Hey guys, I've reached Tucson safely yesterday in the afternoon at about 1530hrs Arizona time. Our time here is 15hours before Singapore time so I actually reached about midnight of 26th April. It was only 1530hrs of 25th April when I reached. hehe. Sounded like a real quick flight I was on ya?
Travelling Alone
It was mad rush when we reached LA airport. We had only 2hrs at the airport to re-check our luggages and BM in. Luggages were done, and BM had to be checked in somewhere else for lifestock. They work really slowly, unlike Singaporeans. And they don't really care that they are not very fast paced.
They had to check BM's cage so we waited while they checked. BM were in a total MESS!! Baileys stank of his pee for goodness sake! So glad they did not poop else it'd be even worse for them to travel in their crate! Maen stank too, but less.
We decided that since Mr Liow had 6hours in the airport before he flies off after me, Baileys would be checked in later so keep him company. Maen went in, and I rushed off to board the plane.
Mr Liow couldn't go in with me so it was just me and AN.
It was an exciting experience to travel alone. Frankly, it was SCARY!!!! I almost wanted to cry out of fear coz I had a feeling I'd miss my flight!
When I got to the entrance of the gates, I saw a really LONG QUEUE! I joined the queue wondering if I was doing the right thing. I dared not ask to check but I had to coz I didn't wanna risk missing my flight (and Maen) so I asked a lady in front of me if I was queueing for the right thing.
She said yes. The queue was for everyone who would be entering to get onboard their flights irregardless of which plane they'd be on. Everyone was queueing to be scanned.
Trust me. The line was so long my heart jumped FAST. I had only 15mins before boarding time and I was metres from the scanning machines.
Kept praying and praying that I would not end up nowhere.
The Lord is always good! Soon after, another line was opened for people who had to board by 2pm. My flight was at 2.02pm but I didn't understand the black guy when he announced for people whose flight was before 2pm to join the new line. The lady whom I asked earlier was so kind as to turn to me and suggested I join that line.
I hurriedly thanked her and ran off to join the new line. The guy behind me offered to help me push AN's pram while I fiddled with her baby carrier.
I thought I could push the pram thru the machine that scanned people, with AN strapped to me. But nope.
The male officer was quite mean...he signalled for me to leave my pram on the belt that scanned smaller items without even telling me to do so. I had to read his sign language in my panic. Fine. I stood and waited for someone to allow me to place the stroller on the belt but no one noticed me. I had to ask that I jump the queue (I wasn't technically jumping queue. I just had a new item to be scanned. hee)
A gentleman who seemed to suddenly noticed my presence was really helpful when I asked. He helped me put the pram on and pushed it along till it went thru the machine while I went back to be scanned. No one would let me go back and again I had to ask. An old man asked me to go ahead and the male officer signalled for me to put my carrier onto the scanning belt.
I was feeling irritated by then. Why couldn't he tell me that when he asked me to put the stroller on the belt???? I asked him "huh? This carrier has to be there too?" He nodded. He just didn't wanna talk. What was his problem??
Fine. A sweet lady saw me in a hurry and asked me to leave my things among her things. She jokingly asked if I was smggling anything in the carrier. I thanked her for her kindness and assured her there's nothing in my carrier. hee.
I jumped back by the side of the queue and like before, no one would let me go before them. I had to ask (by then I grew to realise that people in America are not really as kind as I used to think they are. They will give way, if you ASK!)
So the person I asked, allowed me to walk thru the machine before him.
Thank God there wasn't any alarm when I passed thru the machine. So I took the stroller, the carrier, the bag, strapped AN onto me at top speed, and ran towards my gate as fast as I could (safely).
Thank God the gate was near the scanning area!! People were hovering around the boarding area but the gate was yet to open. I had time to sit and catch my breath before boarding.
Thank God for so many things!!
You guys know I've air sickness right? I only had to take 2 pills thruout the WHOLE journey. And I had no time to take one before I boarded from LA to Tucson. I actually decided not to take too. Didn't wanna fall asleep and miss alighting at Tucson.
And I was ok thruout the short 1.25hrs flight. Totally fine!
I was greeted by Mr Liow's colleague who came to pick me at the airport. He helped me check into the hotel as well.
So I waited 7 hours for Mr Liow to touch down, and another 45mins for him to reach the hotel.
It was really an experience of a lifetime. hee. My 1st flight on my own with AN, and Maen.
