It might not seem like a long time to get from Sydney, Australia, to Vancouver, Canada, only about 14 hours. But when you're travelling with a 4-year-old, things suddenly seem to take a lot longer; you get interrupted 50 times during the movie you wanted to watch or the book you'd planned on reading; and even though you were thoroughly prepared with a plethora of entertaining activities at the ready, the thing that entertained the longest was the straw that came with the child's meal at lunch time!
And then there's the ordeal of trying to stay awake until a reasonable time in the evening of the new time zone to avoid prolonging the inevitable jetlag. Not easy when you're an adult but even more difficult when you're an adult trying to keep yourself and a 4-year-old awake!
And then there's the ordeal of trying to stay awake until a reasonable time in the evening of the new time zone to avoid prolonging the inevitable jetlag. Not easy when you're an adult but even more difficult when you're an adult trying to keep yourself and a 4-year-old awake!
travelling with a 4-year-old
I thought I was nice and prepared. I'd packed a whole range of different things like puzzles, games, stickers and colouring in stuff for Austin to play with during the flight. I also knew he'd watch TV for a little while and the new games that Daddy put on the iPad would last some time. I thought we'd have some nice pockets of time to ourselves so we could read or catch a movie. I didn't expect to get through the whole book or movie but I didn't quite expect the trip to be so tiring. I'm glad I had all the things I'd prepared but even with all that, one of us was still constantly talking to Austin or playing with him or telling him to stop kicking the chair in front accidentally. We swapped seats a few times and managed to get a bit of rest. I can't begin to imagine how people travel by themselves with one or more children on a long haul flight!
Staying awake
So it's a 13.5 hour flight which leaves Sydney in mid-morning and arrives in Vancouver in the early morning of the same day. Yes, you actually fly backwards in time! Or really just across the dateline so time gets turned back (why do I have Tina Turner in my head here?). So part of the flight is in darkness which is perfect for getting to sleep. But with a 4-year-old? Not so. Austin stayed awake for the whole flight until about 1.5 hours out of Vancouver and then woke up during the descent when he proceeded to scream like a crazy boy and refused to suck on the lollipop I'd dutifully packed for takeoff and landing. He was the screaming child every passenger dreads. And we were the parents trying to pacify the screaming child that everyone dreads!
After that horrible ordeal, we knew we were going to have a battle on our hands keeping ourselves and Austin awake for the rest of the day after arriving at 7.30am. We had to wait for nearly 2 hours in immigration to have our work permits processed where we at least had seats but which didn't help much because they made me want to fall asleep!
After checking in to our hotel we walked around, had some lunch, walked around some more and had an ice cream. This all took us until 3pm at which time I just wanted to lie down and go to sleep! I'm not used to being up for 36 hours straight anymore! We managed to get to dinner time (very early!) and kept Austin awake through dinner, but it was tough! I can't imagine how much more tired a little boy was feeling because I've never felt so tired and sleepy, to the point where I think I was closing my eyes while we were walking back to the hotel! Luckily it was a pedestrian only walk so not much risk of anything bad happening other than me falling down dead asleep on the pavement!
As expected, we all slept the sleep of the dead for 14 hours and felt completely refreshed in the morning. Only to feel sleep pulling again at around lunchtime! Geez I hate jetlag!
After that horrible ordeal, we knew we were going to have a battle on our hands keeping ourselves and Austin awake for the rest of the day after arriving at 7.30am. We had to wait for nearly 2 hours in immigration to have our work permits processed where we at least had seats but which didn't help much because they made me want to fall asleep!
After checking in to our hotel we walked around, had some lunch, walked around some more and had an ice cream. This all took us until 3pm at which time I just wanted to lie down and go to sleep! I'm not used to being up for 36 hours straight anymore! We managed to get to dinner time (very early!) and kept Austin awake through dinner, but it was tough! I can't imagine how much more tired a little boy was feeling because I've never felt so tired and sleepy, to the point where I think I was closing my eyes while we were walking back to the hotel! Luckily it was a pedestrian only walk so not much risk of anything bad happening other than me falling down dead asleep on the pavement!
As expected, we all slept the sleep of the dead for 14 hours and felt completely refreshed in the morning. Only to feel sleep pulling again at around lunchtime! Geez I hate jetlag!
Tell me your jetlag story. Have you ever travelled overseas with a young child? Were you the cringing passenger or the poor parent? Leave your comments below!