I am grateful to God for the following scripture:
“Don’t worry about tomorrow for tomorrow is a worry in itself, each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34).
Do I obey it perfectly all the time? Not quite yet, but in this instance I chose to. If I were to logically think this out at all, I would literally have a meltdown and refuse to do it. To someone who is currently in the process of renewing their mind and overcoming anxiety, this flight itinerary was like a mom’s worst nightmare. Let me just share with you roughly what it was:
After spending all day packing and wrapping up loose ends, we left Arusha, Tanzania around 8PM to drive to Kilimanjaro Airport (1hr in the van).
Our flight was an early AM flight, so we decided to go to the airport in the evening so the kids could sleep a bit before the flight. Our first layover was about 6 hours.
After a bought of sickness and a trip to the airport clinic to get a malaria test, we were ready to check-in.
Our first flight left Tanzania around 4AM.
Our flight to Kenya was short: 1hr
Layover was about 2 hours.
Our flight to Uganda again was a short flight, 1hr.
Layover this time was 7 hours.
We boarded our next flight to Dubai, a little longer this time: 6hrs.
Arrived in Dubai for a 5-hour layover.
Right before we boarded what we thought would be our last direct flight, we were surprised to hear about a stop in Singapore. This would be a 10-hour flight.
Add another 2-hour layover in Singapore and we got off the plane to be greeted by everyone wearing masks; we were screened there over some sort of an outbreak.
Finally, boarded to go back to Australia, our last 5-hour flight.
Arrived in Brisbane in the middle of the night and spent an hour getting luggage and going through customs, but wait!
Had to drive 1-hr and 30min back to Sunny Coast! Arrived back around 4am, then unpacked to prepare a room to sleep in.
“No we’re not there yet … only 41 more hours to go sweetie!”
Do you feel nauseous? I kind of do after writing all that and realizing somehow we pulled this off with 2 kids under 5. Are you wondering how everyone did?
After 2 van rides, 5 flights, 5 layovers, 6 countries, 3 continents, 24 hours in layovers, 25 hours in transit, totaling roughly 49-hours of straight traveling with minimal sleep…
Phenomenal! A few 15-minute meltdowns on a few flights and at a few airports, but so much better than I ever were to imagine. Sometimes you wonder how in the world did something like that go so smoothly, and then you say, it was the complete grace of God. To anyone “worried” about taking young kids on a plane, if we did this one, parents, I promise you, you can fly anywhere! (and no, we didn’t give the kids Benadryl so that they would sleep on the flights)
Lake Victoria from Entebbe, Uganda Airport