As for BM, they were both ok but they too suffered from jetlag. They didn't sleep when they should, and slept when it was day time. And both reached, reeking of pee...Had to clean Maen up once AN fell asleep, and Baileys, after Mr Liow reached the hotel. Both are nice and sweet smelling now.
It's VERY dry here. I used to take an hour to dry each of them. Yesterday when I showered them, I only had to towel dry them and they were fluffy in less than 15mins. I somehow liked that fact that they dry fast without needing the blower! That's good news for coat maintenance. hee.
Baileys got to walk around the airport with Mr Liow during their wait. Mr Liow said Baileys got quite a lot of attention from passerbys and they commented that he looked good (erm....he looked sticky and dirty to us when we collected him...quite yucky looking). hee. And apparently, Baileys enjoyed the attention.
Thank God both BM are fine. They've not been pooping and peeing as much as usual. Probably worried they'd pee at the wrong place. B has peed correctly after a wrong miss. M has peed wrongly the 1st time, and a 2nd time at the same wrong place. We managed to get a bottle of odour spray from Walmart this afternoon to clean up that area.
She's started to pee outside now. Better for her coz she's slower in learning where to pee. As for B, he's more interested to smell the shrubs outside than to pee. Fine with me.
Today (26th April in Tucson)
First,we went to open up a bank account today. I brought BM with us, only to realise they are not allowed into the bank. Mr Liow's colleague was so nice. He sat in the car with BM while we settled the bank issue.
We took the furkids back to the hotel while we went on to Foothills Mall. We weren't sure they furkids will be allowed in so to save us another trip, we might as well bring them back 1st.
Foothills mall wasn't as mega as we thought :( And the small buildings surrounding the mall weren't factory outlets too. Double :( Factory outlets are about an hour and half's drive from Sonoran Terrace. Those small buildings are also shopping places. Just smaller outlets. But Walmart is really near. hehe. Thank God!
The mall area I mentioned were just across the road as we expected. hee. We could see S.T from Walmart. I could walk there, if not for the scorching sun. Or drive. Makes more sense to drive (when I can) coz I'd be doing grocery shopping there.
So you can imagine, it's really quite boring here.
Bought food for BM and AN. All 3 kids were had been starving for the past few days. Poor thing :(
The pet section was cool!! The food they sell are definately better than the ones we have back in the supermarket in Singapore. I bought food of a different brand for BM coz obviously Azmira won't be in supermarkets in (I've yet to find out where exactly I can find Azmira). The labels of this one I bought "Maximum" looked ideal too. The only thing is, for BM's size, they need to be fed up to 2 3/4cups of food. Not very ideal coz that meant it's more bulk than nutrients. Better than nothing for this period of hotel stay. I bought minced pork and rice too so I'd make them microwave meals from tomorrow.
They've not pooped yet. Hope no lao sai coz I didn't do any transition at all coz I didn't bring Azmira with me.
AN has only taken half a slice of bread since morning and milk. That was all. Poor girl hasn't eaten much. There wasn't any way I could cook for her here so it'd be all bottled baby food till we get our home. I'll try to make her porridge tho. I brought the slow cooker with me (not the giant ones. She has a tiny one, good for only 1 portion. hehe)
Joined the rest of Mr Liow's colleagues for dinner after coming back to leave the groceries.
It was fun. The restaurant we went to was like a cow boy's bar. An elderly lady with 2 elderly gentlemen sang to us live. Country songs! We had BBQ food (Mr Liow & I had chicken while some had ribs and other parts of other animals which I didn't quite catch. It was verbal menu so there wasn't anything we could look at to choose what we want).
The chicken smelled so nice and tasted good! Mr Liow ordered a chocolate fudge sundae which we shared. Super sinful coz it was full of whipped cream on top of ice cream and super sweet chocolate fudge.
Had a nice introductory session and chats with some of the Enciks.
The whole dinner ended after a gift presentation & thank-you session for the guys leaving Tucson soon after. AN was whining (she's still suffering from jet lag. The experienced ones tell us it'd take 3 days for her and us to adjust. This is day 1).
Off back to the hotel we came. That's all folks. I'll try to update on our events tomorrow.
Not much of pictures coz we were practically rushing whole day long, if not trying to pacifying a hungry and sleepy baby AN. Will upload what I have as soon as I can.
