Friday 11 December

The flight from Hong Kong to Rome unfortunately gave me the opportunity to revisit an aspect of our US flights. Zac developed a temperature and spent some of the trip throwing up 😕 Unlike my olden days, the airline doesn’t put sick bags in the seat pockets anymore, so Zac and I had to trek the aisle four times to replace his sick bag.

I was SO organised before we left, collecting medicines for a variety of ailments, accompanied by a doctor’s letter. I have Panadol, Nurofen, Zofran, stemetil, medicine for migraines, croup, an antibiotic etc….I’m ready for illness! Except for the fact it was all stored in the suitcases in the baggage compartment downstairs and Zac was sick upstairs!! Anyway, what’s a Jones holiday without someone being sick…

I had booked a shuttle from the airport to our accommodation in Roma, which was much appreciated when we emerged from baggage collection to see a man holding our name up and driving a Mercedes van! Alessandro took us to the centre of Rome where we met the man who was checking us in. I used booking.com (for the first time ever!) to find this accommodation. Unfortunately we were too early in the morning to be able to use the apartment as the previous tenant was still there, but Federico stored our luggage and said to meet back here at 10am. It was 7 degrees when we arrived, so everyone had the opportunity to try their big jackets and gloves and beanies! 

We decided to explore our immediate surrounds, walked 50m down the road, and discovered the Trevi fountain right in front of us!! We then found a little store that sold coffee and pastries and croissants, so enjoyed our second breakfast for the day. We walked a couple more blocks, bought some supplies at a local supermarket and returned to the room. 

  
The cleaners were still there, so we set out again and walked up to the Spanish steps (fenced off for renovation) and Piazza Di Spagna. We found another shop in our strolls that served spinach and cheese and other pastry varieties, so stopped in for lunch. 

We then returned to our apartment for a mandatory siesta, as Zac still had a high temperature and no one achieved a decent night’s sleep on the plane. Everyone was very sluggish waking up from that! The older three and Ross sourced some pizza for dinner (when in Rome…), and at 7pm we are now all ready to return to bed! 😴 

  
(Garden view from my bedroom)

Thursday 10 December

Today was better weather so we took our free shuttle bus to the harbour front and caught a Star Ferry at the Pier across to Hong Kong Island. We followed to the letter instructions we found online for how to get to Victoria Peak, so the Star ferry ride was followed by a public bus to the Lower Peak Tram station, and then a tram ride up to the Peak. There was still  a lot of fog but we were able to enjoy the views and a long scenic walk.

   
   
It differs from the Blue Mountains Scenic Railway due to extensive shopping and dining available up on the Peak. We chose a restaurant called Hong Kong Day for a late lunch, and everyone chose some local cuisine from the menu. This had varying degrees of success – Tim wasn’t a fan of his shredded pork with Singapore noodles, but I loved my fried rice with shrimp 😉

Speaking of food…Elle, please thank Jeff for the suggestions – we didn’t have enough time to see the Big Buddha (except on Google!), enjoyed the Peak, and didn’t do yum Cha for breakfast, because we had cereal in our room and well…for breakfast?!?!

We returned to our hotel to pack up via a Christmas display at the Hermitage Hotel, and a last visit to the iSquare to pick up some more pastries for a light dinner.

We tried to book taxi/s to take us to the airport, but discovered they do not take credit card and we are low on cash. So the alternative was a taxi (or two) to Kowloon station and then the Airport Express train, which was not much cheaper but allowed us to not run out of cash! I am impressed with the public transport system – the train network is extensive and it is amazing to check in at the airport and then have to catch an underground train to your departure gate!

  
Our flight leaves at 12.30am so we are sitting at our gate, colouring in, reading, and dozing. Goodnight!

