I can finally write about our adventures this week, now that the surprise has been sprung! We’ve relocated from our hideout at Justin & Tania’s house to Mum & Dad’s place, and Isobel is now busy chewing on Granny’s collection of Tupperware …

I was more than a little apprehensive about the amount of traveling I’d signed myself up for this week. We only booked the flights a couple of weeks ago, as we had to wait for Andy’s trip to be confirmed before we paid for anything that said ‘non-refundable’.

On Monday I wandered next door to see Harry and Anne about keeping an eye on the house for me while we were gone. The knocks on the door went unanswered, but Simon appeared from further up the lane and mentioned they were all up having a BBQ at another neighbour’s house. Nothing for it but to wander up and say hello … Annice apologized for not inviting me, as the association doesn’t have our email address, but Isobel and I were warmly welcomed and quickly offered with food and wine on a glorious spring afternoon. Isobel was still a little wary around so many new faces, but everyone marveled at how quickly she was growing and how happily she sat in my lap. She liked the bikkies, and got a taste of my key lime pie … much to the amusement of everyone else around the table. Harry and Anne were happy to mind the house for me, and we’ll do the same for them in a couple of months when they too head back to Australia for a visit.

I finished packing what I could that night, and set the alarm for 5am on Tuesday morning. The taxi was booked for 6am, so it was enough time to get me organized, wake Isobel and get her dressed and fed, and do a last check around the house before having to leave. The taxi arrived on time, and after a bit of fiddling to fit the car seat in the back (I could see the driver wincing about his nice leather seats!!) we were off.

We used the outdoor ‘valet’ check-in to save me hauling everything inside on my own, which went smoothly until I realized I’d walked off with the boarding passes but not our passports! Thankfully this was before I’d queued up for the security line, so I was able to duck back and retrieve them without too much fuss. As a bonus, one of the staff helped me with the car seat and escorted me to the front of the queue … nothing like a mum traveling alone with a small baby to inspire sympathy ;-) And as much as I like to think I can do it all myself, I had a feeling I was going to need a bit of help on this trip.

I managed to take up about five bins in the security line – car seat, shoes, plastic baggies of carry-on ‘liquid’ stuff, laptop, nappy bag plus my carry-on bag with all the valuable electronic stuff I won’t put in the checked bags. Phew! I was quite relieved to get through without incident, and found the gate – we were even a bit early. By the time the flight was ready to board, I’d discovered that Isobel hates being changed on the flat steel changing tables in aircraft bathrooms (even with a padded mat and a flannel sheet!) … and it’s really difficult to go to the bathroom yourself whilst carrying an infant, two carry-on bags and a car seat. Yikes.

The flight to Los Angeles was uneventful – we boarded early to get the car seat fitted, and Isobel slept for a good portion of the flight. We had a clear day and flew quite close to Mt Rainier, and I managed to get a shot of Isobel asleep on her first plane ride with the mountain out the window. Once we arrived in LA, I found a cart and loaded everything up – eventually I found the international terminal (I don’t travel frequently enough to be able to autopilot through LAX, and always seem to forget which way to go!) and looked for the Qantas desk to change over our boarding passes.

Uh Oh. No Qantas desk. We’d arrived so early that the check-in for the evening flight hadn’t opened yet. Which meant I couldn’t change our boarding passes over. Which meant I couldn’t go through security. Which meant I couldn’t get to the Qantas Club lounge, where I’d planned to wait out our nine-hour layover. Crap!! I was a bit stressed at this point, and rang Andy in Adelaide to have a mini-panic-attack over the phone … luckily it was only about 5am there. He suggested finding a nearby hotel to wait things out, but I was so nervous about missing the flight I wasn’t mad on the idea of leaving the airport. By the time I hung up, I’d resigned myself to spending several hours in the food court until the desk opened later in the afternoon. Bugger.

LAX really is a horrible place to spend any length of time, especially with a tired infant as your only company. Isobel again proved how much she hates flat metal change tables in foreign bathrooms, and there was nothing resembling a ‘mothers room’ where I could feed her. I found an empty bench seat and figured that was as good as I was going to get, so attempted to feed Isobel – but I was so stressed my milk didn’t let down, and Isobel started biting when nothing happened … damn those teeth are sharp! She also hated having a sheet over her head, so I had to crack open one of my three little puree portions and feed that to her … sitting on my lap, as there was no high chairs to be seen anywhere. My shirt was now covered in sweet potato, and of course I hadn’t packed a spare!

I did manage to find a quieter corner of the airport to sit in, and Isobel managed to get a bit of sleep – I had to stay awake though, as I was not willing to leave my bags or Isobel unguarded in such a public place. Finally the Qantas desk opened up, and we were given the new boarding passes and a ticket for the shuttle to the ‘temporary’ Qantas Club lounge. It was such a relief to walk in the door! Isobel played quietly in the little nook, and I managed to collect my thoughts and get a bit of peace before having to make our way to the gate.

