Our alarm goes off at 6:30, and the children are still vast asleep because of the change to Summer Time. We forget the blueberries in the fridge, but hopefully we did not forget anything else, and we still manage to leave Dilbeek at 7.
Driving to Brussels Airport Zaventem, we try to explain to the kids the difference between cities, countries and continents to help them understand where we are and where we are going. It turns out to be a very abstract concept, hard to grasp by a 2 and a 4 year old.
We park our car at the parking close to the airport, and we try not to forget where we parked it for the coming weeks (as Olga even has issues remembering the parking spot after a short trip to the supermarket).
It’s only a short walk to the airport where we check in our big and small suitcase, and the Deuter. This takes a bit long as the stewardess checks Olga in as Tim. Luckily we find it out in time, and it’s corrected, so also Olga can join the trip to Mexico!
We pass the security and buy a sandwich. When Olga returns from the shop, Zeno is gone. Tim thought he joined Olga, and Olga thought he stayed with Tim. This kind of thinking is not a good start of our adventure! We don’t hear any toddler crying and we don’t see a little blond bond boy running around anywhere.
Tim stays at the sandwich shop with Cleo, while Olga asks help from the airport officials. Just when they called the police, it really feels serious now, a colleague warns us about a small boy who gathered a whole crew around him and is sitting relaxed on a lugage cart. They found him playing at the electric walk way, 200 meters from the lunch spot where we lost him. He is not crying, not upset, he finds it super normal to be on his own for 15 minutes.
Happy to be together again, Olga and Zeno come back to a crying Cleo. Not because Zeno was lost, but because Tim ate her croissant, and the other (identical) croissant is for an unclear reason not as nice as the one Tim finished. We agree that Cleo can be sad until we arrive at the gate.
It was quite a quest this morning, but luckily we can board the plane as a complete and happy family. The kids are exploring the plane’s entertainment system like it can be expected from kids who get close to 0 screen time at home. Tim starts a next quest to fight his jetlag, and puts on his eye mask for the first 4 hours. The 7,5 hours flight flies by with the stickerbooks, catering, toilet visits, children neighboors and even a nap. Cleo finishes the movie ‘Frozen’, and Zeno the movie ‘Cars’. Tim reads a book and Olga tries to follow ‘A Complete Unknown’ about Bob Dylan. Zeno manages to escape once again, we find him back in the business class. We hope we don’t loose him in Mexican crowds in the coming weeks….
We arrive at 18 Belgium, and 11:30 local time in Montreal, ready for a 5 hours lay-over.
