We Made It!

After approximately 9,267 miles and a 30 hours journey with a stopover in Newark and one in Tokyo, we finally made it to Bangkok, Thailand.  It was a very long trip!

It all started with a wake-up call at 3 a.m. in Ottawa.  The boys were up and alert when we took them out of bed, but more like they were in a dream as they seemed a little dizzy (in Arabic, "mdawtkheen").  My dad drove us to the airport on a very windy morning.  It was so windy, I was worried they would cancel the flight as the plane we were going to take was a very small one to Newark, New Jersey.  Luckily it was not cancelled but the wind gave us one more taste of the cold weather we were leaving behind.

For those of you who may travel in the future with a baby under the age of two with United Airlines, make sure they don't charge for the suitcase you take for that child.  The ticketing agent insisted that the luggage is not free of charge only to find out 10 minutes later by her colleagues that she was wrong.  Although, I started to doubt myself and she started to blame my travel agent for telling me that there was no charge, I was happy I insisted and avoided to pay the extra fee.

We kept Cristiano at the Ottawa airport busy with some Timbits.  He was more intrigued by the shape of them than their taste, but it kept him busy until it was time to board.  On a journey like we were on, the key was keeping the boys busy with whatever worked.  I started to get nervous about the journey we were facing especially when either one of them started to cry.  Then I panicked when I found out we had to board the plane from outside without coats with the kids.  Thankfully, the United Airlines staff let us wait inside until all passengers boarded to make sure we didn't leave the kids outside without coats longer than necessary.  They even helped us with our carry-on luggage so that we can focus on carrying the kids well wrapped in their blankets.

The flight to Newark was short, and the kids slept most of the way.  I was always very happy when they slept. Not only for my mom and I's sake, but for theirs.  They needed all the rest they could get.

In Newark, I was thankful to have my mom and her full functioning brain (mine wasn't working too well after all the sleepless nights I had the weeks prior) as she came up with the very good idea of asking one of the airport drivers to drive us to our terminal.  Cristiano was entertained by the drive and we were happy not to have to walk the distance.  Thanks mom.  She came up with other good ideas along the way.

In Newark we had just enough time to have some breakfast and walk around a bit.  Mom purchased an egg sandwich that Cristiano ended up eating all to himself.  This was another one of her brilliant ideas because as it turned out, he barely had anything to eat on our next extra long flight.  At least the eggs filled him up.

C in Newark

Our plane to Tokyo from Newark was a newer one.  The seats were wide, and because we reserved the bulkhead seats, we had plenty of leg room.  I guess it was the next best thing to being in first class (not really, but kind of!).  We also each had our own TVs.  There were a ton of movies and shows to watch.  These would have definitely made the flight feel very short had we been able to watch them.  Anyone considering to come visit us should keep that in mind.  With the kids however, we were each able to finish only one movie that we watched in bits and pieces.  I ended up watching "Heat" with Sandra Bullock and I had many LOL moments - a good relief from the stress of the flight.

On this 14 hours journey, the kids kept busy by playing alone, playing together, sleeping, eating, and sometimes crying.  It was a really really really long flight!  Mom and I barely slept so we were exhausted by the end of it, especially considering we were up at 3 a.m.  Poor Cristiano struggled so much at times to fall asleep and for most of the time he slept on the airplane floor.  Of course this was not my preferred choice, but it was the only way for him to get comfortable.  We placed some airplane covers under him and he did some very long naps!  Adriano also struggled but mom would calm him down most of the time and she would magically get him to sleep, and I had to feed him more frequently than usual.  He used her as a mattress each time he slept.  Relatively speaking, they were very good on the flight.  They barely cried.  We even had strangers tell us how impressed they were.  The only times we had issues was when they both wanted me to carry them, which happened often enough.  It was exhausting for me but like I said in the title of this post, we made it and that is all that matters.

In Tokyo, we were all very happy to be on land, especially Cristiano.  He kept telling me in Arabic "no tiyara", which is "no airplane".  The poor guy was traumatized.  Plus he was starving so we fed him his favourite - pizza.  He enjoyed his time in the airport and sat most of the wait time by the window watching the planes, trucks and people.  He would even knock on the window and wave to the workers below.  I have to admit, I especially enjoyed the half hour he spent in my arms watching the planes together.  Mom at that time was napping with Adriano on her!

C in Tokyo

Unfortunately, we were delayed 1.5 hours in Tokyo.  Although we were super upset at first, it ended up being a good thing because the kids both fell asleep and with the help of the airline staff, we were able to carry them on the plane asleep.  They ended up sleeping most of the flight.  But this flight was the worst and the last few hours even more.  I could no longer keep my eyes open for most of the flight.  I would have never been able to do the journey on my own with the kids because I was so tired that I became useless.  Thank God Cristiano was sleeping and my mom only had to worry about Adriano.  It took everything out of me to keep my eyes open.  The last few hours were bad because we all became impatient and exhausted and we really just wanted to get there.  Those few hours just seemed to take forever.  The boys were so beat they insisted on both sitting on my lap during the landing, and Adriano cried for the last 10 minutes of it.  But, we made it!

To our surprise and a really nice and welcomed surprise it was, Michael met us as we exited the plane. He used his connections to meet us there.  Then we even passed through the diplomatic line so we were out of the airport in no time.  It was 11 p.m. Bangkok time and we were 20 mins away from the hotel.  The boys were super happy to see their dad and so was I.

We were starving so for our first meal, Michael bought us McDonald's. Lol... And then we all slept in a comfy bed thinking, WE MADE IT!!

You got to love the Hello Kitty type bow