We had a pretty eventless trip home which is just what you want. The Parisian taxi arrived right on the dot and took us the direct route to the airport (or as direct as you can get in Paris). We deliberately arrived early at the airport so it was easy to check in with our mountain of luggage, then headed off to the departure lounge for some lunch and some shopping with the last of the Euros. The kids had quite a bit of energy, even after Neil had them running around the Jardin du Luxembourg in the morning, so I got Heather to do some star jumps and exercises before getting on the plane.
Being a family with young kids we get to board the plane first, this time though we got on the plane and the steward immediately kidnapped Callum and took him into the cockpit. We thought he'd be having the time of his life with all those buttons and sitting next to the captain but when the steward asked to come and get the camera from me she said I'd better come too (this is not allowed only kids are permitted) because Callum had started to cry and ask for Mum and Dad. This is the first time this has ever happened and needless to say no photo of Callum flying the plane. We were on the 380 Airbus so boarding was quite orderly (due to us riff raff being loaded separately from the posh section) and soon we were leaving France in no time (the pictures are from the seat screen).
Taking off
Straight into a storm
Then out the top of the clouds
None of us slept during the first leg
(the kids tested their new sleeping masks and pillows though, just in case)
which had us arriving in Dubai at midnight, then taking off again at about 2.30am. By this time the kids were shattered. As we boarded the flight to Perth Callum insisted in his sleep deprived state that he wasn't going to sleep and he was going to watch movies, then promptly fell asleep sitting up with head plopped on his teddy 'Moo'. Heather followed soon after and both kids ended up spreading themselves over each other and us across all our seats. I managed to catch up on my movie watching and saw 4 films that I've had on my DVD rental list. Unfortunately the trip took its toll on Heather who spent the final hour before arriving in Perth with motion sickness declaring that she hated flying. Perth airport was an absolute disaster with 3 flights arriving at the same time and not enough staff to get everyone through Quarantine without creating a line that snaked around the entire baggage claim area it took up so much room. After about 2 hours we finally popped out of the airport and into a maxi taxi. Perth hadn't changed much from when we left on July 6th. It was cold and pouring with rain, but it was great to be home. The house was left in amazing condition by our house sitter Fran who had cleaned it to within an inch of its life and had put fresh sheets on the beds. She left lovely flowers, stocked the fridge with essentials like bread and milk and even defrosted a meal for us AND there were welcome home gifts from some wonderful friends. It was a perfect homecoming.
Tomorrow there are lots of domestic duties to do, arranging the kids' schooling and holiday activity schedules and generally returning to reality. We will all miss France but its great to be home and we're looking forward to catching up with all our friends.
Until next time, au revoir.
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