Blog 11: Long flights and short layovers

Make no mistake, 14hr trips are hard… But, after you do 1-2-3 of them, they get easier.  Our flight left later in the day so we didn’t to break the alarm clock with an early start. 

We did have plenty of bags, but my United Airlines status gives us a lot of freedom here and it was less than when we moved to China.  At this point, travelling with 15-20 bags is easy.  😊

We did book business class again… and, it really helps.  It just gives you more space allows you to sleep a bit easier, and dampens the jet lag a bit. 

The family knows how to fly now… the kids can navigate security, immigration, and customs pretty well.  They all chip in with the bags and know their roles.  So for most, I would say a 14hr flight would be horrible… but, for this family, no big deal.

We arrived in Newark around the same time that we left… yes, this is weird, 14hr flight, 14hr time difference…. Leave at 6pm on Saturday and arrive at 6pm on Saturday… For us, we joke that it is our 38hr day. 

Since we knew jet lag would be a challenge and we know that pure exhaustion is a solution to breaking jet lag, we decided to train it into NYC… 

The kids are normally always up for an adventure.  And, this time, Caroline was adamant about seeing the Statue of Liberty.  So off we went. 

It was a quick trip, but we managed to see the big stuff and get a few cheeseball souvenirs.  We saw the Statue of Liberty (selfie moment), Rockefeller Plaza Christmas tree, the music hall.  We ate dunkin donuts in the train station, new York pizza at Rays (one of them anyway), and bought three miniature statue of liberties (one of them is already broken). 

We UBER-ed to & from the train station, took the train to/from Newark Penn to NY Penn, and took the subway around the city.  We didn’t get back to the hotel until around 2am and woke up around 6:30…  but, then again, exhaustion is the key to breaking jet lag. 

We certainly didn’t leave anything on the table on day 1.  

Picture 1 - The flight home:  We've gotten pretty good at travelling... But, this is going to extremes.  We organized the gifts by city and managed our way through the airport.  Unloading in Newark was a bit more difficult, but we made it work.  The flight wasn't too bad and the kids did great with the jet lag.


Picture 2 - Random picture:  snow in Newark, Houston Street subway stop on the way to Lady Liberty.


Picture 3 - New York in 3 hrs:  Rockefeller plaza, the tree, the statue of liberty, Times square, and lots of pictures.  Everyone was tired, but honestly pushing the body to the limit on day 1 is the best way to break jet lag.


 Picture 4 - Crashing:  Toward the end, everyone started to crash, but that was ok because it was 1am in the morning...  :)  It was a long day.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog 8: Ju Jai Jiou – One of China’s Water Towns

Image
Marco Polo called Suzhou the Venice of the east primarily because it (and many others) were built around a series of canals just like Venice.  Unfortunately, many of those areas have been lost to “progress”.  China has a rather repugnant reputation when it comes to preserving history.  It started during the Cultural Revolution in the 70’s but followed during the Industrial revolution.  I can’t really blame them for much… If getting 1billion people out of poverty means that you lose a bit of history, then so be it.  You certainly don’t hear the 1billion complaining and I am in no place to challenge the strategy.  There is no question that china’s pace of change has been remarkable and that they will emerge again as a global power…  It is just a matter of time. Still though, many places have been preserved; like, Ju Jai Jiou.  Ju Jai Jiou is a water town and has maintained the classical style, despite the extra costs, due its proximity to ...
Read more

Post 1: The Arrival, 7-August-2017

Image
Often the greatest opportunities require sacrifice and, at some point, a leap of faith.  Just like our decision to move to Holland 10 years ago, China offered similar concerns, feelings and reservations.  Although, when looking back on the Holland decision today, it seems like a no-brainer compared to China.  We structured the summer to be full of activities with our family and friends; nearly every moment was scheduled.  Amanda took the lead on organizing the madness as I split my time equally between Asia and the US.  In the end, we wore ourselves out, but also logged a very impressive summer docket:  LSU Graduation in Baton Rouge, 4 th of July party with my family at our house, Orange Beach (with Dixons), New Orleans (with Skenas & Grandma Judy), Washington DC (with my Dad), Gettysburg & Amish Country & a wedding (with the entire Buckwalter & Schultz clans), dinners, lunches, playdates, house hunting in Shanghai (Amanda and I), PPC...
Read more

Blog 23 - Dixon's take the China challenge

Image
You can take people out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the people.   Leaving the USA for the first time is a bit tough… making China your first destination is kind of ridiculous.   China is just really, really foreign; the characters, the congestion, the communication, the internet, and the smog all make it harder than most international trips.    Still they did it.   They started the 10-day trek on early Monday morning and arrived mid-day Tuesday.   I met them at the airport with our driver and then we motored home.   It took a bit of time getting through customs, but they did it like champs.   Traffic on the way home, however was horrible so we didn’t get to the house until 4:30pm.   The kids (both ours and theirs) were so excited to see one another.   They instantly returned to friend mode and immediately ran around the house giving tours and playing at the same time.   Amanda prepared pulled p...
Read more