Elliot's a world traveller!

Despite Elliot being on antibiotics for ear infections, we couldn't have asked for a better little traveller. Here's a little run-down on the journey:

First leg: Perth to Sydney (5 hours) ~ We all felt pretty cramped in the last row of a very full plane. Elliot got a little squirmy and whiney at times, but was much happier when he got to crawl up and down the aisles for awhile.

Sydney layover (6 hours) ~ Thanks to the airline messing with our itinerary, we had a tremendously long layover for a little one on a 30 hour journey. We made the best of it by finding a quiet, relatively clean, carpeted space up by the airline offices where Elliot could crawl and crawl as Paul and I took turns going for walks to grab food and stretch our legs.

Second leg: Sydney to LA (13 hours) ~ I never thought that I would be saying this, but this leg was heaven. We were in the bulk head and had all three seats to ourselves, thanks to the plane not being full. Elliot had heaps of room to play at our feet or crawl up and down on the seat in between us. When he got tired of that we wandered around the immaculate plane and Elliot made friends with other little kids and flirted with the ladies. Best of all, we had a bassinet mounted on the wall in front of us where Elliot slept for a solid eight hours during the middle of the flight. Other than a little fussiness when his ears must have been giving him grief during the descent, it was an amazingly painless and surprisingly fun part of the journey.

LA layover (surprisingly short) ~ We arrived in LA 40 minutes early and were able to get through customs and immigration really quickly since we were in the front of the plane. This meant we actually had time to catch an earlier plane (either that or have an almost 5 hour layover). I did some begging and pleading while Paul chaperoned Elliot as he flirted with all the young ladies in the departure lounge. And just before they closed the gate, we were given word that we had a spot on the plane. Hallelujah!

Final leg: LA to Portland (2.5 hours) ~ Elliot was very tired at this point and let the whole plane know it as he screamed with all of his might during the entire safety demonstration. The business guy next to us was none too pleased. But as soon as the plane took off, Elliot fell fast asleep and didn't wake up until we were flying into Portland where Uncle Ryan was waiting for us.

So all of my worrying and dreading during the weeks leading up to our flight were for nothing. Elliot was a superstar. We even had a couple of people comment on how he was the best baby they'd ever flown with. I guess we didn't need to bring all of those ear plugs to hand out to the people around us after all.