Our first meal on American Soil

Do you want drink with your ice?

The first thing everyone did upon arriving at the hotel was to have a shower and change and get refreshed. There was a Ruby Tuesday's restaurant just opposite the entrance to the hotel driveway so we had a short walk.
There is an art to knowing dining customs in different countries. We are pretty experienced in eating in American restaurants but the knowledge trickled back slowly.

Important tips for Australians eating in the US:

1. The main meal is called Entree. So you have Appetizer, Entree, Dessert. In Australia it is Entree, Main, Dessert. Getting this confused will totally ruin your meal portion expectations!
2. The prices shown on the menu are before tax (around 6% to 10% depending on where you are) plus a tip. Wait staff are paid slave rates and so a 20% gratuity is expected. Although this is meant to reflect service, it is really how much is needed to give those working in the restaurant something approaching a living wage. So my quick calculation is that you need to add about 30% to the listed price.
3. Every soft drink / soda comes with tons of ice. In Australia ice is used sparingly if at all as the drink is already refrigerated when served. We have to get back in the habit of asking for "No ice" and then explaining it was Ok because we were Australian.
4. Salads are typically served first and once eaten the main meal is served. In Australia, the salad is eaten with the main meal. So we have to ask for the Salad with the meal. Once more, "It's OK, we're Australian" is our excuse.

The meal was very nice and we were glad to be eating on firm land. Everyone was quickly asleep once we returned to the hotel ready for a busy day one.

A few little dramas just add to the adventure

Sleeping in the crook of Dad's arm

Dealing with a number of airsick children we ended up getting off the plane last. This didn't just mean less crowds, it meant eerily quiet corridors where we had to follow the signs to almost deserted areas to go through the various stages of customs and transferring planes.
Once more we had the alleged improvements of technology. We were required to enter our details as a family which mean scanning every passport into a self service kiosk and each of us recording our fingerprints and having a photo taken. Eventually, wth a little assistance, we received 7 slips of paper which we took to the customs official.
He then took the papers and passports and made Lana, Peter and Clare record their fingerprints again, take another photo and scan everyone's passport. Because that is what technology can do for you. Each passport was stamped and we were told to move on.
Following the signs we reached the carousel and met others of our flight who were still waiting for bags.
We then proceeded down a few more corridors to the connecting flight area, stopping briefly to retrieve a change of clothes for those who had remnants of air sickness on their clothes. Our two bags were then put in the connecting bags area and we made our way down another corridor and into a queue to get scanned for the internal flight.
Once again we had to pass over our passports with matching boarding passes which were scanned and each person checked. Then we had to encounter the TSA.
I am amazed at the low level of service provided by the TSA staff. It was obvious we were a group with young children but they were going to split us up by age so that older people go into the full body scanner and the rest through the normal scanner. We gave him a questioning look and he relented and sent us all through the normal scanner.
But my computer, which I had taken out of its bag and then placed the bag on top, was diverted for additional screening. We spent about 20 minutes watching incredible slow processing by one officer of a previous person's bag while 4 other officers engaged in lots of private chatter ignoring us and another who were waiting. This guy had his bag completely emptied with its contents put into another tray and after being told all was OK was given the tray and told to put it all back together "over there". Then she went off leaving two bags still awaiting additional analysis.
One young officer saw us and another fellow waiting unsure what was happening, and relented by assisting the now missing officer. He quickly sorted out the other bag prior to ours then he got to mine. The reason why I had been delayed for additional screening?
The initial scanning officer could not work out that the bag and computer were separated with the bag on top so it was put in unknown. Next time I will make sure they are in separate trays.
I can now understand the level of animosity and frustration with the TSA security theater.
From here we finally went to where our plane was meant to be, gate 151. While we all used the restrooms, Lana heard an announcement something like "blah blah blah Atlanta blah blah blah gate 63." The "Blah blah blah" is a rough summary of the coherence of the spoken word over the PA system. Checking gate 151 we saw that the plane destination was no longer Atlanta.
In most other airports there are boards in many places listing departures and arrivals. But not at this terminal in LA. I found someone who might know what they were on about and asked hime where these information boards might be. Looking at me as if I was blind he pointed almost directly upwards. On the roof was the departure gate information. Except that for the Atlanta flight the gate was listed as blank.
We only had 20 minutes before scheduled boarding so I wasn't going to hang around waiting. I went up some escalators to one of the airline lounges and they informed me the new gate was 63. This was in another terminal completely which meant down this corridor and that one, round a bend, spin three time and click your heels and then catch the shuttle. Aargh.
I stood at the top of the escalator and waved at my family below who were not paying me the slightest attention. So I raced down the escalator, collected everyone else, we all raced back up the escalator and went down the corridor indicated. At the end of the corridor the signs stopped mentioning terminal 4 (which we were told to aim for as an obvious means of getting to terminal 6) and we had multiple options as to which direction to take. We were just outside the Qantas lounge and the fellow in there noticed our confusion and popped out asking in a very friendly Australian accent whether we needed assistance. He pointed out the way we had to go and called ahead to let the plane know we were on the way. Thank you Qantas guy. You rock.
We found the shuttle area and had to wait for the next bus as other poor lost souls in the same situation trickled in. The bus arrived and we made it to the new gate just as the delayed boarding was beginning.
This time we were in three different places on the plane. Lana was with Clare and Rose, I was with Zach and Peter was with Martin. Just as we buckled in Zach told me, "Guess what Dad?"
"What, Zach?"
"I need to go to the toilet," he said with a grin, unbuckling his belt.
"You'll have to wait until the seat belts sign is off and we are in the air," I told him so he sat down and buckled up willing to wait. He handled the travelling very well.
Once we were in the air I turned to him but he was very fast asleep in a position that, if it was me, would have necessitated a chiropractor visit. That is the photo above. Looking across, Martin was asleep too.
Meanwhile the girls were not having fun. Rose threw up before the plane took off. The air steward looked on and suggested Rose might be too sick to fly, but Lana quickly explained it was just air sickness after a very long flight and we were allowed to continue. Rose was sick a few more times into the readily available garbage bag but all in all we were very glad when we finally landed and arrived in Atlanta.

