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Getting Ready
At Pearson, getting ready for the first plane ride. We're off on our adventure of 2011 - a house exchange to Broadbeach Waters on the Gold Coast in Queensland.
Our trip began on July 4th with us sending Alex off to daycare and madly doing laundry, packing, and tidying up the house. This was a little different from a typical vacation where you can just leave your house and not worry about anything. This time, John and Patsy Gallant will be stayIng at out home while we use theirs. So, our house had to at least be presentable for company! We managed to get everything done, just in time to pick up Alex from daycare (waking him from his nap) and head to the airport.
The trip along highway 401 was fairly tedious with accidents and construction... But we made up for the time spent on the highway with the speediest pass through US customs and security ever! Really! There was no line at customs!
The first leg of the trip took us to LA. The flight was much less than expected - no individual entertainment systems at all (Alex was so looking forward to seeing the same shows he saw on our trip to San Francisco
in March) 😞 Luckily, we had our fully charged iPad and Alex quickly found the videos and watched episodes of Bob the Builder and Toopy and Binoo all the way from Toronto to LA. He didn't sleep, and as a result, neither did we. We had about a 3 hour layover and found a quiet spot to sit and charge our electronics.
Alex finally conked out around what felt like 1am, in Tom's arms. We transferred him into his carseat and he got a good hour and a half in before we had to gate-check the seat and carry him onto the plane. He slept through takeoff and probably the next 6 or 7 hours on the plane. We were able to get 4 or 5 hours ourselves before Alex woke up for good. The rest of the flight was spent trying to find someththing good for Alex to watch on the entertainment system (once again, not a great system and not a lot of variety), coloring, taping and gluing (we needed artwork for the fridge here.) Eventually, breakfast arrived and we were able to get Alex to eat a little fruit, muffin and eggs.
We landed in
Zoning out...
Our attempt at getting Alex to sleep during the Toronto to LA flight. He got down time, but did not sleep. Sydney, tired, but not too worse for wear. Once we transferred to the domestic terminal, thIngs started to look very familiar. We took close to 20 flights in/out of this terminal 5 years ago (has it really been that long?). We arrived so early for our next flight, we couldn't check in, so we found some seats and started putting in time again. One of the first announcements we heard was a warning about delayed flights due to high winds shutting down runways. Luckily, we weren't affected too badly and our check-in time did eventually arrive. By that point, Alex was once again sound asleep in his carseat for his afternoon nap (at 10am) This time, we weren't able to gate-check the carseat and had to check it in with all other oversized luggage before we went through to our gate. Poor Alex had a very short nap... But this may have helped in the long run. Our flight to Gold Coast eventually departed and it was a short little jaunt this time, just over an hour.
We had already arranged transportation from the airport to our new "home" and it was very nice to come into the baggage
Zonked
Alex finally fell asleep in Tom's arms at LAX. claim area to see someone holding a sign with our name. The luggage arrived quickly and after picking up one more passenger for the shared ride, we were off to Broadbeach Waters. About half way through the trip, Alex decided that he needed a bathroom break and our driver was nice enough to stop at a beachside change room.
We arrived home around 5pm, approximately 36 hours after our adventure began. The key that John and Patsy sent us opened the front door to an opulent home. We are very lucky to be staying in a house with marble floors, an open concept kitchen, breakfast area and great room overlooking the inland canal system here. Although the sun was beginning to set (it is winter, but we forgot how short the daylight seems) the house was bright and open. The bedrooms are large and very comfortable and both Alex's and the master overlook the water. Alex decided very quickly that it was time for bed, so we found his pajamas and got him into a quick bath. We read a few books and then he told us to leave... he just wanted to sleep. Boy did he crash hard
Dead to the World
at LAX. He slept during our layover, through boarding, takeoff and a good 6 hours of our flight to Sydney. Lucky us. at only 6:15pm.
Tom and I weren't up for much longer. Thanks to John and Patsy for leaving us with some basics, we had sandwiches for dinner and manged to get the wireless up and running. We can now easily use our 3 devices (laptop, iPod and iPad) to keep in touch. We were sound asleep by 7:30.
Alex's internal clock woke him at 4:15am, so we scooped him up and brought him to bed with us. We were able to keep him fairly quiet and content until about 5:00, but after that, there was no fighting it. The day had begun. It was still very dark since the sun doesn't start to rise until after 6am, but we managed to fit in showers and eggs and toast for breakfast. We put in a few hours until the shops opened and then ventured out on the left side of the road to Pacific Fair - a large shopping centre just a few minutes from home. Mission: groceries, a cell phone, a cheap stroller and a GPS. Mission accomplished, including a flotation suit for Alex for when we figure out the heat for the pool and hot tub. The
We're Home
The view from our deck. only downside... after taking a few pictures of Alex and Tom at the kids play area, Sarah had her small camera taken directly from the outside pocket of her purse. Bad luck for sure... At least this time it wasn't her wallet with all her credit cards and ID (that was last time - on our first trip into Sydney.) Luckily, all that was lost was a few pictures from the early stages of this trip, some of which we already have similar copies of on the iPad or iPod. The camera will be replaced soon.
While Alex napped, we enjoyed lunch in the sun on the back deck and started to think about the upcoming weeks... SeaWorld, conservation parks, visiting friends... Lots to do, but just sitting here and relaxing is really nice too.
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