First stamp in our passports!

We arrived safely in Singapore at 3am today (as they write it, 21 July 2012). We took off from PDX on Thursday at 11:30 and landed 23 hours later. What a LONG day. Adam and I laughed as we hauled 7 carry-ons, a double stroller and 2 toddlers around...we were "those" people. You know, the people you look at and say "Thank God I'm not them!"

The first flight to LAX was a piece of cake. Drew was in his carseat (highly recommend doing it that way for as long as you can get away with it!) and it was a short 2 hours. Next up was a 100 mile walk (okay, not really) with all of the stuff mentioned above to the international gate. From there we rode a bus to board our huge airplane. The boys were so excited because it was a 2 story plane, equipped with tvs in all the headrests and three rows of seating. They slept very little on this flight, but did so well. 10 1/2 hours later we arrived in Tokyo.

Once in Tokyo we had to take all of our stuff off the plane and re-check through security. I was not very pleasant during this phase, as to our bodies it was the middle of the night and we had had no sleep. A short 90 mins later we were back on the plane for our final 6 hour flight. Lucky for us, the boys slept almost the entire way, but neither of us slept at all. It was a bit too bumpy for me...but still enjoyed the great service from Singapore Air! We would highly recommend this airline to anyone traveling over here or anywhere in Asia. Such a nice airline...pillows and large blankets for every person, socks and toothbrushes handed out, hot towels are given at take off and landing, full meals and drinks included, all the movies/games/tvs shows you could want, very helpful and friendly staff, and constant beverage and snack service.

I will admit that I had a few surges of tears on board yesterday as it continually hit me that we're not just visiting Singapore. However, as we walked around this morning I mentioned to Adam that I couldn't be happier to be in this place at this time.

Thank you to ALL of our friends and family who wished us well as we flew out. What an amazing group of people we are lucky to have! The adventure begins....