Ready to Start the trek across the planet

Ready to go

Not ready to go

We left the hotel just before 8am and took the shuttle bus to the International Terminal. Then we had to mill around with the many many travellers coming and going.
This time round there was more computerisation, but overall it didn't seem to improve the  processing speed. Firstly when checking in at the airline's desk we had to scan each passport and answer question to complete a "pre-check-in". No surprise when the resulting printout we had to present said, "Error - present to counter" or words to that effect.
Then the very helpful airline lady processed each passport and did everything we had just done and it all worked fine.
The little green slips of paper for exiting Australia had to be filled out for each person individually. Seven forms.
Then each of us had to go through the gates which reminded me of high tech cattle stalls by scanning the passport (again) and standing on a yellow circle and looking at the camera until a photo was taken. At each stage the gates in and out were opened accordingly. I went first and then made sure each of the other children went through fine. We were a little concerned that Zach would go all "independent" but he did well.
The next step was to have our carry on bags scanned and passports presented again.
Finally we were through and had to navigate our way through the Duty Free stores. I suspect many people do not realise that Duty Free stores in Australia provide very little pricing benefit. Our Import duties are very low, so saving something like 5% to 10% duty and the GST is 10% is offset by the pricing surcharge for paying premium rent at the airport is far more than that. For example, the best special on Tim Tams was 4 for $20. At the supermarket, Tim Tams sell for around $3.50 and on special for $2.

All lined up in a row.

Finally we got onto the plane, all in one row which was great. Now we had to survive the 13 hour flight.
I must congratulate American Airlines. 12 years ago they seemed a very tired and uncaring airline. This time round the experience was very good. Friendly staff, good facilities on the plane, tasty food and drink and - relatively - comfortable seats. The in flight entertainment was a huge selection of movies, TV shows and games so the children didn't actually sleep much. It was amusing hearing Zach laugh out loud at some of the children's shows he was watching.
Just before we landed Rose was sick, making a mess on the floor. Clare followed shortly afterwards and we caught Zach in time. Thank goodness it all happened at the end of the flight.
But we finally landed in Los Angeles on time. Based on local time we landed before we left. But more on that drama in the next post.

