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Just wanted to let you know that Alia and Jasmin are also blogging on their pages.  So if you want to get their perspectives follow these links for Alia and Jasmin.

Day 1: Timelords

We set off on our voyage Saturday evening, with the intensions of arriving in Sydney, Australia, early Monday morning after flying for only 14 hours, followed by a connecting flight to our first destination, Perth, Australia, by lunch time the same day.  Thus, physically traveling for 22 hours, but traveling through time more than a day and completely skipping a whole day (Sorry to our Canadian friends – our time travel prevented us from celebrating Canada Day).

Keeping with the theme of “2”s (from the Home page); we had a 2 hour wait on the tarmac at LAX because a cargo handle of the plane fell off into the hands of one of  the ground crew after loading the luggage.  After much deliberation and consultation, it was determined that the reattachment of handle was necessary before our departure.  Once this was completed, approval from Sydney, Australia, was required.  Finally, we were permitted to depart. 

The 2 hour delay was exactly the time required for our originally scheduled stopover, so we landed in Sydney just as our flight to Perth was leaving.  Fortunately, the airline had it all under control and swiftly transferred us to the next available flight, leaving 2 (of course!) hours later.  The majority of the time was spent processing through Australian customs, collecting our luggage, rechecking our luggage, and transferring, by bus, from the international airport to the domestic airport.  We only had a limited glimpse at Sydney, but we promise to explore it in more detail, as the final destination of our trip.

When we arrived in Perth, we were greeted by Dave’s Aunt and Uncle, Jamilee & Ken.  Once at their home, the kids were excited to run around in the park across the street; finally free from the confines of an airplane.  I must say, they endured their confinement with superior fortitude (the personal movie selection never hurts).

For the grand finale, we had a family introduction/reunion and wonderful dinner with Dave’s 2 cousins, Fouad & Charlie, and their families.  It was so nice to meet everyone and reconnect with some.  The kids were thrilled to meet relatives their age and quickly bonded over their electronics.

Regrettably, it was a short evening as we all started suffering the effects of the jet lag.  Believe it or not, the boys were so tired, they chose to go to bed rather than wait a little longer to have cake for dessert. 

As we climbed into bed, Dave & I calculated that it had been 45 hours since we had been in a horizontal position.  That computation was about it for our mental capacity and we quickly dropped off to sleep.