Col, Ren, Charli, Kobe and Ashton on holidays!

HONG KONG Harbour Grand Kowloon

Our Flight was scheduled to take off at 12:05am. Considering the normal bedtime for the kids was 8pm, this was always going to be interested.

Everyone did their normal Thursday duties. Charli had school, I worked, and Renee stayed home with Kobe and Ashton. We left for the airport around 6:30pm and stopped for tea on the way at McDonalds in North Geelong. Shortly after leaving tea Ashton fell asleep. That got him close to an hours sleep by the time we arrived at the airport. We parked in Long Term parking and caught the shuttle to the terminal.

We arrived to checkin our bags at about 9pm. Did that and then passed through to immigration. By this point the kids were all getting tired. Eventually we got to the terminal and Charli and Kobe played on their tablets. We bought some cheap tablets prior to the trip and while they used them a little beforehand, we waited until the night before leaving to put some of the games we knew they would enjoy playing. Minecraft and Lego Batman are definitely winners.

Checking In. Let the fun begin.

Everyone on the plane ready to go.

Dominos. All stacked up against each other

We got onto the plane and it left right on time. Very shortly after departure all 3 kids fell asleep. One thing i have learnt is if you are short on space with sleeping kids, just stack them like dominos. They all ended up sleeping about 5-6 hours. Way less than normal, but a decent amount on the plane.

We arrived in Kuala Lumpur around 6:30am, and had to catch our flight to Hong Kong at 9:15. We pretty much changed to the correct terminal and sat and waited. Eventually we got onto the plane.
This plane was much smaller. There was nowhere near as much space as the first flight, and the seat configuration was 3 seats, aisle, 3 seats. With the kids it meant we were sepeaated. After boarding before the plane even took off Kobe and Ashton were asleep. While this blog maybe meant as a diary of everything we are doing, i worry about it will become a blog about where Ashton fell asleep. Both slept for about 2 hours before waking. With such limited space for Ashton, lack of sleep, etc he was a touch grumpy. He couldn't sit on our lap facing us with lying on our stomach. There was no room, no room to walk, and he was running on shorter interrupted sleep. While it wasn't terrible, this 4 hour flight was much more difficult than the previous 8 hour one.

Riding the travelator in KL

More sleep on the flight to Hong Kong

Eventually we arrived in Hong Kong. All were glad to arrive. We got on the Airport Express train to Kowloon, and then caught the free hotel shuttle to Harbour Grand Kowloon, the accommodation we had for the first night. Originally our flight was to arrive Saturday night so we had arranged accommodation for that, but a scheduling change on Malaysian Airlines meant we arrived midday on Friday. We debated booking an extra night at the hotel we had already arrange for the next day, but instead decided to stay at a different hotel. One we had looked on staying but wasn't really feasible for the whole trip.

Riding the Airport Express train to Kowloon

We arrived and were blown away by the hotel. We had booked 2 interconnecting rooms so we could all get a good nights sleep. First thing we did when we arrive was go for a swim. It was a great way to relax after the long day so far. I can't say i have ever swam with such a good view. After the swim we were all a bit peckish for tea.

View from the 28th floor
Just your normal everyday swim

We wandered down the street and ended up finding at the request of the kids Pizza Hut. Nothing fancy, but a good way to ensure the kids stay happy and eat something. After wards it was back home to the hotel and to sleep. All went off to sleep easily not surprisingly. Great having 2 separate rooms with Charli and Kobe in separate beds in 1 room, and Renee, Ashton and I in the other. It certainly won't be like this everywhere.