Day 173 (December 12): Follow These Easy Steps To Get Really Jet Lagged

This post is probably not interesting to anybody except my future self. Feel free to skip this one if you visit this site to see pictures of our cute kids. I don't mind.

Tuesday, December 10, 2019 (Santiago, Chile).

Wake up with alarm.
Elise's back hurts. A lot.
Finish packing, showers, etc.
Breakfast at excellent hotel buffet.
Discover flight is two hours delay.
Reschedule airport shuttle.
Kids watch more TV.
Easy shuttle to airport.
Easy time checking bags, going through customs, etc. except that Lily's visa is invalid on account of a typo in her passport number that I didn't catch. The application fee is mysteriously waived so, you know, whatever. The kids are getting pretty good at this. Even have time to change remaining Argentine pesos into Chilean pesos to spend on souvenirs.
Fail to mail postcards from Chile because 'open" post office in the airport is unstaffed (as warned).
Eat lunch at Ruby Tuesday in Santiago Airport because, well, why not. Spend Chilean pesos on snack foods for flight.
Spend remaining time in nearly-vacant terminal.
Board enormous 747, sitting in rows 62 and 63. Kids immediately on tablets.
Lunch served once at altitude, kids mostly don't eat.

When and where unknown

We gave the kids melatonin with the first meal. Cate got sleepy quickly and slept for at least an hour. Henry was grumpy but eventually gave up his tablet and eventually slept but not without a fight. Ali slept a few hours but later denied it. I don't think Lily slept. I slept a bit. Elise didn't. But her back did hurt a lot, so there's that!
There was some initial bickering between Henry and Cate but I put myself in the middle seat (yay!) and solved that quickly.
Nobody got sick, nobody spilled anything, we had minor problems with devices running out of battery but with very little consequence.
At some point there was a second meal ("dinner" according to the card) and, again, the kids basically didn't eat. But having food on the trays did result in things being much more cramped and me worrying about spills. So that was awesome.
It's pretty crazy that there's a point when you've flown for 7 hours and that's only halfway.
I amused myself taking pictures of the flight path screen on one hour intervals. I think it's cool that it shows the relative speed of the plane and daylight hours.

I made a cute page with a box for each hour of flying to go with a sheet of stickers bought with our precious Chilean pesos.

Wednesday, December 11, 2019 (Sydney, Australia)

Because of the delay, we landed at about 7:15pm. I still don't know what time that would be in Santiago and I don't care. We were tired, we were dry, we were snapping at each other.
In truth, we got through customs and everything quite smoothly. We got our luggage quickly, avoided the orifice inspection even though we declared our medicines and recent visit to natural areas.
We had a hotel suite so close to baggage claim that we brought the luggage carts across the street and into our room.
The worst part was the delay in getting a rollaway bed that enabled us to give each child their own bed. So most of us were asleep around 9pm.
We packed so precisely that we only had to open one small suitcase during our overnight.

Thursday, December 12, 2019 (Sydney, Australia)

We didn't need our 6:30am alarm because we were all awake around 4:30.
Our "plane spotter" room package came with a cheap pair of binoculars so the kids sat in the window watching the sparse early morning arrivals and departures. On the otherhand, the Airbus A380 jumbo is fun to look at up close.
Easy breakfast buffet and then off to the airport.
Whoops, the domestic departures aren't just across the street.
Whoops, the regular (and free) shuttle bus from outside the terminal across the street from our hotel will take too long because of surface congestion.
Whoops, it's hard to navigate a bunch of tired people to the airport train.
Whoops, I paid for 10 tickets instead of 6 because of a minor altercation with the vending machine.
A little dicey navigating the ticketing and security area for Virgin Australia but soon we're through with time to spare.
Around 10am we're on a plane bound for tropical Hamilton Island.
Around 12:30pm we land on a single-strip runway and emerge into the brightest sunshine, heat and humidity (but not the horrible wildfire smoke enveloping Sydney).
There's a man holding a sign with our name. The hotel package is so inclusive that a porter will get our bags and they'll be waiting in our room. Hotel check in is in a lounge with cold drinks for all six of us. We eat a simple lunch by the pool (noodles! order in English!) and get to go straight to our room, which is epic and wonderful.
It's nap time, which takes a bit to get started and quite a bit more than a bit to end. Starting at 4, I eventually rouse the other 5. We head to the pool, which Ali rejects in favor of sleeping under a towel. She really doesn't want to be awake.
Eventually back in the room, with Ali already asleep, we get most of the kids rinsed off and in front of a movie. Elise and I drive our rented golf cart ("buggy") to get takeout pizza and a few things from the grocery store.
The kids are all sound asleep by 7. I think I was asleep by 8. Elise kept herself up until almost 10 watching a movie.

Friday, December 13, 2019 (Hamilton Island, Australia)

I wake to the sound of bickering. Cate is at our bedside. Ali and Henry are the culprits, having woken up at 3am. Cate goes back to sleep. Lily grumbles and rolls over.
Spongebob Square Pants is on the TV so Henry and Ali settle in to watch this. I fail to go back to sleep.
By 4, Lily and Cate are also awake and I've started a movie that keeps their attention and suppresses their natural instinct to bicker, especially when tired.
I tackle some continuing education with online videos on a patio with a 180 degree view of the sunrise, which is delightful.
Elise is up around 5.
We're in the restaurant soon after it opens at 6.

I'll pick up the rest of the story in the post I'm sure I'll write about Hamilton Island because this place is beautiful. It's worth pondering, because at press time I don't know the answer, how long it will take until we feel adjusted. It's six hours later and a day earlier on the west coast of the United States. Somehow this means it's easy to chat with our moms. Very strange.

Here are some pictures.