After 10 hours and 6 mins in the air, we finally landed in Sydney safe and sound. The kids overall behaved themselves ok and seemed like we were a loud but very excited group most of the way through. The kids were very "high" to start with and they lasted about 5 hours. At 6 hours 43 mins, Kenji passed out for a while. At 7.5 hours-ish, Albert finally fell asleep (so he finally wasn't walking up and down the aisle asking for food). Then all of them became super excited again about 2 hours prior to landing. They were counting down numbers while the aircraft was approaching the runway, and the entire cabin could hear them (not joking). We sat within the "Aussie zone" with a bunch of Australians, and we met one of my former masters' swimmers Betty Ann Salle (who is a HA flight attendant) in-flight and had a good chat.
The weather is actually nice and it was raining a little when we landed. Didn't know that all aircrafts from international destinations are supposed to be sprayed for quarantine purpose before everyone can be off the plane. So we waited about 10 mins while the flight attendants were actually spraying inside the cabin (so we were sitting in the spray fog for a while). Very interesting though and I thought it made our arrival a bit more dramatic. Hahaha...
First impression of Sydney from the kids --- Kenji: dirty; Jarrell: lots of alcohol (because we saw an Aussie guy drunk and was sleeping on the street); Albert: the Aussie accent (he was called MATE by the immigration officer and he couldn't understand it); and Michaela: big...We had a quite nice (but expensive) taxi ride from the airport to the apartment in Central Business District (CBD) and the kids were counting how fast the fare meter was running (averagely every two seconds, I think).
We all went to bed at mid-night after settling in the apartment. Went to McDonald's for a quick bite and then did grocery shopping right across street from our apartment. While the girls (Michaela and Sunny) were more logical, the boys were picking up Easy Mac and potato chips. Yes, that is right, chips! We unpacked after shopping, if you count dumping all the stuff out of the suitcases as "unpacking" for the boys. Again, girls were much better in organizing themselves for life.
A day full of activities coming up and I am excited to start the day. Woke up at 3:39 am and figured to take some time to get my work done while the kids were still sleeping. They will get up at 7:30 am and our day will start with breakfast in our two little nice kitchens. Will see how the boys "cook" for themselves though. We will swim at the Olympic Aquatic Center, hang out at the Olympic Park for a little while and then visit the Sydney Tower later this afternoon. I will pick up Zack at the airport tonight and the kids can't wait to see him... They wouldn't take pictures together yesterday because "the gang" is not completed without Zack. Oh, these kids... aren't they cute? We found a Starbucks right around the corner and will take the "traditional" (as Zack calls it) Sun-shine picture there with everyone. Zack said we have to because it is a Sun-shine thing. Oh well, my camera is ready for it... Talking about that, I am attaching few pictures here for your leisure... More to come and have a great day there.
 |
| Just boarded and everyone was happy |
 |
| 4 hours in the air and their heads were still going |
 |
| Well, Kenji is out somewhere |
 |
| Gee, finally he is quiet |
 |
| our first Aussie McDonalds' family meal |
No comments:
Post a Comment