The morning ran smoothly, we had breakfast delivered, rooms packed up, kitchen packed up, final checks that we have everything and that Liam definitely has everything! There is no way we can come back for the tiniest thing he has forgotten, which has happened in our lives before today!!
Driver waiting for us, we thanked the staff and set off on our way. Very happy with our schedule, we made it to the airport much earlier than we expected. But that's fine, we are a little unsure of the procedure here to check in etc. No problems, signage was good, found our line and checked our baggage in no time at all. Followed the crowd paid our departure tax IDR 150,000 each, easy peasy so far. Immigration easy, the staff are very good when I have Liam with me, we have had no problems today. Then we wander around the airport waiting for our flight details. The details stay blank for a long time on the board, Liam is getting a bit edgy but we manage quite well.
Finally we are called, on flight bags checked and we are waiting in a rather small room with a lot of other people. Liam has handled all these different situations with ease. Garmy and I both surprised that he has not reacted to any of our demands when we have asked him to be quiet, stand still, take your hat off, scanned, patted down, open your bag, people touching his stuff, the list could go on.....but he has done it, and done it with style ♦
Our flight is effortless, and before we know it we have landed back home in Perth. As Liam steps down onto the tarmac he fist pumps the air as if to congratulate himself for an awesome effort, and while walking away from the aeroplane he thanked Mr. Jetstar.
Well, well, what have we learnt?
- Always challenge our loved ones, especially those who don't know how to challenge themselves.
- Respect each other for who we are, not for what we are.
- Don't take too many items just in case you need them. You won't need them and if you did you can make do with something else.
- We did not get ill, we only felt a bit off on one day. We used Travel Bug each day and we started 5 days before our holiday. We did take our tablets each morning with red cordial. We also took Vit B (to deter mozzies) every day and started them 5 days before our holiday. One of these things, or all of these things, got us through our holiday, so we will do the same again next time.
- I took a pack of anti-bacterial wipes and used the lot. Wipe glasses, cutlery etc. We also used the anti-bacterial for our hands before eating.
- Garmy and I drank bottled water, used their ice and cleaned our teeth in bottle water. We are hoping Liam did the same........we tried our best, but we don't really know what went on in his room! We gave him a lot of instructions, we included it in his 'Social Story' before we left and I also placed signs up. Not sure what else we could have done, but the main thing is he survived.
- Grateful we took our own tea bags, a pack of tim tams and some cheds biscuits. Next time we need to take some coffee as well.
Thank you for reading my blog, I hope I have inspired some families that have special people in their lives that it is okay to change routines, the world won't stop spinning, we just need to tackle things head on and decide which battles are worth the energy.
To the families that read with interest about what it is like to walk a day in our shoes, thank you for taking the time. Also, if you see us, or anyone like us out and about, give us a nod or a smile, we can do with it sometimes to know the wider community are on our side ☺
p.s. We have booked again for 2014!
