Canberra: and we're off!

Last year I had a great idea for a 10th wedding anniversary gift for Scott: I would surprise him with a trip! I arranged some time off with the people he works with and booked flights to Canberra. They were sworn to secrecy, so all I had to do was make all the arrangements then surprise Scott the day before so he had some time to tidy anything up.

We’ve been meaning to go to Canberra for years to visit some friends there, but overseas trips keep getting in the way. Oops.

Fast forward to the week before we’re supposed to leave. I have all the arrangements in place and am looking forward to it being a huge surprise. Then – PANIC STATIONS – Scott’s co-worker hears him making arrangements for when we’ll be in Canberra! ACK! So Scott found out a week ahead.

We weren’t leaving until the afternoon, however Scott and I both had the day off. Accompanied by Lottie, we dropped Eskil at day care (with his school schedule he only gets a full day of day care once per fortnight, and he likes catching up with friends). Then we went out for breakfast together!

We made our way home and had plenty of time to slowly pack and clean. No stress. I tool poor princess Lottie to the boarding kennel. It’s not far from the airport, but I though it would be less stressful for everyone involved if she had her own special trip.
Back at home we finished packing, picked up Eskil, and were soon at the airport. Eskil’s an experienced traveler and even pulled his own bag for a bit. Soon we were headed across the tarmac to our plane.

Eskil asked if we’d be getting onto our sleeping plane next; no! For once we only had 2 short flights instead of a long haul international one ahead of us. We only had 40 minutes to wait in Melbourne, and we didn’t even have to change gates. There was still time for some traditions though.

We arrived a little before sunset.

Our friends greeted us at the airport, and we met their new daughter!! We chatted while sorting out our hire car, etc then they escorted us to our hotel. We said our good byes so they could get their girl to sleep.
We were tired but had a huge, comfy hotel room in a great neighbourhood, i.e. there were LOTS of great restaurants to check out. As taking our tired boy to a restaurant could be torture for everyone involved, I headed out to Asian Noodle House for laksas. They come highly recommended and didn’t disappoint. Eskil was a noodle monster.

Eskil and Monkey slept well!