A long Journey

jeremierita — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:54:00 GMT

One of the first reactions to our trip was ‘nothing like short hauls!’ Indeed this is definitely the longest series of flights we have taken so far and perhaps we will not have the occasion to fly consecutively to a destination for that long.

This trip is new, unprepared and will be dealt with as a ‘pilot’. Why? It is the first time we hit the road with our little one, Noemie, who is just 6 months old. Unprepared, because we chose the destination randomly, only several weeks ago. Our travels usually take us to developing countries where cultural differences, culinary experiences and adventures are at the heart of the voyage. Very few countries could satisfy our envies and at the same time provide facilities necessary for travel with an infant: nice places to walk with a stroller without actually breaking it, good hospitals in case of emergencies, good infrastructure and baby commodities. So randomly we asked ourselves: ‘what country would be both developed and make you dream’? You got the answer!

This nevertheless means that our modus operandi had to be different. Many practices will be skipped, some with pleasure, others with regret: bargaining for hotels and taxi rides, smoking in restaurants or public places; not that we are heavy smokers, but after meals or with a drink we enjoy shortening our lives. Not to mention speed limits and driving which could also earn us hefty fines.

So the trip starts with a series of airports and layovers. Departure from Beirut on Friday, to Dubai where we choose to stay on the plane. Next stop after 7 hours in Kuala Lumpur. Considerate of the journey ahead, we had booked a hotel for the day, as we had a lay over of 14 hours. We crashed at the airport hotel and Noemie copied. After a good shower, our stomachs got us wandering in the airport restaurants. This is one of our favorite airports: spacious, clean, with lots of nice shops, and most importantly, an opportunity to buy a year’s supply of my favorite kretek cigarettes.

So far so good. The flight to Auckland - our third - takes 9hours and 15 min. And yes, the 15 minutes count. Full house, no empty seats and we barely could find space to have a cot for Noemie, let alone spread our legs. We managed to sleep a couple of hours. Fresh air and a heavy accent welcomed us in New Zealand. We chose to start our trip in the South Island, in Christchurch: 4 hours till our next flight. On arrival to Christchuch we had behind us 23 hours of flight and 20 hours of layovers. We nearly forgot we had our luggage to collect. Thank God, hotel is booked.

Tips:

Hotel: Centerpoint on Colombo. Nice room with good facilities and a warm welcome. 155NZ$

We eat at Thai Food, excellent soups and nice setting

Hint

jeremierita — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:30:00 GMT

Maybe this will help...

Next destination

jeremierita — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:30:42 GMT

Back on the road. We finally made up our mind, and chose our next destination.

Any idea where that is?

Girls wanna have fun

jeremierita — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 16:23:00 GMT

All is well with miss Noemie. Increasingly smiling as she passed the 6 weeks mark.

For those who are following this blog for travel purposes, don't worry, we'll get back on the road sooner rather than later.
We should be going to Dead Sea in June, to France early July, and probably to Thailand in October. Of course, we'll tell you all about that.

We've read some great books too that we will soon tell you more about.

Stay tuned.

My two lovely habibis

jeremierita — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 05:54:00 GMT

Palm Sunday

jeremierita — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:54:00 GMT

After those two weeks away, it's good to be back home and enjoy miss Noemie again. Just in time for Palm Sunday.

Noemie - Day 3

jeremierita — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:22:00 GMT

Noemie now lives with us at home. All is well here.