Packing up a house to leave for 3 months, as well as packing for 6 people to travel to the other side of the world for the 3 months is a very big job - but we did it and we began our adventure.
We arrived at the airport 3 hours in advance, having enjoyed a farewell breakfast in Mornington with both Scott and my dad's, my sister Felicity, and our friends, Gerard Barker and Tony and Gemma Alleva and their children Amelie and James.
We had a fantastic plane trip over - everything went so smoothly it was really quite unbelievable. I know quite a few people who travel with children and they always say how wonderfully the children travel. I am always a little scepticle of these comments, but now find that I am making them myself - which really surprises me as I had prepared for the worst case scenario.We checked in 48 hours prior to departure over the internet so were able to miss the huge queue at Tullamarine to check in and instead went straight to the "Internet check-in" which had no queue. Took about 5 minutes from walking into the airport until we handed over our suitcases. Scott's Dad, my Dad and my sister Felicity took us to the airport which was great. We didn't have a sad fairwell, as many people seem to do, but it did seem a big thing to me to hug them good-bye and walk through Customs and start our adventure.The flight to Singapore was great - the food they gave the children was unbelievable- and James fell asleep as we arrived in Singapore - wouldn't you know it!. We had 2 1/2 hours at Singapore airport so had showers and were were quite refreshed and ready for the next leg when we boarded again for Manchester. James, Elizabeth and I were asleep by the time the plane was taking off. James actually then slept for 9 hours (on top of me most of the time which wasn't the greatest, but good for him. Elizabeth slept for about 8 hours, not sure what was happening in the row in front with Scott, Will and Xavier - but generally we all got some sleep which was great. It is amazing how time can go so slowly when you are on the plane though. In reality I think that only one out of our travelling party who were starting to get a little grumpy was me. Singapore airlines were great.
Arrived in M
anchester on Monday morning at 5.25 am to zero degrees. Customs was pretty uneventful thankfully, luggage didn't take too long to get and we were met by Sydney, the taxi driver I had arranged to pick us up, as soon as we walked out of customs. He drove us to our accommodation in Helsby, about 1/2 hour west of Manchester.The children were transfixed by how green everything is here, the houses that seem to all look the same, and the fantastic bridges with up to 10 arches each. They also loved the tudor type architecture that was in many of the small towns we drove to.Arrived at our accommodation in Helsby, a converted barn in the courtyard of an old farmhouse. Beautiful! The people who run it are so friendly, kind and can't do enough to make sure our stay is enjoyable. We had showers / baths and some toast to freshen up.
In an effort to stay awake all day we took the train to Chester (about 3 minute walk to Station) then 10 minute train ride. Dressed in our warm coats, hats and mittens we did a bit of sight-seeing. Chester is a beautiful walled city with Roman history. We spent about 4 hours there, including a visit to the Roman Emporium, which had archeological digs on the town which show the different levels of the ground going to to 65BC when the Romans were in Chester. Very interesting I am sure but not when you are tired! Maybe we should have saved that for a day when we a were little more alive! We had fun trying to find some lunch, the pub we picked didn't allow children and we ended up in some chain sandwhich / pie shop. I can't believe what many people eat for lunch - fry ups with up to 7 items (fried eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, differnt types of sausages and baked beans) for 3 pounds. Not really our cup of tea. We settled for 'geniune Heinz vegetable soup and a roll. Tasty but certainly not home-made! Filled the spot anyway.We were wilting by about 2pm so trained back to Helsby and found the local library and park. Stayed there for a while and then back to our accommodation.
The children and I lasted until 5.00pm, Scott until about 7pm.
We were up at 5.30am Tuesday and the children and I watched SpongeBob Squarepants. Early I know but at least we all got 12 hours sleep and are getting out body clocks sorted.It is really cold outside here so I am glad we packed all our coats, hats and gloves. Fortunately inside is pretty toasty.
If the first three days of our trip is anything to go by this is going to be an absolutely fantastic trip and I am so proud of how the children have travelled so far. It is interesting to actually stop and listed to what the children are taking notice of. James is fixated by the birds, Xavier the size of the television at our accommodation, Elizabeth the weather and Will the architecture.Will keep in touch.
