We had to check out of our room by 2 pm, but our slight wasn't until 1245 AM!! They allowed us to hang out in the Executive Lounge until we were ready to leave for our flight, but there is only so much to do with an almost 2 yr. old in a lounge. The weather finally broke and we were able to enjoy the outdoor balcony. We spent a few hours there. Zander loved being able to travel along the glass railing and walk in his squeaky shoes.
The view from the balcony was so beautiful with the clouds hanging over the mountains, the pictures just don't do it justice. The best thing about Hong Kong was we could drink the water! We hung out there until almost 8 and thought a change of scenery would do us all good so off the the airport we went!
SHORT VERSION: The flights & layovers were long, uncomfortable, uneventful and YUCK! If you feel like reading the Long Version, scroll down! Our welcoming committee at the airport were The Laxton Family (Mark, Shannon, Malaine, Sawyer, Makenna, Mavery & Sage), Tina & Brianna (my sister & niece) and our daughter Alex : ) With signs, gifts and hugs. We spent a long time hugging, laughing and talking. Everyone got to talk with and finally see Zander and he gave a bit of personality waving hi, blowing kisses, and saying bye-bye.
LONG VERSION: Our first stop was the HK airport. It was pretty uneventful, Zander didn't sleep much which I guess was a good thing since our flight from HK to Seoul would only be 3 1/2 hours. En route to Seoul he was very antsy on the plane, but did stay awake.
After arriving in Seoul we had a 6 hour layover and if you've ever been an airport with very little to occupy yourself, this was the airport ; ) but as you can imagine we managed. Richie & Carmen pretty well slept the entire time on the benches with Zander staying awake most of the time busy as always.
The 14 hour flight from Seoul to Chicago was next. Zander slept the first 6 hours in one of the bulkhead bassinets, but that doesn't leave much room for legs or maneuvering. Tim and I got a bit of sleep. Richie and Carmen were zonked yet again. The next hours were agonizing for Tim mainly because Zander doesn't rest. He was antsy, hungry, bored, sometimes tired. It was finally almost over and he fell asleep, but it was light out so Tim place his blanket over him and made him a sleep tent with only a little hand and foot sticking out. I didn't dare take pics because we did NOT want him back awake.
After arriving in Chicago, going through immigration and customs, we had over 2 hours and Zander was CRABBY! Richie and Carmen yet again fell asleep and stayed asleep, I don't know how they did it! After waking a bit we went to the Macaroni Grill (yes, in the airport, we weren't worried about cost at this point, only American food). Zander would eat the bread, some fruit, but NO lasagna, fettuccine Alfredo or meatballs. On the flights we were served 2 Korean meals, the last being very bad. Needless to say the flight through Korean Air going was wonderful, the flight home STUNK! I am not going to complain, just tell the facts. At take-off dirty water starting leaking from the bulkhead onto Richie & Tim. We then had 4 stewardesses and a pilot come back to try to control the leak. They then took a folded piece of material and duct taped it to the bulkhead. It held the rest of the flight. The stewardesses didn't really understand anything we said and really didn't care. We sat in the bulkhead for more room, but there was a curtain that they used to separate the 2 classes and it constantly tangled in my legs and past my seat down the aisle.
On the flight to Chicago there weren't many passengers so we were separated, which was good thing. We had too much family togetherness in the almost 3 weeks and 30+ hours of travel to last a LONG while. Zander again fell asleep and we were dreading how he would be once we got off and had to get our luggage, etc. But he did amazing. We headed to get our luggage and there was our welcoming committee.
The Laxton Family (Mark, Shannon, Malaine, Sawyer, Makenna, Mavery & Sage), Tina & Brianna (my sister & niece) and our daughter Alex : ) With signs, gifts and hugs. We spent a long time hugging, laughing and talking. Everyone got to talk with and finally see Zander and he gave a bit of personality waving hi, blowing kisses, and saying bye-bye.
We got our luggage and had to split up to go home because we couldn't fit all of us AND our luggage. Zander was getting his first ride in a car seat and he did amazing. He was pretty zoned out the whole LONG car ride home, since Alex drives like her daddy and forgot our exit 2 times!
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