1. Trip to Israel, Dec-Jan 2012-2013: The flight to Israel, part 1 Our adventure started very early in the morning: By 3 am we were all up and getting ready in various paces. By 4 am we were out of the house and arrived at Emu Plains train station (Barak did two rounds, leaving us at the station and returning with the very big suitcase). The dazed girls had some chocolate milk as we waited for our train. We boarded the one that was waiting at the station, thinking it was the right one, but it was the earlier one which was a very slow “all stations” train and it took AGES to reach central station. At Central we changed to a special airport train.

2. The trip on the train took about an hour and a bit. The girls read books, played on the LeapPad and spent some (last) quality time with their dad. The most exciting thing was seeing the sunrise when we got close to the City. Hahgoot was very surprised to see that a sunset and a sunrise have the same colours!

3. At the airport we did the check-in part really quickly and had plenty of time to have a pre- packed breakfast together. Alma tried everything, while Hahgoot was gradually growing more and more nervous.

4. We then had a quick hug goodbye to Barak, who headed back to the City on the train. Alma was the only one that hugged him, as nervous Hahgoot was already starting to growl. She relaxed a lot more when we arrived at our gate and found out our plane was a nice shade of blue.

5. From where we were standing, we could see our pram travelling down to the ground crew. Well, at least that was the plan, as our bulky pram got stuck mid-way. When I saw it wasn’t going down properly, I notified the ground stewardess and she took care of the matter. Phew, the thought of not having the pram for two days with 5 pieces of heavy luggage... Ahhhgghh!

6. We boarded the flight on time. Hahgoot put on her earphones – they were the best thing I ever got her! I can’t stress enough how fantastic these noise reduction earphones are, they basically saved our trip. Not only did she function well and smoothly during the flight, she didn’t go into overload after the flights ended, which was remarkable. She also had the snake on at the beginning to keep her calm and tried the head rest, but didn’t like both on for long. Another thing that worked to handle Hahgoot’s issues with the toilet on the plane, was a folding toilet seat cover, that was good for hygiene as well for both girls.

7. Alma tried her headrest too, but didn’t like it either (top). She did like the gummy bears for take off (I didn’t know if the girls will suffer from ear pressure – they didn’t). The take off took two hours (not sure why) so she overdosed on sugar but was asleep in a flash the minute the plane was in the air (bottom).

8. I had no break during this flight: While Alma slept Hahgoot was awake and ate lunch (left). Then Hahgoot went to sleep and Alma woke up to eat lunch. The girls both liked the food. Hahgoot had no problems sleeping with the earphones on.

9. While Hahgoot was asleep for a few hours Alma ate, drew pictures, ate more, and played on the LeapPad.

10. Then Hahgoot woke up and the girls kept busy with the TV and drawing. Alma did a sticker workbook about animals and ate the fruit and veggies I brought from home. The main thing Alma enjoyed was pressing EVERY single button she could find. The patient stewardesses came 16 times in vain... I got very good at navigating the menu in Chinese...

11. Eventually I tried distracting her with an annoying electronic Sudoku game (left). They were a bit less keen about dinner, but tried some nonetheless. We made friends with a lovely Korean-French family from Sydney and “adopted” their gorgeous three years old daughter for a while. She declared they are all BFFs!

12. Alma took me literally when I said she needs to move and started dancing in the corridor, so a Korean pair invited her to dance “Gangnam style”! Finally, after 12 hours, we landed in Korea through a wild snow storm. Hahgoot didn’t take the vicious turbulence well and threw up, the poor thing. She kept calm though, thanks to the heavy preparation we did about unexpected events during flight. The girls were amazed to see the heavy snow at Seoul airport – very exciting! In our next presentation: We stay overnight in a hotel