Arrived Safely

Here were are in Hamilton NZ. We had a good but looooong flight from Oman. Tau was very good the whole way. I was chasing him up the aisles as he crawled up and down and smiled at the different passengers. Some quite happy to entertain him, others with scowls on their faces of which Tau then kept going or wouldn't move till her got some acknowledgment ha ha! I love my smiling little boy. There are some courteous people out there. In Muscat one guy offered to bring take our cabin bag onto the plane and proceeded to follow us all the way stowed the bag and then told me that he will take it off the plane until we part ways in Dubai. I was taken aback but thanked him profusely and sat down to make Tau comfortable. The guy did as he promised when we landed in Dubai. Once off the aircraft I put Tau in the sling and dragged our bag along. Once we made it into the main terminal I found Emirates strollers that I then blonked Tau into and went to look for the evasive Marhaba lounge which we had booked into, to spend the next four hours in. Well I thought we would leave from Terminal 3 which had the newer lounge and this was the Emirates terminal supposedly. I looked at my boarding pass and realised that our gate was in the opposite direction. So I stopped a buggy driven by two local guys and asked where my gate was. The driver said but you are on the other side and you must go back. I asked if we could get a ride on their buggy which had free seats. The guy said sorry I can't but look for another buggy. I said but you're the only one I've seen since I got here. Unbelievable that they didn't even offer to help or call another buggy. I thanked then and turned to go towards our gate. Stuff the Marhaba lounge I was not going to run a marathon just to get to my gate when it was time to leave, plus my feet were killing me.
And yep our gate was at Terminal 1 on the other side. As it worked out the old Marhaba lounge was right next to our gate. So boo hoo I didn't get to try out the new one but we happily lounged in it and ate and drank while waiting for our connecting flight.
We got our requested seat on the flight from Dubai to NZ which was fantastic. An UAE citizen sat next to us who couldn't have been nicer and more tolerant with bubs the whole way. Tau proceeded to play with him or kick the poor guy's tv screen due to limited space but the super pax took it all in his stride. I say God bless that guy. Meanwhile a younger couple next to the super pax had started to give bubs the looks when he made some noise to which I eyeballed them until they smiled and pretended to like Tau.
Tau was really good and when it was bed time he slept for awhile in the bassinet. The flight attendants were nice enough. One guy was really good with babies and everytime he walked past he would try to get a reaction from Tau.
We stopped over in Melbourne. Come boardig time one lady offered to take our bag onto the flight. I was soooo releived when we got here. Gui and my niece Maeva were waiting for us with a spongebob baloon for Tau which was sooo sweet. We headed straight for my Aunty's in South Auckland and had a big toonai that was awaiting us of Samoan food. My older sister Lani had just arrived a few hours before us from Samoa with some favourites so it was fantastic. We drove home and knocked out as we were tooo tired. Tau woke up at midnight and stayed up till 3am. The next night he was up again at midnight until 5am!!! Last night I was too tired I just left him in his cot. Best to let him know already that it's not playtime but SLEEP time. So needless to say I feel much better today from a good night's sleep. About to head out to look around and buy some food for the little man. It's great to see my sister and family. Tau and his cousin Maeva are getting along fine and so cute together. Maeva is in to puzzles at the moment. She can put one together really fast. While she's at it Tau would crawl along a grab a piece and that's when Maeva says 'go way' go away to Tau. It's funny to watch these two.
Good to be with the family and looking forward to see more this week-end yipppeeeee.