Surprise! An extra day in Honolulu!


G and I got up at 4:30. Woke the girls up at 5. Caught the shuttle to the airport at 5:15. Learned, once we arrived, that our flight had been delayed SIXTEEN HOURS! So instead of an 8:15 am departure, we now have a 12:45 am (the next day) departure. Instead of arriving in Australia at 4:30 pm, we now have an overnight flight and arrive at 8:45 am. Should. Be. Fun!

With there being nothing we could do to change things, we made the most of it. Grabbed some Starbucks food and coffee and headed for the airline shuttle to the hotel they were putting all the passengers up in. Realizing I would no longer have G at passport check with me to tell the agent that it is ok that the girls travel / leave the country with me, I freaked out and we spent the morning searching for a notary public (it's Sunday, after all!). We had Uncle Doug back in Portland head to our house and find the girls' birth certificates. He then faxed them to the airport (and emailed them, which was a life saver since they came through before the hotel had registered my name so the hotel agent shredded them!). G found a notary and now I will head to the passport control agent with birth certificates and a notarized letter giving me permission to travel internationally alone with the kiddos. Stay tuned! Hopefully my next post is from Melbourne, Australia!

We then said our good byes to G as he headed back to the airport and back to Portland for 10 days. Then we took our airline meal vouchers and headed out for lunch before hopping on the "pink line" trolley again. After that, we got milkshakes and went back to the hotel to find Grandma and Opa - but not before Ii got some purple make up on her eyes. Our hotel is right next to a shopping center and while I was not watching her, Ii stopped at a make up counter and used the sample purple eye shadow! The shopping center also had a pond of large koi fish, whom we watched for ages.

The girls were tired so we had a small meal voucher dinner before they went to bed at 6pm. We have to leave the hotel at 9:15 so I am hoping they get a few hours' sleep before they have to stay awake for many hours while we wait to take off. Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly and the next post will be from Melbourne!

(update is that G's flight was smooth and uneventful and he landed half an hour early and is now back at home!)

























Comments

  1. AmberJanuary 8, 2019 at 11:25 PM

    So stressful to have your plans change! I'm glad you were able to find a notary on a Sunday! Love all the pictures. Ii looks like she has a black eye! haha!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Second stop: Exmouth, WA (Western Australia (June 23-July 3)

Image
After a 5.5 hour flight to Perth, a very short layover, and a 1.5 hour flight to Learmonth (Exmouth), we arrived at our second destination: Exmouth, Western Australia! We were here in early 2019 and hoped to come back! Day 1: we checked into the Osprey Holiday Villas ( https://www.exmouthholidays.com.au/accommodation/osprey-holiday-village-unit-118/ ), hit the local IGA (grocery store) and the pool, then went out for veggie burgers, mostly to force ourselves to stay awake as Exmouth is 2 hours behind Brisbane and we didn’t want to go to bed at 6pm! We made it and fell asleep almost instantly.  Day 2: Exmouth sites We saw a ton of cockatoos, Ibis and a DINGO!!! Early morning adventuring has its advantages.  A young dingo pup chasing birds!  After some breakfast, we went to the Ningaloo Discovery Center ( https://www.ningaloocentre.com.au/ ), then to the library, where we got a temporary library card so we can check out books! The kids were thrilled!! A well recommended sp...
Read more

First stop: Brisbane (Queensland)! (June 17-23)

Image
And we’re off! PDX —> YVR —> BNE! We left on June 17 and thanks to the international date line, we landed on June 19! We landed in Brisbane (BNE) on a lovely sunny day. We headed straight to our airb&b, checked in and began exploring the city. The fresh air and sunshine is a perfect cure to jetlag! Day 1 (June 19): View from our condo, overlooking the river and the botanical gardens: Botanical Gardens: C’s favorite bird: the Ibis, aka “bin chicken” Then back for a quick nap before pool time and more exploring! Day 2: more exploring! We started out going to back to Felix for Goodness, a wonderful breakfast spot the kids and I discovered in 2024. It was still delicious! Our condo complex had an amazing outdoor area so we watched live US basketball NBA finals! Then we walked over the brand new pedestrian bridge to the Queensland Museum of Modern Art, then the State Library.  Day 3: we took an Uber to the Mt Coot-tha Botanical Gardens ( https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/parks-a...
Read more

Fourth stop: Darwin (Northern Territory) (July 4-12)

Image
Day 1: We left our Perth hotel at 7am and had some breakfast at the airport.  (Yellow = kids pillows! On these long trips, we  bring their pillows!) None of us have ever ever been to the Northern Territory, but today, we landed in Darwin! Darwin is the capital of  Northern Territory (NT), and the NT is one of Australia’s 7 states. Darwin is also one of the most northern cities in Australia and this area is referred to as “The Top End” or “Australia’s Top End”. It took us a little under 3 hours to get here. And - wild - Darwin is on its own timezone. We are 30 minutes - yes, 30 minutes - behind Brisbane and 90 minutes  ahead of Perth and Exmouth! We checked into our apartment hotel - The H on Mitchell - and the kids went straight to the pool while I got my bearings while walking around. Then we made dinner and started a Guess Who and Crazy Eights competition.  Day 2: we had do much fun! Being 90 minutes ahead in time, we all slept in and we’re finally all up at ...
Read more