Mum, Callum & Leon
I got stuck in line for 90 minutes attempting to just check in for the flight. So bad experience at Brisbane airport when we landed the first time (I believe I documented the horrible transfer experience from the international to domestic terminals) and bad experience when leaving. Minus 2 points for Brisbane.
Then it was time for one last photo before heading through security.
In my opinion the flight from west to east is easier than going the other way as you take off at a reasonable hour mid morning and you are back in the US around midnight, so your body is not all crazy out of whack and in fact it is a good excuse to sit back and take in 5 movies, and have food served to your chair at the push of a button. The only problem is that when you are ready for bed because your body thinks it is about midnight (in Australian time), it is now actually more like 7am (in US time) and you have to live the same day all over again. So while the flight is good, I think the jet lag coming this direction is much, much worse.
Once again we had the bassinet seat on the plane which I did manage to get Callum into a few times. We also had a fellow passenger near by who had been away from her 3 year old and 10 month old for a week and was going totally baby crazy and took Callum off my hands for almost 2 hours. Seriously this woman played with the kid and then when he got sleepy, stood up and walked around the plane and rocked him to sleep and then sat back down and settled in and watched a movie with him asleep on her lap. Saint.
One of the advantages of having a baby and then going on an international flight is that I had not seen almost any of the movies available on the in-seat entertainment system. So I caught up with Cloverfield, Drillbit Taylor, Smart People, Shine A Light and 10,000 BC.
Callum loves his reflection, so here he is happily playing on the change table in the plane bathroom. I know it seems a little like bad parenting to have a kid play in a bathroom, but hey, how long has it been since you flew with a 7 month old on a 13 hour flight huh? That's what I thought, so back off!
Finally we landed and as Jen mentioned, rocketed through immigration and security. I have stood in that immigration line at LAX for an hour and then another 30 minutes collecting my bags and getting though customs. This time I called Jen from the plane as soon as we were allowed to (ie. still taxiing) at 7:26am. We taxied, disembarked, got through immigration, got our bags, got through customs and were in the arrivals hall by 8am!!!!!!! Unbelievable! Is it possible the good folks at LAX are finally getting their shit together at that horrible Tom Bradley international terminal? Plus one point for LA airport. As a result of this speedy exit, we actually beat Jen and she was still on the freeway. So we grabbed some food and sat in the cafe for about 20 minutes until she finally arrived.
Then there was the hour or so drive to the house and we finally walked in the front door to this.
Usually I will last until lunch time or so until crashing out, but I was down for the count by 11am. I put it down to the extra effort exerted corralling the kid. I slept until about 5pm, got up, had some food and basically went back to bed again. Unfortunately I was up at 4am Monday morning, wide awake and hungry. I am writing this at about 6am Tuesday as I am up again early. I also had a late night last night, but I will detail those events in the next post.
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