Ako sme prežili 26 hodinovú cestu vo vzduchu

Cestovanie je vždy veľmi vzrušujúce aj únavné. O to viac, ak je na potulkách svetom aj dieťa, a ešte raz tak, ak sú to deti. Pripravení sme boli na všetko. Chýbali nám asi len padáky. Napriek tomu sa plaču, či únave nedá predísť, preto sme si zažili kadečo.

Nevyspaté polomŕtvolky

Nočný let z Viedne do Dubaja bol vyčerpávajúci. Odlietali sme o desiatej večer s našimi už vtedy unavenými deťmi. V duchu sme si mastili ruky, ako dobre, aspoň tých šesť hodín vo vzduchu prespia. No radovanie bolo predčasné. Deti od vzrušenia zaspať nevedeli. Keď ich už lámala skutočná únava, nevedeli zaspať od únavy.  Nabaľovalo sa to, až napokon spať nemohli i ďalší pasažieri v našom okolí. Maroško sa potreboval vyplakať…v nervoch vykopol tácku s jedlom, ktorá krásne dopadla do chodbičky medzi sedadlá. Puding sa rozpleštil na koberec. Ale! Uľavilo sa mu. Puding som z koberca vyčistila a deti zaspali. Trvalo to len tri hodiny, no pre mňa večnosť. Rozvalili sa krížom cez moje sedadlo. O štvrtej ráno vystupovali z lietadla tri nevyspaté polomŕtvolky, deti a ja. Je zaujímavé sledovať ako rýchlo sa dve prebrali k životu. Stačilo im vidieť pristávaciu dráhu plnú lietadiel.

Maroško uchvátený lietadlami na Dubajskom letisku.

Ďalších 13 hodín v lietadle boli už zábavou

Letisko deti skutočne nabudilo aj unavilo. Len čo sme nasadli, zaspali a tata s nimi. Tešil sa na štart jeho slovami „obrovského dvojposchodového erbasu“, no smola. Únava ho predbehla. Po piatich hodinách sa zobudili akože do rána, aj keď už bolo poobede. Vďaka tomu sa aspoň trochu nastavili na novozélandský čas. (12 hodinový posun. Teraz keď píšem tento článok, v Aucklande je sobotné poobede, u nás je však hlboká piatková noc). Po odpočinku  boli chlapci úžasní. Čítali sme si, hrali sa, zabávali ostatných, aj pospali. Tento dlhý let prebiehal napokon ako štandardná štvorhodinová cesta autom k babke do Levoče. Zvyknutí prekonávať diaľky skvele spolupracovali.

Náročné tri lety deti unavili.

„Máte zlaté deti“

Naši usmievaví chlapci lákali pohľady z každej strany. Najviac vzbudzoval záujem náš svetlovlasý, modrooký Maroško. Medzi samými Arabmi, Indmi i Maorami (pôvodní obyvatelia Nového Zélandu) bol jednoducho neprehliadnuteľný. Keď sme po treťom medzipristáti nastupovali do posledného lietadla, jedna staršia pani sa na mňa chápavo pozrela a povedala – ste veľmi odvážni takto cestovať s malými deťmi. Ovešaná turistickým batohom, foťákom, dvomi maličkými batôžkami, s Maroškom v náručí, som sa len usmiala. Najčastejšou reakciou od spolucestujúcich i personálu bola pochvala – máte zlaté deti – počúvali sme to neustále. Moja odpoveď bola vždy rovnaká –je to naše najväčšie šťastie, v opačnom prípade by sme sa s nimi neodvážili cestovať a o to viac, vydať sa na tak ďalekú cestu.

Naši smelí zajkovia na Novom Zélande.

Travelling is always very exciting and tiring at the same time. The more if a child travels around world, and even more if there are two children. We were prepared for everything. Maybe only parachutes were missing. Even though you cannot avoid cry or tiredness, so we experienced a lot.

Cry, meal plate in the air as well as amazement

The night flight from Vienna to Dubai was exhausting. We departed at ten p.m. with children that were already tired. We silently relished, yes, great, they will sleep. But our joy was premature. The children could not sleep because of the excitement. When the real fatigue attacked them, they could not fall asleep just because of the tiredness.  And the problem was raising, so finally other passengers around us could not sleep either. Maroško needed to cry it out… he nervously kicked to the meal plate and it fell to the corridor between chairs. The pudding spread to the carpet. But! He relieved himself. (I cleaned the pudding from the carpet, so why not? J) Finally they slept for three hours. Unfortunately, across my chair. Three sleepy zombies got out of the plane at four a.m. It is interesting to watch how quickly two of them revived. It was enough for them to see the runway full of planes. 

Maroško astonished by planes at the Dubai airport

Other 13 hours in a plane were fun then

The airport was refreshing and tiring for the children at the same time. As soon as we boarded, they fell asleep and daddy with them. He was looking forward to the start of the “huge double-decker airbus”, but pitty. Fatigue was stronger. After five hours they woke up to the morning, even though it was already afternoon. Thanks to that, they set themselves to the New Zealand time a bit. (12 hour shift. When I am writing this article, it’s Saturday afternoon in Auckland, but dead Friday night in our country). Anyway, the relaxed boys were amazing. We were reading, playing, enjoying others, and sleeping. Finally, this long flight was like a standard four hour car trip to grandma in Levoča. They are used to travel like this, so they cooperated greatly.

Tired children after three long flights

“You have sweet children”

Our smiley children were attracting looks from all sides. The most interesting was our blonde, blue-eyed Maroško. Among Arabs, Indians and Maoris (original inhabitants of New Zealand), he was simply standing out a mile. When we were boarding the last plane after the third change, one older lady looked at me with understanding and said – you are very brave to travel with such small children. Packed up with a backpack, a camera, two small bags, with Maroško in my arms, I just smiled. The most frequent reaction of other passengers and the crew was praise – you have sweet children – we heard it again and again. My answer was always same – they are our biggest fortune, otherwise we wouldn’t dare to travel with them, the more for such a long trip.

Our brave bunnies in New Zealand