Now, the journey back was far less eventful and may not constitute "epic", but for recording sake, I feel I must make a few notes here. Due to unforseen circumstances, we decided to return to Canada about 5 months earlier than we had planned to. It was a bit of an extra financial output, but no more than we would have spent from savings to remain there and finish up my contract. So, this time, instead of all that luggage, we sent 14+ cubic meters of stuff (66 boxes to be exact and don't ask me where the h-e-double hockey sticks we are going to put it all in our miniature house!). This meant we only had 5 suitcases and 3 carry-ons. Plus, the kids were a little older and could carry their own ~ a huge plus.
As with all long journeys I start dreading the plane ride about 2 months prior and devising a plan to keep the kids entertained. Being that we were traveling on our dollar, we booked the cheapest flight we could ~ JAL KL to Vancouver with an 11 hr layover in Narita. I had some things in mind for the layover, but was not counting on them as one never knows how it will go with customs, visas, etc. We were booked to leave at 11 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 30 from KL and, as luck would have it, Alyssa woke up at 2 a.m. with a bad stomach bug...I mean every 45 min.! Now panic and dread were setting in...I can't believe I was actually hoping my child had food poisoning as that is not contagious! I was pretty sure she'd be on the upswing by boarding time, but was worried about Hayden, Steve or I being on the downswing. Turns out all that worry was not needed and she was feeling better around noon, so we headed to Bridget's for some last minute socializing and drinks with friends.
All went smoothly at the airport and the flight was on time. We boarded the plane and both kids promptly fell asleep (insert hallelujahs here). They slept most of the way to Japan, where we arrived around 6:30 a.m. Unbelievably it is quite easy to get a "transit visa" (or something like that) and leave Narita airport, so we continued with Plan A ~ which was to hit Tokyo Disneyland for a couple hours....smoother sailing than one could have imagined. We got through customs, threw our bags in a locker and jumped on the shuttle to Disney...in fact, everything was so smooth we arrived an hour before the park opened. That's when cold and boredom set in but it didn't last long once we were in the park. It was a whirlwind visit. We went on a couple rides, chatted with some characters and bought the kids each one small toy ~ which amused them for the entire bus ride back to the airport. Lickety split through customs and to the airport play room. We boarded the plane to Vancouver at 5:30 p.m. and again Hayden was out before we took off. Both kids slept most of the way to Vancouver and were game to hang out with cousin Jessica and her uber tall husband, Chris (I think he grew...either that or I majorly shrunk).
After hanging out with Jess and Chris, we headed back to the hotel and went for dinner. Not really hungry after a huge lunch, but I know the part that meals play in jet lag so went anyway and nibbled. Promptly after Hayden's meal came, he fell asleep at the table...just lay down across my knees and *zonk*. I mean really asleep...nothing was waking him! He slept for 14 hours!! Must be a world record in our house!
The last part of the journey was easy. We flew the short flight from Vancouver to Saskatoon where a fellow from Mainline Motors in Watrous picked us up and delivered us to our new truck. After the paperwork was done, headed to mom and dad's for some down time.
Ok, so this is LONG overdue, and a lot of writing/reading, but, I wanted to document it!
No comments:
Post a Comment