It was great to get back home and see everyone. The Finnair flight from Helsinki to London went smoothly. Heathrow was busy as always and it was almost strange to hear so many people speaking English. I was unfortunate with the seat allocation on the BA flight from London to Singapore in that it was the last row of three seats in a row as the plane narrows towards the back. It was too narrow for both me and the large chap next to me to sit properly so I had a u comfortable journey. For some reason the Fin air people were not able to check my bay through to Perth so I had to go through passport control and collect it in Singapore and then check in again. A waste of an hour. The flight WS much better and I slept through much of it.
My lovely sister Julia met me at the airport and took me to her house for the rest of the night. I slept very soundly until after 8AM. Mum and Dad had come to take me down to Eaton. I drove so as to save Dad having to do so. I thought I might slip up and drive on the right but seemed to click back into proper driving straight away.
We had lunch at the local tavern and then collected the boys from school. They were pretty excited to see the three of us. Mum and Dad set off for home not long after we got home.
I spent much of the next day searching then internet for accommodation in Saint Petersburg, train tickets from Moscow and on to Helsinki and things to do. Late the next Ros and I pulled out the boys passports. Out of curiosity I took a look at their visa stickers and was alarmed to realise that their visas ran out on the 3rd giving us just three days in Russia. I had only asked for the time I thought we would be there in the applications but that was before I decided to move this part of the trip back by a week. I could have asked for a whole month. So then it was change the bookings and think again.
Ros did a great job of washing all of the clothes I'd been inhabiting for the drive across Russia as well as almost everything the boys own. So Friday night the boys and I packed their bags and I packed mine on Saturday morning. I also spent quite a while sending some photographs to friends from the first leg and packing. Then it was hurry back to the airport.
Mum and Dad had come to see us off but that didn't work out as well as it should because the cue for checking took forever. Eventually though we got through and enjoyed a muffin and a cuppa before we set off through the gate. I don't think it has really dawned on the boys how long it will be before they see their mum again.
The Thai flight to Bangkok was good. The seats, the food and the service were all of a good standard. We all spent most of the time watching videos or playing games. Both Timothy and Michael enjoyed the colouring in game. I found it hard to watch anything with Michael constantly interrupting so I set my screen to watch the same film he was.
The airport in Bangkok looks quite new and it certainly works well. We had no delay at passport control and quickly found our way to the meeting point for the shuttle bus to the Floral Shire hotel. This is a little budget hotel but is comfortable enough.
Time to head back to the airport.
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