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Thursday, July 31, 2014

Flying To Hong Kong.


I finally have the opportunity to sit down and write out a post. We arrived in Hong Kong after a total of nineteen hours in the air. Everything seemed to go smoothly with our travels, meaning we made all of our connecting flights without any problems. 

Thankfully, we did not end up having to pay any fees on our one suitcase that was heavier than the allotted fifty pounds. Our rookie mistake came when we converted US dollars into Hong Kong dollars in the Toronto airport and lost close to 700 USD with the exchange rate they used. We didn't realize our mistake until the day after we landed in HK. It makes us sick to our stomach, but we can't dwell on the money we lost.

I think everyone has to experience running frantically through the airport terminal from one gate to another at least one time in their life to make a connecting flight. Try carrying a sleeping child while pulling two carry-on suitcases as well as two backpacks. I was impressed with my husband and how he balanced our sleeping daughter as we ran through the terminal in Chicago. They make those moving sidewalks for a very good reason, and not just for the pure enjoyment of my son!   

We've had to be extra sensitive to the needs of our children. Knowing that they have needs too during this move and we have to consider what those needs are as well. We've had to extend a lot of grace instead of getting frustrated with them. Our son had a meltdown in the bathroom of the airplane at the end of our fifteen hour flight from Toronto to HK. Meltdown as in crying hysterically and the steward coming to get me from my seat. My son was exhausted, having not slept but twenty minutes during the flight. He was panicking because he couldn't reach the toilet paper in the bathroom. He made it. He survived. I calmed him down and with twenty minutes left in the flight, my husband and I made the choice to give both of our kids caffeine for the first time in their life. We thought another meltdown was going to ensue when we handed the coffee to our son and he found out the forbidden caffeine was being forced on him! And once again, we made it. We made it through immigration and through the HK airport and finally onto the bus headed to the hotel before they both collapsed into a very deep slumber. 

And now we're here. Here in Hong Kong. 


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