'D' Day

Sunday 4th May 2014

In this case the D stands for departure.  After many years of talking and dreaming we finally took the plunge last year and booked tickets for an 8 week family trip to Europe and today is the day that the dream has become a reality.  Six (Mum, Dad, Mr 14, Mr 11 and Misses 9 and 7) are about to go adventuring! The adventure includes going to LA Disneyland, London, touring in Ireland and England, Paris, St-Remy en Provence, Nice, Venice, Rome and Hong Kong.

Ready to leave!

To say that the whole family is excited is an understatement.  To say that we are all nervous in varying degrees about this adventure is entirely accurate!  To help allay my own anxieties about heading off around the world with four children in tow I have been in high level research mode since October last year. We have been busily reading travel books, spending hours on the internet and living in advance the 8 weeks of adventure that we are about to embark upon. 

Thus far my top tips for planning are family trip are to use Trip Advisor.  The travel forums have been incredibly helpful with great tips and recommendations for all the places that we are travelling to.  I have also used Trip Advisor to book some of our accommodation.  Another great site for booking self catering accommodation is Home Away. We have used this to book our apartments in London and Paris. One of the best sources of information  has been talking to friends who have been on similar adventures with their children.  My Playcentre friends S and K were both very inspiring and gave me really helpful hints.  K forwarded me a great email from one of her friends who travels with four children  on a budget.  Although I don't think we will be boiling eggs in hotel kettles or making toasted sandwiches with an iron, other tips such as how to keep everyone and everything together in airports have already proven useful.

RJ hanging out in the Koru Lounge before departure

We set off from home to the airport at 4.30pm knowing that the house and guinea pigs are being left in good hands.  Our friends F and S and their two girls will be house and guinea pig sitting while we are gone.  Our beloved R dog has gone for a holiday with D from the Foundation for the Blind - although we have bought a stuffed toy version named RJ along to take the real dogs place.

The airport formalities and flights on Air NZ all went smoothly.  The kids all watched lots of movies and got minimal sleep which did result in the girls ending up feeling rather unwell by the time we arrived in LA.  Thank goodness for sets of spare clothes packed in the carry on bags!  No issues with getting through immigration and then out and onto the transfer bus to our hotel, the Desert Palms at Anaheim. The bonus of this hotel is that it has family suites which fit us all - albeit at a bit of a pinch! It also includes breakfast which with a couple of hungry boys is a major bonus!

After we settled into the hotel we went for a quick walk around the neighbourhood we visited a 7-11 to stock up on water and snacks.  Even little things like this are an exciting new experience for the kids as they are seeing first hand lots of the things they have read about or have seen on American TV programmes.  Had dinner at Denny's - another new experience for the kids and an opportunity for  a conversation about tipping and employment laws and conditions.  Once we got back to the hotel it was time for bed.  Apart from everyone waking up between 3 and 4am for a while we all had a good night's sleep - until 9am!  It certainly has been a full on first day of the adventure.