Seventh Trip Starts - 2010 Revisited

13th June, 2010.... Well - as this (historical) blog has a wont to do, I've fast-forwarded to 2010...on the eve of our next adventure in Japan in 2011. We've all gotten that little bit older, and in the case of L-kun, that little bit bigger. This time around, T-chan and L-kun were heading off to Japan early - and I'd be catching up a few weeks later. The great thing about children getting older is that they are so much easier to travel with (why do I suspect I will come to regret those words). This is L-kun's third trip, so he's getting to be an old hand at international travel. I was 26 before I went on my first plane. How the world has changed.

Still. It's difficult to see them off. Even L-kun was a little sad. He did however know where the plane was going to take him. Japan. That made the sadness of leaving Daddy behind all the more palatable. 

Of course - it's not all sadness and goodbyes. There's many things to keep you occupied. L-kun decided that it might be a good idea to learn the basics of flying (just in case). You can never be too prepared after all.

Of course, it doesn't matter how prepared you are, a lad's gotta sleep, and store up all that energy for the trip home.

After all, he knows that when he gets to Sapporo, magic can happen. For example time is different there - and he can have his 3rd birthday all over again. What a magical land.

L-kun's second 3rd birthday celebration on arrival into Japan.

We're definitely lucky in that we don't have extremely long flights (about 9 hours from Sydney to Tokyo) and almost no time change when going back to Japan from Adelaide. Still, when you're getting around airports with a little boy plus transferring flights it can be very exhausting. Actually, there's surprisingly little to do in Narita Airport (around the arrivals section) at 7 am in the morning, and we have to kill time for 3+ hours to wait for the flight to Sapporo. But at least Sapporo means home for T-chan, and that is always a source of energy and motivation.

So - as our latest trip is about to start, I welcome you all aboard the Japanese Ties Airlines... for your safety we ask you to stow your luggage in the areas provided, and sit back and enjoy the ride. This may be a slow start however as we're still in the process of getting ready for our next trip.