We arrived at the airport 3 hours in advance, having enjoyed a farewell breakfast in Mornington with both Scott and my dad's, my sister Felicity, and our friends, Gerard Barker and Tony and Gemma Alleva and their children Amelie and James.
We had a fantastic plane trip over - everything went so smoothly it was really quite unbelievable. I know quite a few people who travel with children and they always say how wonderfully the children travel. I am always a little scepticle of these comments, but now find that I am making them myself - which really surprises me as I had prepared for the worst case scenario.We checked in 48 hours prior to departure over the internet so were able to miss the huge queue at Tullamarine to check in and instead went straight to the "Internet check-in" which had no queue. Took about 5 minutes from walking into the airport until we handed over our suitcases. Scott's Dad, my Dad and my sister Felicity took us to the airport which was great. We didn't have a sad fairwell, as many people seem to do, but it did seem a big thing to me to hug them good-bye and walk through Customs and start our adventure.The flight to Singapore was great - the food they gave the children was unbelievable- and James fell asleep as we arrived in Singapore - wouldn't you know it!. We had 2 1/2 hours at Singapore airport so had showers and were were quite refreshed and ready for the next leg when we boarded again for Manchester. James, Elizabeth and I were asleep by the time the plane was taking off. James actually then slept for 9 hours (on top of me most of the time which wasn't the greatest, but good for him. Elizabeth slept for about 8 hours, not sure what was happening in the row in front with Scott, Will and Xavier - but generally we all got some sleep which was great. It is amazing how time can go so slowly when you are on the plane though. In reality I think that only one out of our travelling party who were starting to get a little grumpy was me. Singapore airlines were great.
Arrived in M
anchester on Monday morning at 5.25 am to zero degrees. Customs was pretty uneventful thankfully, luggage didn't take too long to get and we were met by Sydney, the taxi driver I had arranged to pick us up, as soon as we walked out of customs. He drove us to our accommodation in Helsby, about 1/2 hour west of Manchester.The children were transfixed by how green everything is here, the houses that seem to all look the same, and the fantastic bridges with up to 10 arches each. They also loved the tudor type architecture that was in many of the small towns we drove to.Arrived at our accommodation in Helsby, a converted barn in the courtyard of an old farmhouse. Beautiful! The people who run it are so friendly, kind and can't do enough to make sure our stay is enjoyable. We had showers / baths and some toast to freshen up.In an effort to stay awake all day we took the train to Chester (about 3 minute walk to Station) then 10 minute train ride. Dressed in our warm coats, hats and mittens we did a bit of sight-seeing. Chester is a beautiful walled city with Roman history. We spent about 4 hours there, including a visit to the Roman Emporium, which had archeological digs on the town which show the different levels of the ground going to to 65BC when the Romans were in Chester. Very interesting I am sure but not when you are tired! Maybe we should have saved that for a day when we a were little more alive! We had fun trying to find some lunch, the pub we picked didn't allow children and we ended up in some chain sandwhich / pie shop. I can't believe what many people eat for lunch - fry ups with up to 7 items (fried eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, differnt types of sausages and baked beans) for 3 pounds. Not really our cup of tea. We settled for 'geniune Heinz vegetable soup and a roll. Tasty but certainly not home-made! Filled the spot anyway.We were wilting by about 2pm so trained back to Helsby and found the local library and park. Stayed there for a while and then back to our accommodation.
The children and I lasted until 5.00pm, Scott until about 7pm.
We were up at 5.30am Tuesday and the children and I watched SpongeBob Squarepants. Early I know but at least we all got 12 hours sleep and are getting out body clocks sorted.It is really cold outside here so I am glad we packed all our coats, hats and gloves. Fortunately inside is pretty toasty.
If the first three days of our trip is anything to go by this is going to be an absolutely fantastic trip and I am so proud of how the children have travelled so far. It is interesting to actually stop and listed to what the children are taking notice of. James is fixated by the birds, Xavier the size of the television at our accommodation, Elizabeth the weather and Will the architecture.Will keep in touch.
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