To Diane: I'm fine. hee! The rush was bad at LA airport but I survived! Praise the Lord for His directions and timing. Everything just fell into place at the right time!
Travelling Alone
It was mad rush when we reached LA airport. We had only 2hrs at the airport to re-check our luggages and BM in. Luggages were done, and BM had to be checked in somewhere else for lifestock. They work really slowly, unlike Singaporeans. And they don't really care that they are not very fast paced.
They had to check BM's cage so we waited while they checked. BM were in a total MESS!! Baileys stank of his pee for goodness sake! So glad they did not poop else it'd be even worse for them to travel in their crate! Maen stank too, but less.
We decided that since Mr Liow had 6hours in the airport before he flies off after me, Baileys would be checked in later so keep him company. Maen went in, and I rushed off to board the plane.
Mr Liow couldn't go in with me so it was just me and AN.
It was an exciting experience to travel alone. Frankly, it was SCARY!!!! I almost wanted to cry out of fear coz I had a feeling I'd miss my flight!
When I got to the entrance of the gates, I saw a really LONG QUEUE! I joined the queue wondering if I was doing the right thing. I dared not ask to check but I had to coz I didn't wanna risk missing my flight (and Maen) so I asked a lady in front of me if I was queueing for the right thing.
She said yes. The queue was for everyone who would be entering to get onboard their flights irregardless of which plane they'd be on. Everyone was queueing to be scanned.
Trust me. The line was so long my heart jumped FAST. I had only 15mins before boarding time and I was metres from the scanning machines.
Kept praying and praying that I would not end up nowhere.
The Lord is always good! Soon after, another line was opened for people who had to board by 2pm. My flight was at 2.02pm but I didn't understand the black guy when he announced for people whose flight was before 2pm to join the new line. The lady whom I asked earlier was so kind as to turn to me and suggested I join that line.
I hurriedly thanked her and ran off to join the new line. The guy behind me offered to help me push AN's pram while I fiddled with her baby carrier.
I thought I could push the pram thru the machine that scanned people, with AN strapped to me. But nope.
The male officer was quite mean...he signalled for me to leave my pram on the belt that scanned smaller items without even telling me to do so. I had to read his sign language in my panic. Fine. I stood and waited for someone to allow me to place the stroller on the belt but no one noticed me. I had to ask that I jump the queue (I wasn't technically jumping queue. I just had a new item to be scanned. hee)
A gentleman who seemed to suddenly noticed my presence was really helpful when I asked. He helped me put the pram on and pushed it along till it went thru the machine while I went back to be scanned. No one would let me go back and again I had to ask. An old man asked me to go ahead and the male officer signalled for me to put my carrier onto the scanning belt.
I was feeling irritated by then. Why couldn't he tell me that when he asked me to put the stroller on the belt???? I asked him "huh? This carrier has to be there too?" He nodded. He just didn't wanna talk. What was his problem??
Fine. A sweet lady saw me in a hurry and asked me to leave my things among her things. She jokingly asked if I was smggling anything in the carrier. I thanked her for her kindness and assured her there's nothing in my carrier. hee.
I jumped back by the side of the queue and like before, no one would let me go before them. I had to ask (by then I grew to realise that people in America are not really as kind as I used to think they are. They will give way, if you ASK!)
So the person I asked, allowed me to walk thru the machine before him.
Thank God there wasn't any alarm when I passed thru the machine. So I took the stroller, the carrier, the bag, strapped AN onto me at top speed, and ran towards my gate as fast as I could (safely).
Thank God the gate was near the scanning area!! People were hovering around the boarding area but the gate was yet to open. I had time to sit and catch my breath before boarding.
Thank God for so many things!!
You guys know I've air sickness right? I only had to take 2 pills thruout the WHOLE journey. And I had no time to take one before I boarded from LA to Tucson. I actually decided not to take too. Didn't wanna fall asleep and miss alighting at Tucson.
And I was ok thruout the short 1.25hrs flight. Totally fine!
I was greeted by Mr Liow's colleague who came to pick me at the airport. He helped me check into the hotel as well.
So I waited 7 hours for Mr Liow to touch down, and another 45mins for him to reach the hotel.
It was really an experience of a lifetime. hee. My 1st flight on my own with AN, and Maen.
