Luka's long way home Part I: Darwin-Singapore

Susan decorating Luka's final cake  - "Luka 'heart' SCN"

Chris literally closing the gate on
our stay in Darwin 

Traveling from Darwin to Cape Town is not an easy feat on a good day unless you are a swanky businessman with nothing but carry-on, flying first-class.  Traveling there with a brand new infant that you have never even been to the supermarket with, for an extended maternity leave, is to say the least, not for the faint-of-heart.

Pre-departure shower with
daddy

As such we have tried our best to be as prepared as absolutely possible.  We have amassed most of what we thought we needed before this whole adventure happened through friends kind enough to carry baby car seats, academic books, and other necessities back and forth from Darwin to Dili (and back).  We carefully checked all luggage allowances and pre-purchased excess luggage to Singapore.  Chris even came to the airport yesterday to carefully weigh all our luggage to assist in the packing strategy.

Hanging out with dad

We called the nursery this morning to confirm when the doctor would be able to see Luka for his final check-out and weigh-in, then showered all three and kept Luka in one of the air conditioned rooms in the warm Darwin afternoon while we finalized the last packing.

Luka's hand luggage, changing pad, individually packed
outfits and enough blankets and burp cloths for a
family of Eskimos. 

So how exactly does one pack for a brand-new infant traveling for 36-hours across three continents to get home?  No bloody idea.  So just to be safe, I am pretty sure we packed enough nappies and changes of clothes for all the babies flying on Emirates today.  And because I am the organizing maniac that I am, and a general sucker for ziplocks, just to be safe, I ziplocked each of his clean outfits with a clean nappy and a nappy trash baggy for 'easy' use on the flight.  This way (the theory goes) all we need to do is grab the handy travel changing pad that contains his bum cream and wet wipes, and one of the pre-packed ziplocks when we go on one of the many changing runs we anticipate during the long voyage home.

And finally we're on our way.

Something I will probably never get used to, completing
departure (and other) forms for both my boys', with
the same date of birth!