had things in tthere for me) the stations staff were able to be convinced it was his and open it for him, and everything was still there.
We caught a taxi the short distance to the house we were staying in (here) and started to settle in. After more than 30 hours travelling it was really nice to be able to have a hot shower and relax!