We left for Jakarta on Tuesday. My parents were so sweet to help us get down there with all of our luggage, there's no way we could have fit it all into our vehicle alone. So my dad took off work (he's a saint) so that we could use their car as well. We left their house around 7:45 a.m. We hit some traffic on the way in (Oh DC and your traffic) and didn't end up getting to the airport until close to 11 a.m. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 12:30, so we were cutting it a little close with the check in and security and actually getting to the gate. Thankfully, everything worked out and we got there about 20 minutes before boarding. Phew.
(Belén decided to be her goofy self and not look at many of the pictures we took of her at the airport)
There's that cute smile.
The United guys at the desk were so sweet to the kids while they waited for everything to process. One of them even gave them each jolly ranchers (which I promptly put in my pocket "for later" and they never thought about them again. Nobody needs Jolly Rancher all over their teeth before a 25 hour flight day...I'm the worst, but who knows, maybe they'll thank me someday).
Taking the train to our gate.
All ready to go!
It felt like getting to take off took forever (it usually does, but with kids, woowee, it felt even longer. When we finally did take off, the kids enjoyed looking down at all the teeny tiny things below.
Not sure how she feels about her chinese noodles? Or making a silly girl-i'm-not-going-to-look-at-you-because-I-know-that-is-what-you-want face? I'll let you decide.
This buttery Salted Caramel Gelato they gave us after our meal was seriously, so good. Who knew that one of the best ice creams of my life would be served on an airplane.
This first 14 hour flight really didn't seem too bad to me. The kids would watch shows, then play with one of the many plane activities from their backpacks, then do more shows, then more activities. They each had a little tv on the seat in front of them which they both enjoyed using. Shae was also pretty happy to finally get to watch unlimited Pokemon episodes on the kindle, a show that I don't usually just let him watch unless we are traveling. Thank goodness for all these video devices. Not sure how families did it in the past.
We slept for about the last 5 or 6 hours of the flight. I was a bit annoyed when they flipped the lights on to feed us breakfast an hour and a half before landing. I couldn't stop thinking, just please let us sleep!
We had a pretty quick, smooth layover in Japan.
You better believe I tried out the sound button on these Japanese toilets. To my great disappointment, it was just a white noise sound. I was really hoping for some Japanese jams.
When we reached the gate, it was an A-B gate, A going down one staircase to Jakarta and B going down the stairs next to it to San Jose. We started walking down the stairs to Jakarta and an employee comes running towards us saying, "No no no no, San Jose?" while pointing towards the other stairs. Haha. we may have looked like we should be traveling to San Jose, but that was not the case. It was quite funny.
While waiting to board they called a Shae Self to the front counter. Darin and Shae went over and then Shae came back. I asked what was wrong and he said, "They are giving me a visa, I think." Darin later told me that they were checking all of our visas.
I found this second flight, 7 hours in total to be quite a bit more uncomfortable than the first. The plane was old. The seats were not very comfortable and did not recline. There was no bendy headrest on the top of the chair to make for easier sleep. There was less leg room and the back of chair "stuff" holders were super small. I slept so terribly. It was a rough one. I did, however, try some sushi which I haven't tried in who knows how long. It was actually pretty good.
Touching ground and seeing this sign was a little surreal.
The hallway right after getting off the plane had purple lights. The kids were like, "Woah! Jakarta is awesome!"
We walked in to this potty and Belén said, "Why is there a boy potty in here?" We then waited patiently for the more familiar potty.
So many fun things in these foreign bathrooms.
We got our bags easily, then they pulled us out of the loooong immigration line and moved us right up to a counter (the kids save us from a long line again). Zoomed through customs and were off to find a taxi and get to our Air BNB. The ride was not nearly as long as I thought it might be, only about 30 minutes, but it was 1 a.m. after all.
Some little tid bits from our journey...
When we got to the Jakarta airport I told the kids, "We took a car to the airport, a train to the plane, a plane to Jakarta, and now we need to take a taxi to our new home." Belén responded with, "And then what will we take? A boat?" Clearly the only transportation method missing.
Shae was pretty stoked about the unlimited Apple Juice. When they came by with the cart again he exclaimed, "Wait! I get MORE apple juice?!"
We put a diaper on Belén when we knew she was going to sleep. Good thing, because she peed right through it and all over Darin. Oops. (Hence the change of clothes in the pictures above).
The second we got our luggage back, Belén was very concerned about making sure that all of the tags were removed.
The kids reactions after we landed were pretty great. Shae was just astounded... "Woooow, this is Indonesia." B was like, "This is Indonesia? But it looks the same as New York," pointing out at the airport runway.
(It is 9:30 p.m. which the latest I have been able to stay awake since we got here, but my head has been nodding and eyes shutting for the past 15 minutes so my apologies if there are weird typos...Now to sleep!)
