Three Kids and a Dog: Heading to Australia

The day after Xmas at about 1:30pm, we get picked up to go to the airport to head to Australia for almost two weeks. Never mind that we got home the night before, that my house has presents strewn all over it and I have to get the dog to the boarding facility before 10am. Plus, of course I needed to get a workout in before I sat on the plane for almost an entire day. Oh, and I needed to get a manicure to get me ready for some sunshine down under!

Somehow we got it all in and I was even able to shower with minutes to spare. We get to the aiport in a comfortable amount of time. Papa is already there (he joined us on this trip). We chat. I go to the bathroom and miss Papa getting called over the loud speaker (Frank Gianfrancesco - no idea why they called him by his brother's name) to come to the desk. Turns out when he was checking in, he left his credit card in the check in machine. This would be the first of many stories for this trip. But luckily it was one that ended well with someone turning it in and him getting it back.

Cairns Aquarium

We board the plane, settle in for a 4-hour flight to San Francisco. Austen and Papa had backwards seats (strange but they said it was okay). We had a bit of turbulence and the pilot asked the flight attendants to sit down more than a few times. Once when the flight attendant was on her hands and knees searching for an AirPod that Austen had dropped under the seat. (Now they don't you look at anything under the seat. A flight attendant must help you.) Finally, she found it and was able to return to her jump seat. But Papa thought it was a good time to get out of his seat and tell me what happened. "Papa, get back in your seat! The seat belt signs are on and even the flight attendants were asked to take their seats!"

We arrive in San Francisco, hit their fancy lounge for 45 minutes and then boarded our long haul flight for Sydney. They page us to the desk. Hailey's tray table is broken (I swear this happens every time we fly with them and from the same exact gate. Last time it was Hailey's TV screen and Peyton's headphone jack.) We make do and off we go for our 14 plus hour flight.

All goes smoothly. We get some sleep (except Papa who claims he can't sleep on these flights. If you can't sleep in a lie flat seat, you're not going to be able to sleep at all!) We get our bags (Papa bought a new one that was black and looked just like everyone else's bag with not even a colored luggage tag on it to make it stand out), clear customs and recheck our bags to Cairns and then have to board a bus to take us on a 15 minute ride to the other side of the airport to catch our flight (not impressed with the Sydney airport layout but perhaps that's why they are building another one out west). We catch our flight (this the one that's been changed multiple times and we have to downgrade from First Class to Economy to get this earlier flight). We arrive in Sydney and wait to gather our luggage. And we keep waiting. Hailey's bag does not arrive but all of our other bags do. I tell her the bad news is they lost your bag but the good news is you get to go shopping! We arrive at the Crystalbrook Flynn Hotel in Cairns and are greeted by your Tour Guides. They are great and go over a few things before we head to our rooms. We have two rooms (Papa has another room). Our room (the girls' room) is amazing. It's huge with a spacious balcony and a view.

We are starving so we venture on down the street (boardwalk) to eat and then grab Hailey some clothes while Papa is resting. Unfortunately, Cairns had a cyclone hit it the week before and there was major flooding and roads are out so we can't do our Hartley's Crocodile Adventure because the roads are impassable. Instead our first official event with the tour is the Cairns Aquarium which is cool but a bit long for everyone coming off travel. We hit dinner after and are assessing who we will like on this trip with a group of about 37 people. Lots of families with Hailey being the youngest. But about half were kids ages 12-20. A set of grandparents too who took their 12 year old grandson (who Hailey had a crush on). We sit next to a nice couple with two daughters ages 14 and 12 at dinner that first night. I like them right away. They seem normal and are from Oklahoma. We go home tired but feeling excited about our trip the next day to the Great Barrier Reef. Stay tuned...