The city is very interesting

There are a lot of cars in the city

Yesterday Clare came with me as I visited a few clients then did some wholesale shopping for our shop.  This meant waking at 5:30am to leave by 6:00pm so we could get to the first client at around 8:00am.
"It's so dark!" Clare commented as we left, using a torch (flashlight) to get to the car.
"There's a lot of cars going to the city," said Clare and was amazed as the kilometres sped by and more and more cars continued to join us until we were surrounded by cars.  Luckily traffic flowed pretty well today, but it was still a 2.25 hour drive.
"Ooh!" she said as the lift went up 6 floors and "Oh!" as it slowed down.  "Elevators are cool,"
She read her books pretty quickly while I helped my clients and then she tagged along as I finished up.  A couple of the employees said to each other, "We better watch our language as David's daughter is here!"
"The buildings are really tall and way too close together!" she noticed.
The second client and the wholesale businesses were near the airport, so plenty of planes were visible reasonably close. "They're so close.  Planes are cool."
I have been assisting the second client for almost 20 years so we are on pretty familiar ground.  He said to Clare as we were leaving, "Thank you Clare.  You did a great job."
All in all it was a good day having Clare come along spending a day with Dad. This goes down under "Work Experience" or "Field Trip" in our homeschool diary.
Many of the people we encountered asked "No school today?" to which we promptly answered, "We homeschool.  This is a field trip."

A great day to drive

A selfie in high winds!

Lana's Bug (1968 Volkswagen) is back from the mechanics and is running really well.  Starting, on the other hand, is more of a challenge.
Considering the wonderful Summer weather today - a clear sunny day in the mid 20's (70's F) and should be rising to the mid 30's (90's F) by this afternoon - we decided to give the Bug a whirl.
So we took off the top, jump started the car and went for a drive planning on not stopping until we got back home. With sunglasses in place, sun caps on our heads, smiles on our faces and the important jumper leads in the back, off we went.
The drive was great and we thought it would be a good idea to pop past and see Eric so we sent a Selfie and a text.  We told him we couldn't stop - and we meant it literally!

Unfortunately, although we tried to keep the engine running while we chatted, it still sputtered and died.  We tried a push start a few times. Eric and I pushed downhill and then uphill and then sideways.  But we were rewarded with only a couple of splutters of hope, and then nothing. Luckily, a neighbour popped out and noticed the cute bug, looking sad and forlorn, and helped give us a jump start. We were quickly back on our way again!

What a lovely day! Here we are coming home.

The ride home was uneventful, with the normal waving and smiles from onlookers.
Once home the children wanted a ride too, but we told them we would have to wait until we get the car looked at so it would start when we wanted it to.
"OK," they reluctantly agreed.

Ariel Update #3

On Tuesday to Thursday we attended talks held by Mons O'Rielly and a different guest speaker every day. On Friday we went to a prayer vigil outside the abortion clinic for 2 hours then wandered home the long way. The time after dinner turned into an impromptu hymn singing session with R, T and some of the girls. G played the violin then M taught some of us the Pride of Erin dance. All of a sudden someone said "We are going in to the city. Want to come?"
Immediately, everyone rushed around, changing clothes, checking hair and so on and so forth. One of the housekeepers had ordered 2 cabs and then an additional 2 cars worth of us suddenly decided to come as well. We had a bit of an issue with cars, but this was good for some of them because they kept running inside to change a shirt or pickup something that was forgotten.
When we got to Times Square we had to walk for ages to get to the first group. By then they had finished and were on their way home - so all that walking for nothing!
Our group of about 8 girls went in to Manhattan to do some shopping and then go to a baseball game. I went along because I was the only one in the group who hadn't planned on going to the baseball game, but I ended up going anyway. I was standing up all day because the baseball was 4 hours long! After the game, most of us went to dinner in Soho but Me, M, H and P sort of got separated from the rest and went to a diner. We wandered around for a while and almost got lost on the way home.
On Sunday after Mass we went to St Patrick's Cathedral. It is so beautiful. Everything is carved with a pattern or an angel or something. There are heaps of side altars to different saints and a gift shop right in the church.
I was sort of in charge of getting J and G to the ferry tour we were doing as a group by 1.30 pm. We got there at 1.45 pm because we got on the Downtown train instead of the Uptown train - twice!
After the tour, which was three hours around the islands, we went to dinner in a stretch limo. There were about thirteen of us. It was really loud and a bit squishy. The dinner was in a fancy restaurant and I sat with the Marionites, L and G. We finished first and then went shopping. It was pretty funny because P actually knew where we were going but TH was impatient and went on ahead. It's a good thing we only had to cross a few streets. And Boy! Can they shop! It was amazing how much TH bought and he is always trying to get a discount. We actually got home at a reasonable time tonight.