As for BM, they were both ok but they too suffered from jetlag. They didn't sleep when they should, and slept when it was day time. And both reached, reeking of pee...Had to clean Maen up once AN fell asleep, and Baileys, after Mr Liow reached the hotel. Both are nice and sweet smelling now.
It's VERY dry here. I used to take an hour to dry each of them. Yesterday when I showered them, I only had to towel dry them and they were fluffy in less than 15mins. I somehow liked that fact that they dry fast without needing the blower! That's good news for coat maintenance. hee.
Baileys got to walk around the airport with Mr Liow during their wait. Mr Liow said Baileys got quite a lot of attention from passerbys and they commented that he looked good (erm....he looked sticky and dirty to us when we collected him...quite yucky looking). hee. And apparently, Baileys enjoyed the attention.
Thank God both BM are fine. They've not been pooping and peeing as much as usual. Probably worried they'd pee at the wrong place. B has peed correctly after a wrong miss. M has peed wrongly the 1st time, and a 2nd time at the same wrong place. We managed to get a bottle of odour spray from Walmart this afternoon to clean up that area.
She's started to pee outside now. Better for her coz she's slower in learning where to pee. As for B, he's more interested to smell the shrubs outside than to pee. Fine with me.
Today (26th April in Tucson)
First,we went to open up a bank account today. I brought BM with us, only to realise they are not allowed into the bank. Mr Liow's colleague was so nice. He sat in the car with BM while we settled the bank issue.
We took the furkids back to the hotel while we went on to Foothills Mall. We weren't sure they furkids will be allowed in so to save us another trip, we might as well bring them back 1st.
Foothills mall wasn't as mega as we thought :( And the small buildings surrounding the mall weren't factory outlets too. Double :( Factory outlets are about an hour and half's drive from Sonoran Terrace. Those small buildings are also shopping places. Just smaller outlets. But Walmart is really near. hehe. Thank God!
The mall area I mentioned were just across the road as we expected. hee. We could see S.T from Walmart. I could walk there, if not for the scorching sun. Or drive. Makes more sense to drive (when I can) coz I'd be doing grocery shopping there.
So you can imagine, it's really quite boring here.
Bought food for BM and AN. All 3 kids were had been starving for the past few days. Poor thing :(
The pet section was cool!! The food they sell are definately better than the ones we have back in the supermarket in Singapore. I bought food of a different brand for BM coz obviously Azmira won't be in supermarkets in (I've yet to find out where exactly I can find Azmira). The labels of this one I bought "Maximum" looked ideal too. The only thing is, for BM's size, they need to be fed up to 2 3/4cups of food. Not very ideal coz that meant it's more bulk than nutrients. Better than nothing for this period of hotel stay. I bought minced pork and rice too so I'd make them microwave meals from tomorrow.
They've not pooped yet. Hope no lao sai coz I didn't do any transition at all coz I didn't bring Azmira with me.
AN has only taken half a slice of bread since morning and milk. That was all. Poor girl hasn't eaten much. There wasn't any way I could cook for her here so it'd be all bottled baby food till we get our home. I'll try to make her porridge tho. I brought the slow cooker with me (not the giant ones. She has a tiny one, good for only 1 portion. hehe)
Joined the rest of Mr Liow's colleagues for dinner after coming back to leave the groceries.
It was fun. The restaurant we went to was like a cow boy's bar. An elderly lady with 2 elderly gentlemen sang to us live. Country songs! We had BBQ food (Mr Liow & I had chicken while some had ribs and other parts of other animals which I didn't quite catch. It was verbal menu so there wasn't anything we could look at to choose what we want).
The chicken smelled so nice and tasted good! Mr Liow ordered a chocolate fudge sundae which we shared. Super sinful coz it was full of whipped cream on top of ice cream and super sweet chocolate fudge.
Had a nice introductory session and chats with some of the Enciks.
The whole dinner ended after a gift presentation & thank-you session for the guys leaving Tucson soon after. AN was whining (she's still suffering from jet lag. The experienced ones tell us it'd take 3 days for her and us to adjust. This is day 1).
Off back to the hotel we came. That's all folks. I'll try to update on our events tomorrow.
Not much of pictures coz we were practically rushing whole day long, if not trying to pacifying a hungry and sleepy baby AN. Will upload what I have as soon as I can.
To Diane: I'm fine. hee! The rush was bad at LA airport but I survived! Praise the Lord for His directions and timing. Everything just fell into place at the right time!
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