En route!

Since my post earlier this year, our plans have come together nicely. It has taken innumerable phone calls to Qantas and Singapore Airlines, the patience of a saint, learning new languages (have you ever tried to understand airline and airport taxes?!) and a fair amount of flexibility. 

We had been planning one really long trip through Europe, the Caribbean, the US and a little bit of Asia, taking four months and including a few days in Bali at the end to recuperate before winding up back in Brisbane a few days before Christmas 2017.

When we reflected on our previous longest trip (about nine weeks – and without a three year old!), it dawned on us that 15 or so weeks away from home, eating lots of great (but inevitably carb-, fat- or sugar-laden meals), with not too many stops longer than three nights, would probably stretch our travel affinity a tad too much. So we reconfigured a bit, taking into account that our frequent flyer redemption tickets placed a few constraints on our planning.

Instead of one long trip, we determined to break the journey approximately half way. This would see us visiting Thailand first, followed by a long haul to Vienna, and spending about 6 weeks in Europe, after which we would return to Australia via Beijing. All up, this part of the trip would become around 8 weeks long, which seemed more manageable than the original plan. Of course, this would also require us to purchase a separate return ticket, originating in Europe (Oslo as it turned out), in order to get home and then back to Europe to pick up our award redemption flights (all importantly, in business class!). Thus, we would only briefly experience the purported wonders of flying nearer the front of the plane before being rapidly reacquainted with the joys of long haul economy!!

All the while, our redemption tickets demanded that we stay away no longer than 12 months and settled on our exact routing before we left (although L's ticket was a bit more flexible than X and I's in this respect). Given our initial departure date of 31 August 2017, we had to have completed both chunks of our journey by 31 August 2018. Seems simple? Alas, not quite.

Because redemption seats are released at varying periods before the departure date, the requirement to finalise the journey within one year became, for practical purposes, about 11 months. For example, if we had wanted to fly back to Australia on the latest possible date (i.e. 31 August 2018), we would only have been able to reserve our seats for that segment as part of the redemption ticket on about 10 September 2017. But, we had to have our exact itinerary set in stone prior to our departure on 31 Aug 2017.

The long and short was we couldn’t quite stretch out the ticket to its full 12 month validity and instead plumped for returning to Oz in late July 2018. Working backwards from this, an early June 2018 outbound leg to Europe (this time via Shanghai) was in order. We will end up in Copenhagen on 7 June, then have a week there before picking up our luxury travel (OK, flying in luxury but everything else in moderation 🙄) adventure in Vienna on 15 June, for the hop across the Atlantic to Houston. Then we roam (more accurately, cruise – and no, not like that, Leonnie!) the Caribbean and spend a bit of time in the south of the US catching up with good friends. After that, we are contemplating some time in Canada and the north-western US state of Washington, before the 13 or so hour leg from LAX to Seoul. We will be there just shy of a week before the moderate (6 hour) flight to Singapore, from which we will head home (again), bringing our year-long (but deconstructed into two parts!) journey to an end.

First half of our adventure

So, here I am, in Qantas domestic business class flying from BNE to MEL, with X asleep beside me (yes, in his own giant throne-like seat (which unsurprisingly he took to like a fish to water!)), wondering how the heck to keep a three year old occupied for nearly five hours in Melbourne Airport, enjoying the views and a few moments of solitude, contemplating how our “quality time” today and tomorrow – the latter in Singapore – will go. X has been just brilliant so far, going from being a bit nervous or uncertain in the limo to the airport, to asking me if I was excited then a bit later whether I was having a nice time (😍), to watching a few Ben10 YouTube videos on the iPad in the Qantas business lounge, then aching to get on the plane (he asked perhaps 25 times when that would be happening!), to getting pretty excited when watching one of the kids programs on the seatback TVs. He buttered a slice of bread until it could absorb no more (great early knife management skills and a clear penchant for appropriately condimented food 😉😋😊!). All tuckered out, he is sleeping now, with a courteously supplied pillow and blanket (I recall hearing many a time “Sorry, we don’t carry blankets or pillows on domestic flights” when travelling up the back of the plane; where you sit makes all the difference).

Before leaving home

In Qantas business lounge, enjoying honey on toast (no pic of the eggs and sausages!!)

A very large seat for a small boy (QF from BNE-MEL)

A recuperative nap

Getting comfy in Emirates Lounge at MEL

Internal view of lounge

Tarmac view from Emirates Lounge, MEL

Hopefully, we will be able to find some interesting sights at the airport before our 6pm Emirates A380 to Changi. Tomorrow, after a relatively late wake-up (given midnight arrival), we will spend part of the day at the kids water play park near the Marina Bay gardens, then find some other attraction to enjoy. Then we will reconnect with L at Bangkok Airport, after his overnight flight from Brisbane via Hong Kong. All going to plan, we each arrive at BKK within 30 mins of each other, then can get ourselves settled at our hotel and work out when to return to Naga for an authentic and relaxed Thai feast (and Singapore Sling!) again. I'm looking forward to it and hope you'll follow along when you can.

Us with cow in gargantuan Melbourne Airport duty free shops