After 3 days of packing I finally managed to squash as much as possible into 4 large bags, 3 items to be cling filmed, 2 Trunkies, 1 carry on case and a change bag! There is no way I was under the weight limit but I planned on stealing some of my mother-in-laws allowance!

On the morning of departure I was still manically trying to add the last items when my father in law turned up with his van! We had time for one last quick cup of tea and a Birds cake before setting off! The trip up to the airport was uneventful but on arrival we realized the van could not fit into the car park so we had to do a quick unload before my father-in-law went to find somewhere to park.

Whilst monitoring the boys running round we wrapped up the car seats in cling film until we reached the bit i was dreading, the weighing at check in! In went 3 bags when the lady said ‘I’m afraid you have reached your limit!’…. arrgh… still had one large bag and 3 cling filmed items left!!! After a momentary panic I realized one of mother-in-laws had already been checked in so we still had 30 kilos left, it was going to be very tight still…. next i lifted on one of the car seats to which the lady checking in the next door counter said ‘car seats don’t count in weight’.. Whoop….  We are OK! All items checked in just under limit!

Next obstacle was the baggage check and metal detectors! Since Lego boy had heard about the metal detectors he was concerned about the metal on his teeth. To the bewildered faces of the security staff he walked through with his mouth wide open pointing at his teeth. Shortly afterwards he told Grandad (on the phone) proudly that ‘I didn’t have to take my teeth out’!

Quick stop at duty free as I still had to pick up husbands rum! Then a brisk walk to the gate… well until Middle Man decided to lie down on the floor to try and go to sleep! Luckily a trunkie ride convinced him to keep moving.

The first flight was overnight and was pretty uneventful… all 3 slept at some point although I think there was only 45mins when all slept at the same time. The rest of the time they quite happily watched films.

All of us were tired when we arrived in Dubai both the big boys were pulled around on trunkies much to the pain of other passengers ankles. More bewildered security staff stared as Lego Boy again walked through the metal detectors open mouthed. A quick check of the departures board advised us the gate would open in 10 mins, so time for a quick toilet stop and change into shorts…. 10mins later we arrived at the gate to find it was on Final call???? As we boarded the plane we were one of the last on and the seats we had reserved had been changed… but after some clever peace keeping by the air hostess we were all seated together with a sky cot for baby blue.

We were expecting the second flight to be nightmare as the boys had only had a few hours sleep, we had had none to speak of and it was in the day… but my boys did me proud! There was the odd close shave to melt down but the small wrapped presents I had brought along did the job of distracting at the critical time. Middle man even had more sleep… although how he stayed like this for 2 hours i don’t know!

On the plane I got talking to a lovely lady who lives in Zambia with her family… it was so reassuring to talk to her.

Finally we landed in Lusaka! And immediately the laid back attitude is apparent. The card machines were not working so we couldn’t pay for the entry visas, they just let us through to get some cash…. as I walked through customs to get the cash I noticed a familiar and unexpected face in the crowd! Husband had surprised us! We thought we had one more plane before we saw him 🙂 Relief 🙂 He took over everything… got the cash for visas… took the trolleys off the disgruntled porters… and checked us in to the domestic flight 🙂

Both big boys were so excited to see him… he instantly became a climbing frame… both boys didn’t want me for anything then 🙂 ‘Daddy can you open this’… ‘Daddy can you take me to the toilet’… daddy… daddy … daddy! I felt like a massive weight was lifted from my shoulders. Don’t get me wrong I have had loads of support of family and friends over the last few weeks, I could not have done it without them but having husband back was such a relief! I admire anyone who has a child that regularly or permanently is without a partner there to support them!

The last airplane was tiny…. maybe 20 seats… luckily it was pretty empty so we could bring all our luggage up on the same flight! Lego boy fell to sleep but the rest of us took in the scenery of the dusty bush as we flew north to our new home.