Wednesday 9 December

After constructive feedback (ie. Complaints) on previous holidays that I tend to fit too much into one day, I took a new approach today and had a wish list but no schedule of events. The upside? We casually explored Kowloon. The downside? NO, the devastating result of such opposition to an organised schedule? We will miss out on Hong Kong Disneyland!! 😢

Thankfully, only Abi knew of my plan to visit Disneyland while here (well…and Ross andTim and Jarrod….but they don’t count because they weren’t keen to go there). I am glad I hadn’t shared the plan with the little three now I realise we can’t fit it in! We took the opportunity of a sleep in after such a late arrival last night, and went out to explore and seek out food. Our hotel offers a free shuttle bus (which is great but also necessary as it is quite a walk from anywhere). We took the bus in to Tsim Sha Tsui (which I can spell but not pronounce), and as it was sprinkling sought out a shopping centre. The first one that attracted our attention (because we saw a Starbucks sign) was the iSquare. At 10am the shops there weren’t yet open, but a bakery was and we enjoyed pastries for our late breakfast. 

We then wandered around window shopping, down to the harbour front, and towards a couple of tourist attractions we had researched online. However the worsening weather beat us. Below is Sam in the Garden of the Stars, which everyone else viewed from the small shelter near the escalator seeing as the weather wasn’t conducive to exploring the garden.

  
Without wet weather gear, we bought some supplies at a supermarket back at the iSquare and caught our shuttle bus home (it leaves every 15 minutes throughout the day and late into the night). 

After lunch in our room and a rest (see? I give us rest times!), we ventured out again to the Ladies Markets. The kids thought it was funny because I actually caught a train. Ross had researched it in detail, so we managed to buy tickets, get on and off at the right stops, and easily find our way to the market. Our first purchase there? Four umbrellas to share, which were difficult to use walking the market aisles but necessary. The kids spent some of their money on a few souvenirs and we returned to Tsim Sha Tsui station. The train system is very organised and on time, but so busy and squashy!

  
Ross was keen to sample some more local food, but with the rain now pelting down, we acquiesced to McDonalds and caught the shuttle bus home again.  We are hoping tomorrow is better weather to achieve more on my list…I mean, enjoy more sightseeing…

Tuesday 8 December 2015

We were disturbingly organised this morning, so much so that we had an hour to just sit at home with coffee in hand and relax! My OCD is let down though: I washed all the sheets and towels, but the final five towels are still in the dryer as they weren’t finished before we left, so hopefully someone passing by could remove and fold them for me (Polly? Robyn?) 😬

Our flight was so great and so calm that I was not fearful once. Everyone watched movies and entertained themselves, but none could sleep well naturally. As we walked up the aisle to our seats, Zac and Sam were very excited to see business class….and now understand what “cattle class” means…. I took earphones, not headphones, to the US so didn’t watch anything in the flight there. I corrected that this time by watching “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”,  cried through “Ricki and the Flash”, and watched all but 20 minutes (!) of “Kingsman: The Secret Service”.

The only hairy part of the day was our taxi rides to our hotel. I hoped our learner driver was not observing too closely – we travelled at 100-120km/h despite a speed limit of 80, indicators are optional, as is driving in one lane! Actually a sign along the highway said “get in lane”, so this might be a broader issue than our taxi driver!

We bought some sturdy but inexpensive suitcases to take to the US which we expect will need replacing soon (probably after all our once-in-a-lifetime adventures are done!), and a Samsonite suitcase we bought in the US to carry purchases from there home. Well I struggled to lift the Samsonite one and snapped the top handle! 😕 So a replacement may be on the shopping list at some point unless Ross can macgyver a fix.

We were in our two rooms by 12.15am (which is 3.15am at home), so decided to not make too many extensive plans for tomorrow. We will catch up on a little sleep and then seek out public transport to find breakfast 😉

It was amazing when, in revisiting this blog to set it up for our next trip, I re-read many of the entries from our US travels. So many details I remembered, and others I had totally forgotten! Like how sick the children were towards the end of the trip – it was definitely time to come home!

We always encourage the kids to keep a journal or diary to help preserve the memories. I told my dad only yesterday that one advantage of having six children rather than just one is the fact that there are more people available to remember details 😉

I haven’t started packing yet, so haven’t hassled the kids too much, but Belle is a step ahead of me and started her journal weeks ago. Here is the first page, and the translation (which is sorely needed!) 😂:

“About My Life: this is my journal in Europe. I am packing my bag and I am away for a month”…..we might take some spelling words away with us to practice…