Together Or Apart

59. London

Sydney > Dubai > London.

After 28 hours of travelling with two kids aged 6 and 1, I am exhausted and in desperate need of a shower and a nap. To be fair, London was an angel the entire time and slept for most of it. However Sydney has always been and still remains an anxious flyer. I was hoping that she would have changed now that she isn't a newborn, but she still hates it. 

We have just landed at Heathrow Airport and there are clear skies outside. The pilot informed us that there has been a heatwave in the UK at the moment and the locals are hating it. Coming from Australia, this would be a normal spring day. It can get humid indoors though. I know that most hotel rooms don't have cold air systems, but Harry's place does. It is still funny that it is warmer here than in Australia right now. Given the fact that we have just finished winter and over here it is now spring time. 

"Does anyone need the toilet because once we get off the plane, Dad will be waiting on the Tarmac for us and we will be heading straight home with no stops. It can take an hour or longer if there is traffic." 

That was aimed at London mostly because Sydney is only nineteen months old and whilst we have begun toilet training with her, it is only early days and she still wears a pull up nappy (diaper) because accidents still happen. We had London completely toilet trained by the age of 2 so that is the goal with Sydney too. 

"Yes, I need to wee. I just skulled the rest of my juice." London says, throwing the empty juice box into the bin and heading down the aisle to the toilet. We are very fortunate that Harry hired the private jet for us. Our flight experience was much better than it would have been on a normal airbus plane. Plus, no wait time if you are desperate for a wee. I still don't like eating plane food even if it is a private jet. I haven't been that hungry though. I think my suppressed appetite is a mixture of of flight anxiety with the girls and missing my family already. 

My phone begins ringing and I reach into my back pocket to answer it. I put the phone on speaker and pick up one of the carry on bags, as well as popping Sydney on my hip. 

"Hey H, we've just landed."

"Wonderful, I was hoping that was your plane that I am standing directly in front of."

"You're already here?"

"Yeah, I got here early and drove the car in. I'm just waiting for the door to open and I'll come and help with the girls." 

Just as Harry says that, the pilot opens the main door and Harry steps inside, shaking the pilots hand and holding his other hand to his ear, grasping his phone. Harry ends the call and properly greets the pilot, thanking him for flying his family here safely. 

"There's my girls." Harry says once he sees us and he glances around the plane interior and begins walking down the isle towards us. London comes out of the toilet, gushing at the sound of her father's voice and sprints over to him. 

"Daddy!" She jumps into his arms and he picks her up, holding her tightly as he presses a kiss to her forehead. "I thought you were going to be in the car."

"I thought I would surprise you and I also wanted to see this plane." He tells her before looking over at me. "How was the flight? Was everything alright?" He places his arm around me and kisses my cheek. I hug him back as best as I can given the fact that we are both holding a child each. 

"Yeah, it was amazing. They were really great." I watch as Harry kisses Sydney's cheek and she buries her face into my neck, suddenly becoming shy. "She's tired." I make an excuse for her shyness towards Harry because I can see that it has hurt his feelings. She used to always do this when Harry would be away for a minimum of 2 weeks.