Ariel Update #2

A passing Statue of Liberty

On Monday we went on a UN tour. Because we are such a big group the first tour had about 10-15 and the second tour had 20, so we had a guide all to ourselves. There were lots of debates, jokes and questions by the Marionites and K and D mostly, but most of us had a say. Some were a bit embarrassed by the vigorous discussion but I thought it was funny.
The first question the tour guide asked us was, "Where are you from?" One of us said, "We're Catholic, Pro Life and, oh yeah, from Australia."
After the UN we went to Grand Central Station for lunch, then went on the Staten Island Ferry which went past the Statue of Liberty. We left about 5 to 7 of our group on the other side. We recovered them before we left but lost 2 to 3 of the Marionites in the city. We weren't very worried for them. They would be left alone because they are big and tough boys.
How do you think the real Statue of Liberty compares with Rose?

Ariel's Update #1

Ariel's a bit taller now.

[Ariel sent her first email update.  She provided no photo I have added one here from when I went to the US with her in 2002. My comments are in italics]
I got here safely and just borrowed some internet.
We got here safely, late and went to bed at about 2 am local time.  We then had to get up at 6 am. It was harsh and here I was thinking it would be a holiday!
The flight was very long and I was next to the same people on both flights. T [a boy in of our group] asked if we were being deliberately put together. K [a girl in our group] and I explored a bit and found the chapel which is beautiful.  We then discovered that we aren't supposed to go upstairs or explore to much. Oops.
The people here are really nice, both the group and the volunteers at the monastery. Mr H [Group Leader] woke everyone up pretty much as soon as they went to sleep on the first flight - the jerk - it took me ages to go back to sleep, but apparently someone woke him up later. Ah, sweet revenge.
We did a vigil this morning in front of a big abortion clinic and there were some protesters and most were gay,  cross dressers or old ladies. They had a brass band and they kept singing and dancing and waving their posters and one guy had cheerleader pompoms. It was an interesting experience. Mr H said to me, "Hey, that was your first vigil wasn't it? Well now you can say that New York was your first vigil." [The protestors were captured on video here.]
On Saturday night we went to see the Brooklyn Bridge but got distracted and didn't leave till 10 pm. We had to take about 3 trains to get to Manhattan and when we finally reached Manhattan we went the wrong way. Once we finally got to the Bridge we took photos and wandered around a bit. When we tried to make our way back to the station we got lost and wandered for ages, and finally found the station. Then we had to go to a different one! We arrived on the right station but got on the wrong train and had to walk all the way up the entire street for what felt like hundreds of blocks. We made it home by about 2 in the morning. I got some really big blisters on both feet and heat rash so it was really painful to walk all that way. I think I prayed at least 3 rosaries worth of prayers! [Wandering around New York after Midnight would encourage prayers]
On Sunday we had Mass at 7 am and then free time till midday. We went to one of the volunteer's family home for BBQ and a quiet afternoon in the suburbs. It was really nice and the people didn't mind that all of a sudden what seemed like hundreds of Aussies pretty much took over their house and yard. Within minutes about 6 of us were shooting hoops, 3 were throwing a footy or two around and 2 or 3 were playing catch with a baseball and mitt.
On our way home we saw a huge cockroach on the zebra stripes and one of the ladies said, "Well, at least it's using the pedestrian crossing."
There is no Internet at the monastery that's why I haven't written till now. I will write later.
Ariel

Ariel Has Left the Premises.

