Arrival to our new home in Perth (December 6, 2011)

Our journey (move) across the world took us from Salt Lake to Los Angeles to Melbourne and ended in Perth, Australia. Traveling with our 4 kids, Sawyer (7), Ryder (5), Nash (3), and Zander (16 months), was eventful to say the least. Moving across the world as we were, we had far too many bags stuffed full of our belongings to be able to go anywhere quickly. We each had our full allottment of two 70 pound checked bags (12 total) and each of us had a large carry-on bag and a personal item (6 large carry-ons and 6 small carry-ons). We also had 2 double strollers that we were carting along with us.

Salt Lake
Sad to say goodbye to Cody's family, but excited for the journey ahead, we stacked our bags on the curb and tried to find someone to take them in for us. After about 25 minutes, we were successful...should have just done it ourselves. The American Airlines ticketing agent was very grumpy and rude and made us check both of our strollers at the ticketing desk since American Airlines had changed their policy last week and was no longer allowing larger strollers to be checked at the gate, so we weren't able to pile them full of our carry-on bags...things were not starting out on a good note.

Los Angeles
Enjoyed the Qantas lounge. Kids loved the lay-flat seats, their own personal TVs and gaming systems, comforters, pillows, ice cream, and being waited on. They were fighting sleep the whole time and didn't want to miss anything. Zander had a cot strapped to the bulkhead...he did OK, not great...neither Eliza nor Cody could get any extended period of sleep (an hour or 2 here and there), but nothing to complain about.

Melbourne
A total disaster, but we were helped by a lot of nice strangers. Took forever to round up our 12 checked bags after finally tracking down the strollers. Did you know that it's impossible for 2 people to move 24 pieces of luggage, 2 double strollers, and 4 tired kids from one side of the airport to the other in one shot? Well it is. Luckily we enlisted random strangers to push our carts for us. At least 4 times bags fell off carts and the strangers just stood there looking at us with the "Are you serious?" look. Running extremely late, and with the help of the airport employees, we cheated our way through customs...they didn't make us wait in the line and didn't open any bags. The only thing they asked was if we had any meat, fruit, or spices..."Nope". We checked 12 of our bags and the strollers and somehow made our way to the gate with our other 12 bags and our screaming kids. Nash had an absolute meltdown and was almost left in the middle of the airport. Forced to gate check all of our carry-on bags except for the 4 small ones with diapers and kids toys, which was fine by us. They literally closed the door right behind us, right after they rolled their eyes in disgust.

Perth
Arrived on the runway tired, but relieved and ready to get on with our new lives in Australia. The sun was shining, the rain had just stopped. The kids were happy...we had made it and it wasn't that bad. Until we heard the news...we were told that we would be parked on the tarmac for about a half hour until the lightning passes over...okay, we can do another half hour. Qantas has a policy that they won't come outside if there is lightning within 5 miles of the airport. Numerous status updates and 5 and a half hours later after having watched every other airline de-plane and take off right alongside us, we were finally allowed to de-plane. It was dark, we were hungry, thirsty, uncomfortable, tired, angry, confused, and relieved all at the same time. The airport was a total disaster. It was full of people, nobody had their bags, there were lines of people everywhere, people had fallen asleep on the floor. After making our way to the baggage claim, it was obvious that we weren't getting any of our bags, so we went to pick up our reserved rental car. Of course, they had given it away to someone else since we were late. We made our way to the taxi line outside the airport. Hundreds of people, not enough taxis. After 45 minutes we got a taxi and arrived at our temporary apartment, Quest on James...our pad for the next month. Nothing is open except Thai food across the street. $140 for chicken, rice, and noodles. Wow! After putting the kids to bed, Cody takes a trip back to the airport to look for any missing bags...after nearly 3 hours, he is able to get one of the carry-ons and a stroller.