Our original plans had us flying straight through from Charlottesville to Brisbane with only a few hours layover in LA. About a month after we purchased our tickets last Fall, Qantas let us know we'd be flying to Sydney and then, after a 14 hour flight, have another "short" flight to Brisbane. Not relishing having to tell my children that, they'd have to get on yet another plane after such a long trip, I booked us on the following day's direct flight to Brisbane. This gave us a 24ish hour layover in Los Angeles.
The weather was a bit chilly, which for us meant we wore long sleeves and maybe a fuzzy, while for the native Angelenos it seemed like down parkas were the order of the day. We had all sorts of plans to see the
Noah's Ark exhibit at the Skirball but they were derailed due to 1) Skirball doesn't open til 11 and we were there too early and 2) Thursday's the free day so you have to make reservations more than a few hours ahead of time in most cases. But never ones to be deterred by a small wrench in the plan, we made the best of things and headed over to a nearby park in Encino. After some park time frolicking about, feeding ducks and admiring citrus trees we found a Middle Eastern (Israeli, it turned out) restaurant for lunch. Having moved from the greater Detroit area where there is a tremendous amount of delicious Middle Eastern food, we're kinda lacking it in C'ville. So when we travel we tend to eat a lot of falafel and kebabs and such. After a lovely lunch we played at another park, as we wanted the kids as physically worn out as possible, what with the 14+ hour plane ride they were taking that evening.
After a bit Amity was getting too tired to play, so we hopped in the car for a nap. Sadly for us, napping wasn't exactly forthcoming. On the plus side, we had the opportunity to stop for some buttermilk donuts. Our plan had been to go to Santa Monica and hang at the beach, but we realized Zara needed new headphones, Wes needed a car charger for the phone, and Amity's Keens were just a tad too small. So instead it was off to REI.... and then Amity fell asleep. So we got required electronic accessories, grabbed some coffee and hot chocolate (for Z), and hit PCH for a lovely naptime drive. After Amity had slept her usual 1.5 hours (and wasn't waking up on her own, poor kid was already have some jet lag) we woke her up by bringing her into the REI store in Santa Monica. She was cranky for a bit, but after choosing some new Keens, she settled in to read and test camp chairs with Zara.
After some fun times at REI, we were once again planning to go to the beach, but the kids wanted to play at the park some more. So we found a third park. After a bit, the sun was starting to set and the kids seemed hungry. We found a super cute, family friendly Italian restaurant called
Fritto Misto. Highly recommend it, but the portions were ginormous. Definitely suitable for sharing. Wish we could have taken the leftovers on the plane, but alas! One more attempt to head to the beach, but the kids were pretty tired and cranky at this point so we opted for the airport instead. Good thing, it turns out, because the Qantas flight to Brisbane does not leave from the International Terminal, but rather Terminal 4. Go figure. That took us a while to figure out, so it was nice to have some extra time to get settled and not worry about security, etc.
We ended up at the gate with lots of extra time, which was a double edged sword. It was nice to be settled, but the waiting with cranky tired kids can be surprisingly challenging. Also, it was a very small concourse, so there wasn't much to see/do/explore. The kids made fruit cheerio necklaces with 100 cheerios on them (it was 100 day at Zara's school) and colored for a bit, but after awhile we gave in and let them media out.
When the plane was finally there and it was time to board, we boarded early so we could install Amity's car seat (yes, we schleped her heavy yet very portable SK Radian to Australia and back) and also dosed her with Benadryl. From our experience with Zara flying to Scotland, there's so many exciting things that happen in the first couple of hours on an international flight that she would not have slept on her own. She was SO tired she really needed it, and she in fact fell asleep before take off. Zara stayed awake a little longer, but requested Benadryl as well so she was out within a half hour of take off. Wes and I stayed awake through "dinner" and watched a movie, but just like when they are little, during international travel you sleep when the kiddos sleep. So, we all tried to get in as much sleep as we could.
We didn't think to take pictures on the plane, so sorry to be so text heavy for this part. We're almost to Brisbane, though, and then there will be lots of pictures. Kids woke up at around 3:00 am local time (still on the plane with 4-5 hours to go, maybe?) and watched some TV and let us kind of rest for a bit. Breakfast service came around and then everyone was really up. The last hour was the hardest for Amity (Zara was happily watching TV) and I ended up busting out ring pops to soothe the savage toddler. It pretty much worked. Screaming was minimal. Finally, after nearly 14 hours in the air, we touched down in Oz!
