Finally on board

All good things come to and end, and so does this trip. We made our bags for the last time and headed off with if not epic at least a decent buffer. Parents had already gone a bit ahead.

Things were going rather smooth so Mona got a nice coffee to go from Pond, we had enough time. As we got closer to Melbourne airport and followed Google’s instructions we got a bit suspicious – shouldn’t there be more traffic here, and does this really look like where we were a week ago? Nope, and it appears that we were not the only ones taking a u-turn and cursing google for marking out Melbourne Airport for some operational building to the airport.

And of course cell coverage was spotty here, so we drove blindly looking for airport signs – and eventually saw a sign as well as got cell coverage so Google could could instead head to the car rental on the airport. It wasn’t the end of the world and we still had a healthy buffer of time, and the petrol station was just next to the car-rental so we tanked up the car after some hassle and was now almost done.

We would have been if we didn’t take the wrong lane and headed off on the freeway instead of back to the car rental. 20 minutes later we were back, now with less healthy buffers. Met up parents who had gone ahead earlier and not checked in but waited for us. We checked in everything quickly and made way for the gate.

The boarding was a bit delayed so I got some burgers for us we could have in the 15-20minutes delay. Well, as I got back boarding just started, and we were not allowed to bring food on board. I ate like a ninja and threw the rest away to secure good cabin space while Mona joined after.

I got to our seats and packed everything, met up Mona and sat down. Nice. Well, until the purser asked if he could see our boarding passes, which I provided. He returned them and informed us that, your boarding passes state seat 42 J and K, you are in seat 60 J,K. These were the seats I had on my confirmation and had arranged before so we would have enough space for Juni. However, the unknown people who had now tickets for 60 with plenty of leg-room gave that up – nice people indeed. After some thoughts how this could have happened it appears the friendly check-in person moved our seats so we would be on the same row as my parents without asking us.

The actual flight went well, and Juni behaved great – compared to some other raging 3-year old.

Taking a nap in the lounge

In Bangkok we went to a lounge and had some pancakes, high-speed wifi and nice resting place during our 3 hour stop.

The final leg we did have our nice 60J,K again and this time there was quite a lot of empty seat including the one next so we even managed to get a few hours of sleep. Despite the good trip we were a bit tired as we got to Oslo, found all our bags and took the train into central station.

Last leg

We saw the parents off on a bus to Kristinehamn and went home, took a shower and went to bed – we’ll deal with the jetlag another time. Over and out for this time!

The end of a run where I actually stood a while on the board

My foot had suddenly quit complaining (that Voltaren is going to the pharmacy at home), Jonte wasn’t working, weather wasn’t perfect but we had postponed it until it could be postponed no longer – time to go surfing and Jan Juc was just the beach for it. Juni was sleeping so Mona stayed home while mom and dad joined as documentary crew.

Notice the douchiness of Jonte who goes up to a headstand on the surfboard while passing me.

I was a bit sceptic to the water temperature but turns out Jonte’s wetsuits were upp to snuff. We were in the water an hour and these waves are small, no doubt about it but it let’s just say it was evident that experience help the energy conservation. For the last runs when we needed to get through the impact zone I put my shame away and let my younger brother taxi me out. It was great fun, although when I tumbled on the beach the last time my feet felt like wooden stumps and I was a bit tired and had swallowed some water, and felt the board hit me on the chin or ribs a dozen times at least.

Happy Viktor

One of these two brothers surf more than the other.

After spending the time in the water it felt almost warm to get into the sun on the parking and shower off the first bit with the cold water shower. Back we had a healthy surfer’s breakfast and I complemented that with a long lovely warm shower.

The weather improved during the day so we decided to walk to the nearest beach with Juni. I can see why people move here, a few minutes walk and this beach is awesome already in early spring.

I could get used to this, I really could.

Mona had done her eye-lashes while we were taking the stroll but as she got back we thought why not try to get a few glimpses om Kangaroos again in the sunset? Said and done, and lucky we were.

Well hello my jumping little friends in golden hour

Spotted, but keeping the distance to the wild Kangaroos

With a new record in taken photos for the day it was only fitting to take a family photo as we got home before the last common barbecue in a while.

Ernholm/Carlson extended family in one photo – a rare sight

I think both of them liked it about as much

Today was a day of hanging out with Juni. Mona and Janelle went horseback riding, Jonte was working and parents where en Geelong while yours truly manned the fort at home.

Juni and I practiced (well tried to) how to in a safe manner (backwards) go from higher positions to lower positions. She handles it just fine when pointed in the right direction but if left to her own devices she will kamikaze dive out still it seems. Jerry (the cat) has also been a major figure in today’s play.

For extra excitement no less than two handymen dropped by during the day as well, the first was the long-awaited oven-repairman, the latter was a bit of a surprise but turned out to be legit.

Australia has figured out that saving energy is good, thus they have a replace-your-lightbulbs-program where, someone contracted by the government shows up at your house – replaces all lamps with low-energy leds (those expensive ones) and installs them for you. Also, if you have any issues such as one going dark within two years they will come back and fix that. Compared to Sweden (outlaw selling the old ones, and let people buy the new expensive ones in stores when needed) this seems to be a way to get the residents more positive to the change.

While sitting in a stroller is fine most of the time, being carried is the best.

I also finalized a whole bunch of blog-entries that had been only drafted while Juni slept, productive day indeed. As parents came back with more t-shirts, beers and a replaced belt from Kathmandu we went out for a stroll with Juni. Mona arrived just as we were leaving so we walked towards the beach and found a playground with swings for old and young.

How our garageport could have looked if we grew up elsewhere

On the way back mom found her dream pick-up truck, violet in color is all she cares for.