Neither Karl or I slept very well knowing we had to be up so early and at 3.30AM we were bright eyed and ready for a cuppa before waking the kids to be ready to hail a "Meter Taxi" to get to the airport. We left our lovely Bangkok apartment as quietly as we could but poor Luke bumped into a letterbox in the corridor and gashed his shoulder and so his screams echoed through the building...eeek. We did try! The whole apartment block were probably glad to see the last of us! Even at that early time the humidity and heat were obvious.
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| We survived the taxi ride! |
We have loved staying in the various
Airbnb accommodations and are really pleased how well everything worked
out for us. It is always a little bit nerve wracking as we shut the
door leaving the keys inside as we depart knowing we can't re-enter the
property. We double check everything and leave nothing behind!
Out
on the street, there were already signs of people's days starting and
we hailed our taxis within minutes. One last hair raising drive without
seat belts at 140 kms/hour passing a burning truck on the freeway and
we were at Suvarnabhumi International Airport. Luke, Tim and I in one
taxi and Karl and Annika in another, all made it safely and we checked
in with no problems. Certainly the saying that it is more dangerous to
drive to the airport than to fly was true in this case! One last
security check and the unpacking and re-packing of our day packs, then
the waiting until boarding time.
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| Checking in |
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| Photo bomb by Luke! |
Two meals and plenty of water and fruit
juice later and 4 movies each and we were nearly there. I saw the
Minions Movie (at Luke's request - the things I do!!), Max, Me, Earl and
the Dying Girl and Paper Towns - all of which I enjoyed. Most of our
flying was over Australia and we knew we were getting near to home!
Bendigo,
Ballarat, nearly there...and finally we touched down at Tullamarine
International Airport. My first thoughts were: "We've done it, a year
away with three children, quite some feat"! I felt really excited as we
merged with the crowd pressing towards passport control and was
somewhat tempted to break into a rendition of :"I still call Australia
Home", but the kids were too embarrassed even for me to whisper the words
to the song!
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| Waiting at Gate C6 |
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| Seats in row 44, TG 461, Thai Airways Bangkok to Melbourne |
Everyone was friendly and the broad Australian accents of announcers gave me silent giggles. I declared my chopsticks and we waltzed through customs, a bit stunned that it was all so easy.
Out to the parking bays where we quickly found : the "Busy Beaver" bus which took us to our car which my Dad had kindly dropped off for us earlier in the day. We thought it would be easier to do this rather than have people wait for us should there be delays. We drove to Mornington and were greeted by my two warm sleepy parents at about midnight. Luke greeted them with: "Have you ever touched a toad?" and then hugs all round and cups of tea and then bed for all of us. Home is here for a few days, on Australian soil and it almost feels as though we never left! We'll get to our house before long and that's that! A year of travelling with our three children, experiencing the ordinary and extraordinary daily, has come to an end. We are changed in many ways and we hope our kids come to see this year as a gift and inspiration as they, too, one day take on the world.
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