Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Singapore or BUST!

Last Christmas I was nervous to take Karli on the 1 hour flight to Colorado for Christmas. I have to look back and laugh now. Little did I know that a year later, she would happily survive 3 plane rides totalling 20 hours of flight time, 2 layovers totalling 8 hours, and countless Asians calling her a boy. What a little traveler- she did WAY better than me and Chad. Overall, the trip was actually easier than we thought it would be. Sure, I had moments of wanting to kill the person in front of me as they jammed back their seat as far as it would go two minutes into the 11 hour flight, without giving a thought to who might be behind them and that maybe that person had an 18 month old sleeping on their lap. Whatever. We made it.

Chad was the perfect travel buddy. He kept track of all of our important papers and passports, carried our bags, took Karli on plane walks, and kept me sane. Twenty five hours into our journey Chad was running on 1.5 hours of sleep in the past 54 hours. Two hours before we arrived in Singapore, Karli and I went on a plane walk and when we came back Chad was looking pretty rough in the chair and finally said "I think my body is shutting down." Poor guy. He's a great travel buddy, if you're planning on flying internationally soon, I suggest taking Chad with you.

Karli was a great travel buddy too! She watched TV, ate lots of snacks, drank juice, slept, and got up and down from her seat about 1.2 million times. I think she watched more TV on that trip than she has in her whole life combined, but we arrived here happy! Funny story- When we were in Tokyo, Chad was waiting down the jetway for the stroller, but when I got up to the terminal it was already there, so I was calling down to him "Chad, Chad!" And then Karli wanted in on that so she cupped her hands around her mouth and said "Tad, Tad, Tad!" So cute. She was SO excited to get off of the plane in Singapore and said "Hi" to pretty much everyone she saw at the airport.
First ten minutes of our journey.

Last ten minutes of our journey.

We survived our trip thanks to the following:
-plane vitamins
-episodes of "the fresh beat band"
-2 fully charged i-pods ready to go
-plane walks
-plane bathrooms a.k.a plane playgrounds
-bugles
-yogurt bites

The Singapore airport is possibly the nicest airport I've ever seen. So clean and not crowded- at least not at 3 AM. There was a driver waiting for us after we got our bags ready to take us to my parent's apartment. He was super nice and was telling us all about Singapore. There isn't a seatbelt law in Singapore, so Karli was excited to sit on our laps in the car.

My mom and dad were up to greet us and show us their apartment. It is amazing! They have huge views of the city out of these GIANT windows that span their apartment. To die for! Karli was excited to be with her grandma and grandpa. She was wired! Talking non-stop and running circles around their kitchen table. We got a quick tour, a snack, and finally went to bed around 4:30 AM for some much needed sleep. What will tomorrow bring?!

Karli playing at the play place in the Tokyo airport.


So sleepy.

6 comments:

Robin said...

Yay! I am so glad you are posting about this. I am completely interested in every aspect of your trip to Singapore. So post lots of pictures and descriptions. I want to see the view from your mom and dad's windows!

Use this as your travel journal. I will be the hungry reader.

Salt H2O said...

I love singapore. I swear the airport is the nicest in the world. The country is the cleanest. Go to the merlion island and take the monorail there and go to the enchanted forest. So much fun!

Holly said...

So glad you made it! And thanks for letting us all know how it went! We were thinking about you guys all day (and night...) wondering how it was going. And I agree with Robin--we'd love to see pictures of everything (especially the view from your parent's windows) and follow what you're doing every day. Give Karli a hug from us, and have FUN! :)

Jake-Becky-Chase said...

Have a fun trip! I'm excited to hear all about it. Glad you survived the plane ride!

Alison said...

my land! you are a brave soul! i am exhausted just reading this post! what are your parents doing in singapore?

Kelly and Melissa said...

Wow Karli is a trooper. I've never traveled that far in my life. I'm glad you guys made it safe! Have a great Christmas with your family!!