Ariel (with Peter along for the drive)

Ariel is in New York.
A few weeks ago Lana and I suggested that Ariel take a holiday.  Ariel lamented how she would never be able to leave the shop and she had no where to go anyway.
The next day I was visiting a business associate and it dawned on me that the event he was organising was perfect for Ariel.  A trip to New York to take part in a Pro life retreat with about 30 other young people (between 17 and 27) as well as plenty of time to visit the important tourist destinations of the town.
As it all fell into place so quickly, Ariel realised it was probably meant to be, so she and Lana quickly arranged for a new passport and some clothes and bags and so on.  To help her avoid too much pre trip nerves I organised for the shop's year end stock take to be done before she left.  That is because I am extremely considerate!
I found it very odd watching her at the ticket counter liaising with the airline officer regarding her ticket and bags.  I know she is fully capable - after all, she has been running the shop since she was 16.  But still ... there she was, going overseas without any of us.  I know she is with a good group and should have a great time.
We made a deal that Ariel is to send me one email with a photo per day.  She has her new iPod touch which can take the photos and send an email so it shouldn't be too difficult.  But so far no message.
So, we will have to up the ante.
If we don't get an email, embarrassing old photos of her as a little girl will get posted.
Ariel - you have been warned. :-)

Feeling a Little Horse

Yesterday we were able to give Martin a great treat.  One of the ladies with whom Lana and her mum attend Quilting classes has a farm with miniature horses.  Horses that are Martin's size!
We don't know where Martin's fascination with horses come from - perhaps it is genetic.  But we can't work out what triggered off his love considering we have nothing to do with horses in our little village.
When he awoke yesterday morning Martin came into our room with a fresh nappy, wet ones, clothes and whatever else he needed ready to go.  This was at around 8:30 and we weren't going to leave until around Midday.
The miniature horses are pretty amazing.  Just like real horses only little.  The horses are very inquisitive and quickly came in from the edges of the fields to check us out.  There were lots of foals and horse families, all coming up close and personal.  You can see from these photos how we were right amongst them all, close enough to pat and examine.  There were about 20 horses in our paddock, enough for all to share.
The horses which were for shows were in other paddocks and our hosts were very happy to show us all their awards.
Notice how only Eric (and me out of the photo) were wearing a hat.  When we left home at midday, the traditional local mid-summer cooling mists were rolling in to the village.  By the time we were 5 minutes from home, there was no more mist, just a glorious clear Summer's day.
The generous winds fooled us into thinking it wasn't as warm as it was, so Lana and Ariel both came home a little redder than they would have liked.

Travel Tips for WYD

Last night Lana and I were remembering our travels to and from the US. We figured it would be a good idea to give some travel tips for people travelling to Australia.
1. Remember Australia is a LONG way away. By the time you land in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane you will probably have been travelling about 24 hours.
2. Australia is on the other side of the world. Opposite Season and opposite time. 8am in Sydney today is 6pm Atlanta yesterday. Summer in the US is Winter in Australia.
3. Drink plenty of water. Avoid too much fizzy (pop/soda) and alcohol. This will avoid headaches from drying out.
4. Sleep however you can on the plane. I know that you will be excited, and uncomfortable in "cattle class" (economy), but try to get some power naps.
5. Pack sensibly. You probably won't use half the stuff you bring.
6. Australia has different power. We use 240v and different power sockets. Your equipment won't work without an adaptor, and an adaptor alone won't help if the item cannot handle the 240v. Most computers, iPods and other stuff have adaptors that handle both power levels - check your power brick and adaptor.
7. The mobile/cell phone network here is NOT the same as yours. If your mobile carrier allows International roaming, you will be slugged a heavy price. You are better off getting an International Phone card in Australia, or using the Internet.
8. There is hardly any Free Wireless Internet coverage in Australia, and it is not extensive.The public access at airports and McDonalds is expensive.  There is quite a bit of "free public" wireless coverage from an abundance of unsecured wireless routers, but that isn't really the same thing.
9. When you land in Australia early in the morning, DO NOT go to sleep until night time. This means another 12 hours up and awake, but it is the only way to minimise jet lag. If you sleep on arrival - during the day - you will probably be zonked out for the first 3 or 4 days of your trip as you adjust.
10. Be patient. There will be hundreds of thousands of people landing within a short space of time. Being self important and impatient will actually DECREASE your assistance from local people. A friendly request will get a great response.
11. Australians drive on the correct side of the road - the LEFT SIDE. So be sure to look BOTH ways before crossing the road. Your habit will be to look one way as you step off the curb. This will ensure that the car will hit you on your blind side.

