Two adults, 1 child, 1 toddler and one baby (oh and 1 grandma) off to Bangkok

A sea shipment, an air shipment, 10 large suitcases (plus two of my mom's that we took over!) and 6 carry-ons later, and we were finally packed.  It took months of preparation to purge and get rid of things we didn't need, and to decide what we needed right away (to go in our suitcases), what we could wait one month for (to go by air) and what we could wait 3 months for (to go by sea).  With three growing and changing kids, the decisions were not evident.

 
It was very difficult to say bye to everyone.  We've always known this trip would be difficult because of all the family and friends we would be missing while away, but receiving all the visitors, and goodbye gifts made us realize even more how lucky we are to have amazing friends and family.  It hit us especially hard the night before our departure.

Despite the anxiety and sadness, it was a relief to finally be on our way.  By the end of it, all Mike and I wanted was to just get there.  The relief really hit when we sat down in the Air Canada lounge at the Ottawa airport.  The sun was shinning, the boys enjoyed the view of the planes landing and taking off and we all indulged in the food and treats.  The move became very real at that point and excitement hit again.

We traveled from Ottawa to Toronto, with a two hour lay over, then Toronto to Beijing with what was supposed to be a three hour lay over, and then Beijing to Bangkok.  The first part of our trip was the easiest despite the 13 hour flight from Toronto to Beijing.  What was the most difficult for all of us was the 5 hours wait we ended up having to do in Beijing.  The airport was not so nice, the lounge was beyond mediocre and we were just oh so tired.  Then we had to wait almost an hour in the plane because of weather and traffic.  Thankfully that last flight was good. We all slept for most of it and the food was nice.  But instead of arriving in Bangkok at midnight, we arrived at 3 a.m. in the morning and that didn't help us in getting used to the new time zone.

All in all however, the boys were amazing on the trip.  It was a 28 hours journey and we barely had to manage them.  Cristiano was especially good and Adriano had a few "moments".  Cristiano was very independent. He sat in his pod, watched movies and ate all by himself. Adriano did not enjoy being in the pod alone (which is completely understandable as I also didn't enjoy being away from him).  The good thing is that he slept on both long flights and so did Cristiano which I am sure helped with the successful journey.   Michael also did exceptionally well...and I even got to finish watching one movie!