And so it Begins

We are here - we made it - lots of tears and lots of milk...so...here is the story;

We drove to Vancouver from Penticton on Monday November 9th.  Stopped briefly for a McDonald's coffee and kids pack (sad, but true) arriving at approximately 1600 hrs at Lee's place.  My sister went above and beyond the call of duty to make us comfortable, cooking us a thai chicken dinner and making Sydney a special bed in the computer room.  I, as the last blog indicated, couldn't sleep and felt absolutely bagged the following morning.

After waking up and a brief mad scramble to get ready, we arrived at the airport and bid adieu to my sister who asked if we might want to consider staying longer the next pass.

Our plane was a 747 with Japan Airlines.  We knew, almost instantly, we packed to much for stowaway and carry on.  We were the last to get on the plane and the last to de-plane.  In between was filled with fantastic service (highly recommend flying with Japan Airlines) and more tears of exhaustion.  Syd slept for only a few hours of a 9.5 hour flight, Sean, on the other hand, slept in a bassinet for half the trip.  

We arrived in Narita at 3 pm local time.  EVERYONE was tired, hungry, and looking forward to a good sleep.  We stayed at the Holiday Inn and realized right away we were in a different land when room service could only offer powered milk.  Everything was massively overpriced.  Thank goodness we packed oatmeal, etc, for the kids.  

We took a taxi into the town of Narita the next morning after Syd woke up at 3 AM local time.  She was recharged and ready to go. We were not so fortunate.  However, she rules the roost. After fours hours of entertainment we took a taxi ($50 Canadian) and found the most beautiful Japanese temple.  The grounds were immaculate and everyone stared at Sydney, our little blond bombshell.  We ate some local cuisine from a quickie mart and found a new all time favourite - ready to go salmon or tuna rice wraps...Smarty...you would have loved these....  :)

We then departed Narita at 4 pm and both kids slept well on the plane as did Tara.  She grabbed an empty back row and slept for 3-4 hours.  I monitored the brood for any moments of insanity.  Believe it or not...nothing but well behaved kids...they certainly take after their mother...

We arrived at Densappar at 11 pm and the customs guy sold me 4 - 30 day visas for 1.35 million Rupiahs (as I later found out he over charged me by about 35,000 rupiahs - $9 extra - welcome to Bali).  We drove for another 30 minutes and experienced the mayhem of Bali highways; scooter vs taxi - rider beware.  At approximately 1230 AM we arrived at the Villa Rasa Sayang.  The room was not as described...stay tuned...it's only beginning...