Tim is lucky to have been gifted two hours in the airport lounge during our 5 hour lay-over in Montreal. And after staying with Olga and kids at the gate, where they play hide-and-seek while Zeno was already lost for several times that day, he calls it a day and disappears to join the diamond league travelers in the lounge.
The trio finds a nice playground where they easily enjoy themselves for two hours, although Zeno has to go to the toilet every 10 minutes, but never with a result. Olga starts feeling sleepy at 15 local time (21 CEST), as if she never left Dilbeek. The children look tired too, but are climbing and sliding non-stop to make up for the 8 hours sitting in the plane.
Two hours in the airport lounge also fly by, while Tim indulges himself on the warm buffet and free drinks but foremost the peace and quiet.
We spend the final two hours together at the gate, coloring, stickering, sleeping (Olga), and going many times to the toilet (but not really) (Zeno) before we board the plane at 16.30 local time. The plane is ready to go 15 min early but bad weather above the Caribbean means we have to wait on the runway for 45 minutes.
The children should be tired, but they are becoming sticker maniacs and they don’t want to stop. After many ‘final’ stickers, we try to find a comfortable sleeping position on the chairs. Little Zeno is the big winner, getting two full chairs to fully lie down. Tim has an own chair and Olga and Cleo puzzle themselves on the final chair for the 4-hour flight to Cancun.
We snooze for some hours, but getting off from the plane after very little sleep is not much fun. We pack all our stuff and we carry the sleepy children to the passport control when we realise Zeno’s shoes are still in the plane. Olga wants to go back to get the shoes, the plane exit was only 5 minutes walk from the passport control, but Tim wants to stay together. Tim wins.
The passport control is efficient and our luggage also appears quickly. When we get our suitcases and Deuter, a kind airport lady walks towards us with Zeno’s shoes. How lucky we are! The airport crew is busy with us today.
We pass customs and find the car rental straight away. A shuttle brings us to the big office, and Tim fills in all the paper work while the children play together.
We decided on a compact car, while Olga thought that in Mexico all small things would be at least medium sized according to European standards, this clearly doesn’t go for our car. After struggling with the car seats for the kids, we can just fit our luggage, the Deuter and ourselves in the car.
It is a 1,5H drive to our apartment. The children sleep and Tim is awake enough to avoid a crash between cars and an electricity pole which has come down and now lies across the highway. It must just have happened, some cars are stopping to offer their help, but we are so shocked that we just continue driving.
We arrive at 23:30 local time at our apartment, unpack our car and go straight to bed, hoping that the early bird of our family, the one who slept most so far in the plane and car, will stay a sleep for many more hours…