Are We There Yet?

Are we There Yet?

Amazingly enough, after 36 hours of travel, I did not hear that phrase, not even once from my children. They were all absolute legends. Maybe it was the fact that I drummed into their heads that it would seem like we were travelling forever, so when it was only a day and a half they were quite pleased to be done. Or it could be that once we finally got on our big Malaysia Air flight, I finally relaxed, and they followed suit.

Modern day travel is so much easier than when I was a child. I have not-so-fond memories of the horrible air plane seats, the dingy airports, and don't forget the planes that were half smoking and half non. What a joke that was, as if we weren't all breathing the same air! These days even on a run down airline (Malaysian Air, oh, did I say that?) there are individual tv screen, special veggie meals for me and even if it is air plane air, at least it is smoke free.

You'll be very happy to hear (or maybe you really don't care) that I managed to keep our luggage down to four suitcases, plus our backpacks. And it was pretty nice to not feel like we could handle things without need of a trolley. I felt pretty satisfied with that, considering I have over fifty dry nights for Juliet, and about a weeks worth of food. Nothing worse than getting caught out by kids with low blood sugar!

One of the things I most love about travel is people watching. Isn't it amazing the things you can learn and laugh at? Maybe it just makes the time go faster, or maybe in our usual day to day life we don't have the time to spend just observing.It lets you know that as crazy as you think you are yourself, you are not alone. Although I could have done without the dutch man who kept picking his nose and eating it when his girlfriend wasn't looking. I mean really, he may only have eyes for her, but there are other people out there that would like an appetite!

And anyone who likes to observe people would have very much enjoying watching our family. Especially during our 6 hour lay over in Kuala Lumpur. We landed at about 8:30 pm and our flight to Dubai left at 2 am. I had a plan to keep them moving, an hour on the moving sidewalk helped get the jitters out, then the extra long line at Burger King and the ensuing negotiation debates over the need for soda at ten oclock at night (I won, they had water), and finally ended up on the couches in the tv lounge to watch space shuttle discovery land. When I came back from checking us in there were three kids passed out and I spent the rest of the night trying to keep the cheeky three year old from waking them up.

Luckily for me the next flight was smooth and over six hours. For the first time in my life I was asleep before take off and didn't wake up until just before landing. I've never had all four of my limbs actually asleep at the same time before. Mighty awkward.

I was ready for Dubai. The airport is built to impress and give the impression of graceful dominance. It is open, with cascading waterfalls, shiny marble and pillars. Like an Arabian version of Valhalla. Customs and immigration is all dealt with quiet efficiency. A nice change from the chaos that is the typical experience. And arriving so early we were whisked to our hotel before the crazy traffic that the UAE is legendary for.

I won't bore you with all the drama's of getting to our room, which took us longer than immigration, customs and the drive put together. I am now sitting in my large three bedroom apartment. It is nine in the morning. All four kids are asleep in bed. So is Randall. All I can think about is the hot shower that is calling to me. This afternoon I'm hoping we'll be able to muster troops and discover a little more about this crazy, unnatural, man made city in the desert.

Over and out for now.