Swiss Family Stockwell: February 2006

That's what makes me a little queasy when we fly multy time zones. The whole flight west was in daylight. Anyhoo, Walter saw us off in Zurich on Tuesday last. When we checked in we found out that the flight was unbelievably empty. Since I've been travelling with children, I've always tried to make it easier for us with bags. I thought I'd topped my best this time: 1 month abroad- stuff for me and 2 (dirty) boys- carry on for me and 2 (must be entertained) boys. This came to 1 quite large case and 1 carry on... and maybe my purse with a laptop in it. The (not enough to do) woman behind the counter told us we'd have to pay and excess baggage fee for the case as it was too heavy, and check the carry on because it was too *heavy* also. I think my expression made her reconsider, and she said we could stuff some of the carry on into a plastic bag if I could fid one! I pretended to do that and then put everything back. No-one asked anyone that I could see about carry on 'weight' when we boarded.... Do Iook like I invite officiousness from people? The excess baggage came out to CHF 40! I plan to take the maximum number of bags on the way back ,with nearly the max. weight each (sorry Walter)!

We got a whole row to ourselves, and settled in for the 12 hours. Swiss air must have some money to spend. We were on one of their new A340s, complete with personal entertainment center for each seat, special reclining seats in coach, wider seats in coach and super friendly hostybirds. 2 of the 4 video screens weren't working in our row though... esp after Toby was through with them. The boys should have been asleep 6 hours into it, but they weren't in the mood ofcourse. Then with 4 or 5 hours to go Allie threw up all over himself and his seat. Lucky for me (with no spare cothes of my own) he missed me. It turned out to be some kind of stomach bug as he kept it up every half hour until we landed, and he had a temp. :( Our section cleared right out then. Nobody seemed too judgemental, though. Better clientele than United. Since I was travelling alone with the boys, I thought I should get some help at the airport and asked the head hosty. She said she would arrange it and told me to wait until everyone had disembarked. We duely did, and there was a woman waiting there from the airline, talking to a Swiss family. There was also a wheelchair that was whisked away before I could get it. The woman marched off with this family (man, woman, 2 kids in strollers- what was their problem???) and we traipsed behind. Allie really needed to be carried. I eventually shouted at her to stop and had a go at her for not helping us. She got us to the front of the line in customs and passport control, and she helped with the bags. Not so bad after all. The best part was seeing Helen (Walter's mum) waiting for us :)

Since we arrived, we've all had the stomach bug and colds. Is it just me, or is it a bad year for bugs? We've watched a lot of TV in the middle of the night and generally hung out with family. The boys are in their element. They're really enjoying the half naked trips outside. It's a rare treat these days. There's not much planned, just grandparent, aunt, uncle and cousin time :)

Cousins Drew and Anna take a swing with Allie