Early boarding for families with small kiddies is a fantastic idea. The hosties were very good about helping me to my seat, although they were a bit unsure about whether they needed one of the ground engineers to ‘fit’ the seat for me. One seemed unsure about the regulations for car seats, as she asked me whether I wanted it fitted to the window or the middle seat – they can only be fitted to the window, so other travelers aren’t obstructed in the event of an emergency. The US car seat design is also a bit different to the basic Australian design, which also threw them a bit – but eventually it was all sorted out and Isobel strapped in. My seat-mate was a lovely lady traveling to Auckland, and she introduced herself as ‘baby-friendly’, so that was a further relief … I didn’t have to worry about feeling self-conscious trying to feed Isobel in the seat, or feel guilty about getting in and out of the seat to change her.

Isobel was fantastic – she slept for about seven hours, waking up every now and again to stretch a bit and check to see I was still there. I managed a fair bit of sleep myself, and knocked over three movies I’d missed at the cinema – ‘Music and Lyrics’, ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’, and ‘The Holiday’. Andy had already seen Pursuit of Happyness on an earlier trip, and was very grateful to hear he didn’t have to sit through the other two with me at home now. Our stopover in Auckland was delayed due to heavy fog, and there were moans of dismay when it was announced we would be diverting to Nadi in Fiji to refuel. Further moans when we were told we wouldn’t be getting off the aircraft – probably a good idea, there’d be huge delays trying to load again, but I could have used a break! The quick stop turned into about an hour and a half, and we were several hours late when we finally arrived in Auckland. I couldn’t get in touch with Justin by phone or email to let him know we were running late, so trusted that he’d figure it out when we hadn’t arrived on time.

The last hop was relatively quick, especially as it felt like the hard part of the journey was now behind us. I was now used to the routine of waiting til last to get off the aircraft, which also meant the hosties were able to help me load the car seat while I got Isobel sorted and my bags arranged. One of the chief stewards grabbed the car seat for me and ushered me through the ‘crew’ line at security, which saved me queueing – never underestimate the value of being nice to your hosties on a flight!! Our bags turned up relatively quickly, and finally we were home.

Justin was on the other side of the doors to meet us, and had a stroller for Isobel to ride in – a nice break from the carrier for her! 41hrs door-to-door in the end … it didn’t seem quite so daunting looking back, although Isobel was an absolute angel and certainly traveled much better than I’d expected her to. The next couple of days were spent ‘hiding’ with Justin and Tania, winding down from so much traveling and getting Isobel used to spending time with someone other than me for a change! Jo popped in a few times to meet Isobel, and we had a close call with Mum ringing to pop over to visit Tania – Justin did some quick tapdancing on the phone to create a diversion, and all was well.

Mum’s surprise party was on Saturday night, and Andy had managed to get a flight over from Adelaide to attend … and to see us again after being away for two weeks!! Jo picked him up from Avalon on the way in, and we traveled in with Justin and Tania. A few of the other guests knew we were coming, but many were surprised to see us – it was nice to catch up with some friends and relatives I hadn’t seen since Justin & Tania’s wedding 18 months ago. The restaurant had a little area that could be separated off with a curtain, so we all gathered behind and waited for Mum & Dad to arrive.

Mum had suspected ‘something’ was up, but thought everything had been arranged for later in the month – so her reaction after peering through the curtain was perfect! We’d decided to hide in plain sight, so were just standing in the middle of the room as Mum made her way around saying hello to everyone … and everyone waited for Mum and Dad to realize we were there. Justin kept trying to drop hints – ‘there are three more surprises for you yet!!’, but suddenly the crowd appeared to part and Mum stopped dead in her tracks … Dad just said “Even I didn’t know about this!”

The reaction was priceless, and just what we’d hoped for. Isobel was a bit tired at this point so responded by crying, but perked up later in the night. Mum and Dad just kept shaking their heads the whole night that we were actually there, and were amazed at how much Isobel had grown since they’d last seen her (mind you, that was more than eight months ago). We ended up leaving a bit early after Isobel fell asleep on Andy’s shoulder – it’s been months since she’s done that, so she was really wiped out. We borrowed a GPS and Justin’s car, and made our way back to Justin’s place for the night.

We packed up and moved over to Mum & Dad’s place today, after a few rounds of Buzz on Justin’s PS2 – we’re not competitive, really!! Jo dropped Andy back to Avalon for his flight back to Adelaide, as he has a few more days of work before I meet him in Sydney next weekend. A very busy week and quite exhausting, but the end results were well worth the effort!