The Trip down

The view from the family room
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The trip to the airport was on snowy roads so we left at 6 am. We arrived at the airport at 9 am. This was 3 hrs before our departure, but we needed every minute of it to organize tickets, boarding passes, and check in luggage. After shifting a few ounces of weight around between the suitcases, they were ok to go through. The flight left on time, 12:00, the only hickup was that Ellis had the flue. The kids enjoyed the first flight seeing it was the first for 4 of them. We arrived in LA 4 hrs later. We had a 6 hr layover in LA which we needed because everything there took a long time, especially with 6 kids. LA is the worst airport I've ever visited. We left for Sydney at 10:30 pm, 17.5 hrs from when we left home. Ahead lay a 14 hr flight. The kids had many short naps on this flight but Ellis and I did'nt get much sleep. We were served 3 meals in that time. In Sydney, we had 1 hr layover before flying again to Melbourne a 1 hr flight. In Melbourne we went through customs without any hassles and then spent a few hrs with Gerben (Ellis' brother) and his wife Caroline. This was the first time any of us had met Caroline so that was special. 6 hrs later we were again on the plane for our last leg to Launceston. 42 hr after we left home, we arrived at our destination. There we were met by many family members, many whom we had never met before. ^