Day 237 (February 14): Jet Lag + Murphy's Law = F this!
This one is on me. One of my trip planning decisions was to avoid New Zealand during the school holidays. As a result, we went to Australia first and as far west as Perth before cutting back to New Zealand, five hours east of Perth and many hours in the air. The good news is that we really never saw a crowd in New Zealand. So much so that we harbor some doubt that there are enough people there, including tourists, to ever really make a crowd. The bad news is, well, today.
The nonstop flight from Auckland to Singapore is nearly 11 hours. Ours arrived thirty minutes early. Still, that's five hours longer than the flight from Perth to Singapore. It's also five hours of jet lag to address.
We landed at about 8:00 and found that customs was so empty that they split the six of us into two lines to speed it up (and give a second agent something to do). We saw no more than ten others in baggage claim, although there were many more in the connections line. Singapore has seemed decidedly empty!
Anyway, the kids were asleep before 10. Cate was not only in her clothes but also in her sweatshirt. Naturally, they started waking up around 4 and we were all awake by 6. Our hotel breakfast opened at 7 and we were there not long after.
We went for a walk in the morning to get our bearings in Singapore. When we got back to our hotel, the receptionist scanned our foreheads. This is part of the Covid-19 routine here but I'm worried that the kids are going to think its inherent in Asian culture to greet somebody like this. Like that scene in Spies Like Us after Dan Akroyd and Chevy Chase parachute in behind enemy lines to save the world. Sorry, nevermind.
We compensated for the walk by spending an hour in the hotel pool while Elise found a nearby grocery store for some basics. It was a perfect temperature and a perfect emptiness but afterwards I noticed that the chorline level made Cate's hair nearly solid. The twins are already pretty blonde but a week of this and they'll be platinum!
We ate lunch in an Italian joint just outside our hotel lobby. They didn't scan our temperature on the way in but our concierge did when we returned. We attempted to have nap/rest time and mostly failed, which surprised me since the kids were becoming delirious at lunch. By 4 we realized we had to get out. We walked to a library. We prepped the kids for enduring the weather (app said "90 feels like 101") and they did pretty well on the one mile. But then it took almost as long to find the library within the huge mall as it took to walk there. We got our foreheads scanned again, submitted tons of contact information and then discovered that the library had no kids' books. Zero.
We went from the library on the third floor of the mall to the seventh floor and then the eighth before we settled on a Thai restaurant. In the course of the meal, which 3 of 4 kids barely ate, the server managed to knock Henry's water glass into his lap, soaking him. We had just recovered from that when Henry knocked over a mango milkshake, also into his lap.
It's not our first Murphy's Law Day and it surely won't be the last. I think today we found it confusing that the kids don't recognize jet lag. Cate didn't even recognize the terms. They were too tired to even understand we were trying to take care of them.
On the other hand, we saw enough to discover how amazingly green Singapore seems to be. There are trees everywhere, including on the buildings. Including on the walls and roofs of buildings many, many stories in the air. I even nerded out and watched a National Geographic episode on the culture of innovation here (of course, it started with transportation).
Anyway, it's 8:00 as I write this and I'm pretty sure they're all asleep. Hopefully they'll sleep 10 hours and we'll have a fresh start tomorrow!
The nonstop flight from Auckland to Singapore is nearly 11 hours. Ours arrived thirty minutes early. Still, that's five hours longer than the flight from Perth to Singapore. It's also five hours of jet lag to address.
We landed at about 8:00 and found that customs was so empty that they split the six of us into two lines to speed it up (and give a second agent something to do). We saw no more than ten others in baggage claim, although there were many more in the connections line. Singapore has seemed decidedly empty!
Anyway, the kids were asleep before 10. Cate was not only in her clothes but also in her sweatshirt. Naturally, they started waking up around 4 and we were all awake by 6. Our hotel breakfast opened at 7 and we were there not long after.
We went for a walk in the morning to get our bearings in Singapore. When we got back to our hotel, the receptionist scanned our foreheads. This is part of the Covid-19 routine here but I'm worried that the kids are going to think its inherent in Asian culture to greet somebody like this. Like that scene in Spies Like Us after Dan Akroyd and Chevy Chase parachute in behind enemy lines to save the world. Sorry, nevermind.
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| Alkaff Bridge near our hotel in Robertson Quay |
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| Clarke Quay, one of the trendiest restaurant quarters, was empty at 9:30am |
We compensated for the walk by spending an hour in the hotel pool while Elise found a nearby grocery store for some basics. It was a perfect temperature and a perfect emptiness but afterwards I noticed that the chorline level made Cate's hair nearly solid. The twins are already pretty blonde but a week of this and they'll be platinum!
We ate lunch in an Italian joint just outside our hotel lobby. They didn't scan our temperature on the way in but our concierge did when we returned. We attempted to have nap/rest time and mostly failed, which surprised me since the kids were becoming delirious at lunch. By 4 we realized we had to get out. We walked to a library. We prepped the kids for enduring the weather (app said "90 feels like 101") and they did pretty well on the one mile. But then it took almost as long to find the library within the huge mall as it took to walk there. We got our foreheads scanned again, submitted tons of contact information and then discovered that the library had no kids' books. Zero.
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| Who needs Dewey when you can have MOO!? |
We went from the library on the third floor of the mall to the seventh floor and then the eighth before we settled on a Thai restaurant. In the course of the meal, which 3 of 4 kids barely ate, the server managed to knock Henry's water glass into his lap, soaking him. We had just recovered from that when Henry knocked over a mango milkshake, also into his lap.
It's not our first Murphy's Law Day and it surely won't be the last. I think today we found it confusing that the kids don't recognize jet lag. Cate didn't even recognize the terms. They were too tired to even understand we were trying to take care of them.
On the other hand, we saw enough to discover how amazingly green Singapore seems to be. There are trees everywhere, including on the buildings. Including on the walls and roofs of buildings many, many stories in the air. I even nerded out and watched a National Geographic episode on the culture of innovation here (of course, it started with transportation).
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| Green green, Singapore |
Anyway, it's 8:00 as I write this and I'm pretty sure they're all asleep. Hopefully they'll sleep 10 hours and we'll have a fresh start tomorrow!
May your dreams come true!
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