Home Again

So, all of that worrying and griping about the apartment being temporary and cold?  Actually, its really a very nice apartment.  Its a shame for y'all that I'm not posting any photos today, because as I sit at the table with my computer, I am looking out a plate glass door and into the private courtyard which is just lovely.  Its bright and green and fills the room with light.  Of course, the walls are unadorned and the furniture is all a yellowish tan.  But the folks at the embassy have provided us essentially the same furniture we had in Caracas, so it is familiarly bland - and that is absolutely fine.

The house woke up between 4 and 6:00 this morning.  Dave was able to give us a quick tour of the complex before heading to work, when we made a big breakfast and began a day and everyone facing jet lag in their own crazy way.  Annika was loopey, amusing, and entirely out of control.  Sophia was tearful and sad.  Lilly was very controlled, very happy and very quick to become extremely frustrated.  I felt exhausted.  My mind was awake but my body was so sleepy that all I really wanted to do was curl up in a chair and read.  Thankfully, I found a bag of coffee and a stovetop espresso pot in my luggage.  Curling up in a chair and reading with a latte brought me to the zombie status - still fairly alert, with a body still dead but somehow able to keep moving.  I drink coffee rarely enough that it feels like I have brand new batteries every time.  This morning, they were pretty slow batteries.

We all laid down for naps after lunch, and I woke up fully refreshed and feeling like a normal person again.  We will see how the others fair.

Enough about sleeping patterns and individual head space.  The real story is the long journey from St. Louis to Jakarta alone with 3 children.  I've got to say - my kids are amazing.  They traveled like pros, even though none of them has any memory of life in Asia or of long flights.  They watched movies and read through most of the over 15 hour flight to Hong Kong.  They grew frustrated when they tried to sleep, but they were alert when we landed and were helpful carrying our bags to baggage claim.

My amazing friend Kristen met us at baggage claim and scooted all of us and our luggage through customs to the hotel, where we checked into two rooms.  Lilly and I fell straight to sleep in one room, and Kristen babysat Sophia and Annika until around midnight in the other.  She is an amazing friend, and we are all so lucky that she was there.  Because of our early bedtime, Lilly and I opened up the breakfast buffet and slowly feasted there, eventually with Sophia, for about 3 hours.  It was a lovely way to begin a long day.  We spent the rest of our down time watching airplanes land from our room and playing in the warm hotel pool.

At about 1:30 we left the hotel and went to check in for our flight.  We had two carts full of luggage, everyone carried a backpack, and we still had Kristen to help us through the line and in through security.

So here is where the adventure began.

As I approached the check-in desk, about 2.5 hours before my plane was schedule to depart, I realized something awful.  The day before, at baggage claim, we had picked up all 8 of our checked bags.  But we had not picked up our 3 car seats, also checked.  Checking in for the next flight would be impossible without all of our luggage.  But worse - how would we find the car seats?

This began a rather hilarious chase of Kristen racing to the baggage office while I verified our seats at the desk.  Kristen racing back from the baggage office hallway, upon realization that she could not claim my bags without my passport or baggage receipts.  All 5 of us and all of the piles of our luggage racing through a maze of curiously tight hallways to find United's impressively hidden baggage office.  The baggage man conveying his deep annoyance with my having left my luggage behind, and choosing not to move very quickly.  Poor Kristen realizing that if she did not leave us within a few minutes, she would miss her next flight.  Poor Kristen promising to stay with us, go ahead and miss her flight, and deal with the consequences once we were under control.  My convincing Kristen that we were absolutely under control and she should race off to catch her flight - which she did.  The luggage man carrying our boosters back to us from behind customs.  And friends, this is where my kids really proved their strength.

Lilly pushed one cart overfull of luggage.  I pushed another.  Sophia pushed a stroller with bags hanging off of the back and Annika seated comfortably in the front.  And we ran from one end of the 1st floor to the other end of the 3rd floor of the Hong Kong Airport.

The Cathay Pacific folks very kindly rushed us to the front of the line, helped me to rearrange my bags so that they met the weight standards.  And then charged me an additional $420 because although their policy allows travelers originating in the U.S. to check 2 pieces of luggage for free, our original ticket was on United which only allows travelers 1 piece each.  They needed to follow United's rule and charge me again.  I almost cried.

But I didn't cry, and they finished checking us in.  Then they said Your flight will begin boarding at 3:35.  That is in 20 minutes.  Your gate is the furthest gate from this spot.  If you take the train and immigration does not take too long, you will reach your gate in 20 minutes.  We will have them load your luggage immediately.

In other words - Move as fast as your 8 little legs will carry you, because you are in real danger of missing your flight.

We raced to security, where we waited patiently in line with all of the others.
We raced to immigration, where we waited patiently in line with all of the others.  But thank goodness, we were traveling on Diplomatic Passports and the diplomat line was 10 times shorter than any others.
We raced to the train, where we waited patiently to get on.  And again waited patiently to disembark.

It always feels rather comical to me, like a scene from a movie, whenever I have to stand still in the middle of a hurry.  It seems as if I ought to be running in place, or somehow pushing the train forward rather than twiddling my thumbs and listening to Muzak.

When we got off of the train, we really did run all the way to our gate.  We made a made quick stop in the family bathroom and were some of the last people to board our flight.  I ordered a glass of wine and relaxed, because all of the hard parts were really over.

Okay, actually disembarking from the plane was hard, too.  Because little Annika fell fast asleep but I needed to carry my two bags.  A sweet man from the row behind us offered to carry her, but accepted carrying my luggage instead.  With three very blurry-eyed girls, we loaded 8 pieces of luggage and 3 children's car seats onto two luggage carts, pushed them through customs and then raced into Daddy's waiting arms.

I know - this story was way too long for a good blog post.  But it makes me feel good to share it.  Because although we had an adventurous time, we had no major problems and my kids really stepped up to the responsibility of traveling without Daddy.  They were amazing.  And really, there are very few pieces of that story which would have been easier with another grown up on board.

My kids are amazing.  My apartment is comfortable.  My kitchen and my closets are full of my things (or will be when I close the computer and unpack).

I am at peace.