The biggest drawback to our big international trips is the return. Besides the typical "the vacation is over" blues most people experience, the long series of flights home is tiring and at least so far, has always had us home in the morning – with an entire day of staying awake in front of us. So today after landing almost 25 minutes early at 6:05 am, we get to live in a tired haze. After all, no one sleeps well on the plane – and this time the kids really didn't sleep as much as we had hoped.
However, for a 2.5 and 4.5 year-old, they did pretty great on the series of late and long flights with only a few whiny or challenging moments. This time, we had more bodily function-related issues than usual.
A nice older Thai lady was happy to share some of her packaged cookies with Ailyn – which didn't agree with her and said cookies came back up at the Singapore airport. Ailyn handled it as gracefully as any vomiting person could and became happy and playful once it was over and she changed into her backup outfit. And of course there's the irony that we started and ended the trip with this exact set of circumstances.
Both kids truly evacuated their bowels at our stop in Seoul. However, doing it where there were nice, clean family restrooms made it much more manageable than we experienced at other times and places on this and previous trips (the Sennen "padang diaper" incident of late 2015 in Bali goes down as the single most disgusting moment of any of our trips).
And then 35 minutes before touchdown at LAX, Sennen revealed that he was sitting in a leaking nighttime pull-up. He slept on the plane for a portion of the flight, so it made sense he would need to change out of it – but unfortunately, it was a lot and soaked through his pants. So with real restrooms seemingly within reach, we did a hasty, uncomfortable change and clean-up in the lavatory. But that's old hat for us.
In their most tired moments between Seoul and Los Angeles, Sennen turned into a high-speed question-asking machine and Ailyn would ask to watch a movie or TV show only to want another 30 seconds later followed by insisting on operating the entertainment system herself which only resulted in her repeatedly turning on and off her screen and the reading lights. When I became exasperated, she decided to throw herself down on me and rest.
When it was all over, we were all sad to say goodbye to Arielle, happy to see Jesper, our au pair, and the kids remained insistent that they shouldn't have left Thailand (Ailyn) or should return tomorrow (Sennen). But after walking into their beloved playroom at home, talk of the 24-hour return dwindled as the kids reconnected with their toys.
While Jesper watched the kids, Emily and I went upstairs to unpack, shower, put ourselves back together, etc – and heard loud, joyous singing filling the house. Sennen had his beloved guitar again and it was like having a hand put back on his arm – he was finally complete. Our tired, cranky boy gave way to a child who had music to release from the core of his being.
Every trip has a theme or feeling you're left with at the end. This one was clearly that we could have kept going and that there was unfinished business left behind. We clearly have ideas about what more we want to do in Bangkok and the vast array of beautiful Thai islands we have yet to touch. When we talk about what we did, we have only positive things to say and numerous outstanding activities and days such as feeding the elephants, hiring a private boat to take us to the islands near Ko Chang for the day and dance parties on the beach. And although our kids rarely use any Thai phrases with Thai people, Sennen happily explained some of his language learning to Jesper and Ailyn happily shows off her Wais and "Sawasdee Kaa" in closed company.
Something worked and we all still seem to have a taste for it.
Now we very purposely have three days to settle back into our lives before things pick up. Sennen goes back to school Monday and Ailyn has her first day of preschool (Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday schedule) this Tuesday. We plan to send them with their new Thai tiffin lunch boxes. So there's much to look forward to here.
We'll continue to reminisce and plan the next adventure – undoubtedly using some Thai phrases as our experiences continue to shape the culture and outlook of our family. So next time the kids get on my nerves, don't be surprised if you hear me say, "Cha Yen Yen!" (be cool like iced tea) or them say, "Sabai Sabai, Dad" (Let's be chilled out).