Anyone else have more tips?
(This photo is of us in Atlanta airport when we started our travel home in September 2005.)

Restarting our Australian Identity

Robert's wife met us an hour from the airport and Lana and the children went to their place to play and settle down after the long journey. Meanwhile I went with Robert and arranged for my Australian licence and transfer our new car registration.
This was pretty straight forward affair. I just had to produce my passport and US license, have Robert be my referee (confirming my address) and within about 20 minutes I had my license.
Then a further 10 minutes or so and the vehicle was now registered in my name too.
The license cost $93 ($70 US) for 3 years, which is more than it was in Georgia ($15 for 4 years), but the Georgia licence took 4 hours.
Compare our experience with Lana's Georgia licence [updated] and the registration of the Suburban.
Once I arrived at Robert's house I fixed up insurance for the new vehicle as well as updated the house and contents insurance.
Not a bad start to getting everything back in place!
We finally arrived home around 5:30pm with fish and chips and ready for bed.
Our return was finally complete.

The Return - Australia

We were last to disembark the plane and made our way to customs clearance.
Step 1: Immigration Control
This involves waiting in a line - one for either Australian or Other passport holders. Each passport was compared to each person and checked on the computer system.

Step 2: Quarantine Check
We passed through to the luggage carousel to collect our bags, using five of the courtesy luggage trolleys. We then showed the officers our immigration forms which showed we had a few things to declare. We had a tanned raccoon skin, some wooden products and some food (candy/lollies). The 'coon skin gathered a lot of interest with about four officers gathered around examining it, one saying, "poor thing." The other thing causing interest was our "train" of carts with me in the lead and Lana bringing up the rear.
An officer asked me to open one of our bags so he could have a look. He told me it was OK and I asked him what made him curious. He pointed to Lana's DMC cross stitch threads and then sheepishly pointed to a bag of Lego blocks. "Couldn't tell what it was on the machine," he grinned.

Step 3: Customs
Our next step was to meet with the customs guy to determine whether we owed duty or GST. Each adult coming into the country is allowed a duty free allowance of $900 and each child $450. As we had 6 children and two adults we had no problems and we were free to go.

Step 4: Find our transport
We exited customs through Exit D. Robert who had arranged to meet us was at exit A - of course. A quick phone call and we were on our way.

Step 5: Buy some Australian chocolates.
Before we left I had to buy a sample of chocolates we have missed for the last few years. A very important step.

The Return - the flight home

At 6:20pm (about 10 minutes before the 4 hour outer limit for checking in) we presented ourselves and checked in our bags. Then we once more did the security thing (no extra screenings this time) and found ourselves in the International area.
We had some Mexican food after taking over a number of tables and took our time. Whilst Lana and I sat and reminisced, the children went for a walk, mostly the wrong way on the travelators/automated walkways. No-one had a problem with the children wandering around as they knew we were in for a long 15 hour flight. We finally made our way to the correct gate and rested.
By the time it came to 10:30pm, the children were pretty tired. It had been over 19 hours since we began that day. Peter fell asleep and James soon followed. Eric's eyes also began to droop. I spoke with the airline staff to see if we could board early considering we had a number of children. They said they would, and then announced that boarding would be by row number - ignoring my request.
It didn't matter. We went up anyway. But first we had to wake the fast asleep Peter and James because we couldn't carry our on board baggage and them.
We finally found our seats and the boys sat down, instantly falling asleep.
Clare's first step was to read the flight safety sheet. Just like Peter did when we had our original journey two years ago. It must be something to do with four year olds!
We all slept for about the next six hours. None of the children remembered the takeoff, even though the takeoff was very bumpy.
Unfortunately, the plane we were on did not have individual video screens, just central screens showing child inappropriate movies and limited audio selections.

