We land…….. where?

On board the plane…

Snug as a rockstar in a rug... The flight was 8 hours 53 minutes, not quite enough for a full night's sleep, I didn't manage to feed Rockstar that much in the airport canteen before we had to board or I would have put him down for his sleep immediately... So he slept maybe 90% of the flight, awake just to eat... There were 4 other kids seated around us, all Asian; just one child cried and fussed in Cantonese through the night, the rest - in Cantonese and Putonghua - all settled quietly

Kings (in Cantonese, indicating Rockstar to flight attendant): Excuse me, can we have the child meal first please, he’s about to fall asleep

Flight attendant (in English): I’m sorry, I can’t understand you, let me get a colleague

Me: Why didn’t you tell him you speak English?

Kings: Uh…

(Second flight attendant arrives, Kings repeats his request in English, she leaves. But the meal still isn’t ready. As luck would have it, Kings gets the same guy who doesn’t speak Cantonese, before I manage to wave down someone)

First flight attendant (hurriedly): Okok hang on let me get my colleague again! <bustles off>

Me: WHY do you keep letting him do that? You speak English.

Kings: I don’t know! He keeps running off too fast! And anyway we’re on a Cathay Pacific flight, HOW can he not. Speak. Cantonese??

Me: Because it’s a flight going to……….

Ta-ra! <sheepish> Rockstar’s wearing his school jacket cos I threw it in my handbag as a spare layering piece, cos it doesn’t wrinkle and I can scrunch it up quite small… HK was VERY hot the night we flew, it threw me off what 11 degrees Celsius would feel like when we landed in the morning…

Sunny Sydney, baby! (But it's like 10-15 degrees C)

Evil Breakfast Face

It was like, 10.30am by the time we cleared immigration, picked up the rented car and found our way here, after a quick walk along Darling Harbour…

Look, Rockstar - city

Look, Rockstar - floating train... wearing hat!

Look, R - Zzzzz

A waitress comes by, “I didn’t even notice him at first, we get kids here who wreck the place – even when they’re like, eight. I don’t know how their mothers can just sit there and do nothing! I’ve got 3 myself (ages 4, 5 and 9, eldest is a girl)…. How old is he?”

I should count how many times we get asked this trip, because even in HK Rockstar is small for his age – sometimes it’s really annoying when on school run one of the HK aunties picking up their grandchild exclaims “Aiyaa!! So small! Can meh?” And apparently he can be on the chatty side for a bit over 3.5, so it strikes the locals when we travel to places like US, Australia or NZ – they probably think he’s like, 2… And then when they realize he’s 3.5 they try to hide their surprise (but it’s nice of them to try and be polite about it haha)

Then we went for a little train ride (of course he picked the blue train)..

Rockstar KO-ed for 2 hours on Kings’ shoulder… Since the long haul flight wasn’t quite long enough haul for him to get his full night’s sleep (btw we switch to arrival time the moment we step into the cabin, I will start to adjust Rockstar’s timing before the flight – because I have almost the same attitude to jetlag that I do to getting sick on vacation. Kings can sleep anywhere, anytime, or not at all. I take a prescription sleeping pill to zzz when Rockstar goes down.)

Looks like a hostel right...

Then it’s time for us to check in to our rented apartment…

Apartment...

But with a garden...

And a view.