Our trip to Sydney went well. Both kids were excited to be on the plane and travelled great. When we entered Sydney Airport my sister Jo and niece Sophie were there to greet us. They had flown from Adelaide that day to spend the night with us. It was wonderful to see them.
Phil was waiting at the hotel for us and had already sorted out yet another problem (the hotel was only booked for 2 people and of course there are 4 of us) in a long line of many with this move. Our flights had still not been confirmed at this point and we were to fly tomorrow and we still had no accommodation when we got to Johannesburg. Luckily, later that night Phil checked his e-mails again and flights had been confirmed and accommodation sorted.
With our bags bulging we headed to the airport the next morning. Jo and Sophie had breakfast with us before heading to catch their own plane. By this point I was actually getting excited to go and thankfully not too many tears were shed.
Our flight to Jo’burg went as good as can be expected. It was a 14 hour flight and luckily we had managed to get ourselves upgraded to business class. Looking back, I don’t know how we would have coped going ‘cattle’ class. The kids had a great sleep (thanks Dr W) and both Phil and myself managed a doze. Laura kept me active whilst awake, while Tom sat beautifully watching movies not making a peep. It was pouring as we landed, but certainly not cold.
Our hotel in Jo’burg was lovely, however only one bed again for the 4 of us. So they pulled out the sofa bed and we again shared with the kids. We were up most of the night and the kids wanted to play at 1am, with a little help, they went back to sleep and woke at 6am. We spent our day wondering around The Emperors Palace Hotel. Found a play centre for the kids and then to bed for a lunchtime kip. Dinner and then more sleep.
It was an early start the next morning, but check-in went smoothly and then we were on our way to Zambia. Flight number 3 was no problems, about 2 hours to Ndola. Then a mad rush at customs in a tin shed to quickly board our next flight to Solwezi. Flight number 4 was only 45 mins in a little 19 seater. A bit noisy and by this time Laura was getting tired. We were all hot and sweaty.
On arriving in Solwezi we were met by a Representative who was to drive us the last 65kms. The shock started to set in at this point. We were all so tired and hot and the poor kids looked exhausted. Tom asked if he could have a sleep, poor love. They both crashed within minutes. Goodness knows how as the road was littered with pot holes and speed bumps. It really started to hit me that we were not on holiday, this was our new home.
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