What can we say? It’s a near impossible task but we did it! It’s not easy though, but we persevered and overcame all obstacles, and we’re now back in Penang, having traveled across the globe with two kids and one baby.
We had a total of three flights to take: Boston to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to Hong Kong and then Hong Kong to Penang. The shippers had arrived in our apartment in Marlborough, MA the day before we were to leave and took almost everything away. I had forgotten to leave a couple of bed linens for our last night too, so that night we slept on our mattress with just our blanket. Not even with pillows. It was kinda okay because I guess we were all tired out anyway.
The next day, we almost missed our flight. All the last-minute packing and rushing resulted in us reaching the airport in less than an hour before the plane was set to depart. Thankfully, in true Amazing Race style, we managed to get priority check-ins and got on the plane in the nick of time.
On this domestic flight, Emma had a seat to herself. We carried her in the infant carrier and I strapped her in rear-facing using the lap seat belt. She seemed happy throughout the 5 hour plus flight and slept most of the time. Had to change her and clean her up a couple of times too, and let me just say that the restroom on this flight is not exactly spacious! As for the seating arrangements, there were three seats on either side of the plane and so Hannah, Emma and I sat together, with Pete and Ethan across the aisle.
On the international LA to HK flight, Emma had to be placed in a bassinet, so Hannah and I occupied 2 of the 3 middle seats, with Emma in a bassinet, and Pete and Ethan were seated diagonally across the aisle behind us. The kids missed their inflight supper that night too because when we boarded, it was already way past midnight.
We arrived in Hong Kong before 6a.m. in the morning, and had many hours to relax and chill because our next flight to Penang was at 3:00p.m. Look at how red and rosy Emma’s cheeks were when we were in HK:
We spent our time in the Cathay Pacific lounge , taking our showers and having breakfast and lunch there. The kids slept through most of the flight from HK to Penang, and after a quick dinner at the airport, we left for home in two taxicabs!
After that it was cleaning up the house and getting it ready to be lived in. It was really an adventure and one that we will not forget for a long time.