And now, things to note if you are flying to Australia on Qantas (maybe also other airlines?) with small children! First off, they "gate check" your stroller but you don't get it back until the baggage claim. So, if you had imagined you'd use it to contain a preschooler while waiting through passport control, you'd be wrong. Next time, the ergo will be carried on for such a situation. Second, even if you have new, micro-chipped enabled passports, if you are traveling with kids you have to wait in the big, long, LONG line for immigration. US citizens with microchip passports without kids get to go in the AU/NZ super fast line.But if you have kids, sorry, you need to wait in a LONG line. Yeah, that makes sense. Also? They did not do anything special when we finally got to the immigration interview. I figured, maybe they needed to do something different with the kids? Not so much, or if they did we couldn't tell. Extremely frustrating, especially with Amity beyond melting down, and no good way to contain her. So, maybe 1.5 hours later (and a slow, steady stream of whatever snacks we had left, including cookies, candy, chips, etc - no holds barred!) we finally emerged to find Marmee very patiently waiting for us. Yay, we made it!
After some fun times at REI, we were once again planning to go to the beach, but the kids wanted to play at the park some more. So we found a third park. After a bit, the sun was starting to set and the kids seemed hungry. We found a super cute, family friendly Italian restaurant called Fritto Misto. Highly recommend it, but the portions were ginormous. Definitely suitable for sharing. Wish we could have taken the leftovers on the plane, but alas! One more attempt to head to the beach, but the kids were pretty tired and cranky at this point so we opted for the airport instead. Good thing, it turns out, because the Qantas flight to Brisbane does not leave from the International Terminal, but rather Terminal 4. Go figure. That took us a while to figure out, so it was nice to have some extra time to get settled and not worry about security, etc.
We ended up at the gate with lots of extra time, which was a double edged sword. It was nice to be settled, but the waiting with cranky tired kids can be surprisingly challenging. Also, it was a very small concourse, so there wasn't much to see/do/explore. The kids made fruit cheerio necklaces with 100 cheerios on them (it was 100 day at Zara's school) and colored for a bit, but after awhile we gave in and let them media out.
When the plane was finally there and it was time to board, we boarded early so we could install Amity's car seat (yes, we schleped her heavy yet very portable SK Radian to Australia and back) and also dosed her with Benadryl. From our experience with Zara flying to Scotland, there's so many exciting things that happen in the first couple of hours on an international flight that she would not have slept on her own. She was SO tired she really needed it, and she in fact fell asleep before take off. Zara stayed awake a little longer, but requested Benadryl as well so she was out within a half hour of take off. Wes and I stayed awake through "dinner" and watched a movie, but just like when they are little, during international travel you sleep when the kiddos sleep. So, we all tried to get in as much sleep as we could.
We didn't think to take pictures on the plane, so sorry to be so text heavy for this part. We're almost to Brisbane, though, and then there will be lots of pictures. Kids woke up at around 3:00 am local time (still on the plane with 4-5 hours to go, maybe?) and watched some TV and let us kind of rest for a bit. Breakfast service came around and then everyone was really up. The last hour was the hardest for Amity (Zara was happily watching TV) and I ended up busting out ring pops to soothe the savage toddler. It pretty much worked. Screaming was minimal. Finally, after nearly 14 hours in the air, we touched down in Oz!
And now, things to note if you are flying to Australia on Qantas (maybe also other airlines?) with small children! First off, they "gate check" your stroller but you don't get it back until the baggage claim. So, if you had imagined you'd use it to contain a preschooler while waiting through passport control, you'd be wrong. Next time, the ergo will be carried on for such a situation. Second, even if you have new, micro-chipped enabled passports, if you are traveling with kids you have to wait in the big, long, LONG line for immigration. US citizens with microchip passports without kids get to go in the AU/NZ super fast line.But if you have kids, sorry, you need to wait in a LONG line. Yeah, that makes sense. Also? They did not do anything special when we finally got to the immigration interview. I figured, maybe they needed to do something different with the kids? Not so much, or if they did we couldn't tell. Extremely frustrating, especially with Amity beyond melting down, and no good way to contain her. So, maybe 1.5 hours later (and a slow, steady stream of whatever snacks we had left, including cookies, candy, chips, etc - no holds barred!) we finally emerged to find Marmee very patiently waiting for us. Yay, we made it!
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