The Return - we made it!

We made it!
I will post in more detail later, but after a long flight we arrived in Sydney at 6:10 am local time yesterday, went through customs pretty efficiently and were met by our friend Robert. About an hour later Lana and the children went with Robert's wife to their house whilst I went with Robert and sorted out my local drivers licence and car registration.
That's right. My new licence will have a photo of me for the next few years looking decidedly tired after 30 hours of travelling.
We are now busy unpacking and restocking the pantry and obtaining odds and ends which we either left behind or didn't survive our time away.
Now - off to sleep again...

The Return - Tracking a group

Here the children are watching a movie we just purchased - Indian in the Cupboard.
Note the bright orange T-shirts? That is how we are able to quickly work out where each of the children are located.
I am in my Bright Yellow T-shirt as I wore on our initial trip to the US (shown here). The common bright colours make it very easy to quickly spot members of our party. It also attracts some comments from onlookers as they see four large carts filled with luggage, surrounded by children all wearing bright orange T shirts.
We picked up these shirts at the Scott Hogsed Memorial day figuring that "Hunter Orange" would make a great colour for our trip.

The Return - still waiting

Rose is probably the hardest to keep amused during a long wait. Lana decided to go walkabout (*) with Rose strapped into the backpack.
As you can see here, Lana is trying to appear imperious and aloof, but I think Rose is spoiling the effect somewhat.

(*) Walkabout is an Australian term derived from the Australian Aborigines for a period of time when an aboriginal goes off and wanders the bush and no-one knows when they will return. It is commonly used to refer to someone who goes off without warning and for when the return is unknown.

The Return - Clare succumbs

Clare finally stopped. She awoke at 4:00am after getting to bed the previous night just after 10:00pm. She remained awake on the plane and was awake and alert for a while here.
But once Eric began to read tales from Brer Rabbit, Clare slowed down and stopped.
A couple of hours so far.
We still have 8 hours before we depart.
Hmmm. We have played games, read books, had lunch and gone walkies.
Waiting ... waiting...

The Return - Not all bad news

It was not all bad news so far. In spite of the delays and problems there were many good luck bits.
When we finally had all the luggage and family at Atlanta airport and made it to the check-in desk, there was NO LINE. We got straight to the assistant. Whilst I was doing weight training with the bags, there was a very long line placing the bags through the X Ray unit.
Once the bags were all checked, the X Ray line was clear too! We got straight to the X Ray unit and unloaded the bags - more weight lifting. Total checked bag weight - 886 pounds or 403kg.
So far I have lifted these into the car (Ward got them out), into the shuttle, out of the shuttle on and off check-in, off at X-Ray, off the carousel. So 7 times 886 pounds means a lot of weight training within a short time.
This photo is of our 5 luggage "smarte carte"s gathered around me at Check in.

The Return - Lots of Bags

With Ward's help we were able to cram all of our luggage onto two of the hotel's luggage movers and with some judicious moving, huffing and puffing got them through the door. This photo shows they only just fit into the room. We put them both into the lower room, where the girls would sleep.
To get to the bed furthest from the door, Lana had to squeeze past between the bags and the wall and climb over the first bed.
We went to the room on the fourth floor and watched a DVD on my computer, whilst the boys made some Lego which they had been given as a present. From the time our friend Jane had given the boys some Lego for the trip, James and Eric asked, "Can I play with Lego now?" - in the car, on the plane, anywhere.