After only a few dramas we are here in sunny Carlsbad …. well, OK, not much sun has been seen and it was freezing today but we made it! Great trip over with the good folks at Qantas – they were fantastic with Mike which was great as I know he was quite stressed about the trip. For any plane enthusiasts, the A380 is amazing and the sky-beds and console arrangements are very, very cool …. so cool that Ash couldn’t really get much sleep – there were far too many episodes of Dora and Wiggles to choose from. She was hysterical at one point with the big headphones on and the screen turned around dancing away in the aisle – I can’t believe we didn’t have the video camera handy!

We got off to a great start – all ready on time and everything going gang-busters until we realised we had left the box with all Mike’s medical supplies at home — Oopla! After paying a ridiculous amount to have them raced to the airport in a cab we managed to get all of us and all our stuff on the plane. First lesson learnt – check what you have packed and put it in the car yourself (or at least check the car!!). Second lesson learnt shortly there-after ….. Qantas idea of “meet and assist” very differnt to mine!! Somehow I was supposed to manage child, all hand luggage and crappy airport manual chair on my own …. obviously I looked pathetic b/c i ended up getting some help … lesson 2 – always take electric chair all the way to the gate and make them deal with it there!!! After that, lesson 3 on the flight – always give child phenergen about 3 hours BEFORE you want them to go to sleep not 1 hour after. Anyway, we made it to LA and there was a bit of drama transferring (ie, no-one hurried, Mike’s manual chair was busted up on the flight in to LA — nice one baggage handling guys — get back on strike for more pay – you will need it to pay for all the stuff you bust! Our other bags were masacred too so not entirely sure what happens underneath those big planes.) Anyway, we are in LA with only 2 hrs to transfer flights and get out to the other terminal and no wheelchairs in sight – oh well. Our bags made the flight to San Diego but we didn’t! Seriously scary internal security – given all the hoops you have jump thru to go internationally it seems weird that they are quite happy to send bags without passengers on domestic flights! Anyway, we hooked back up with all our luggage in San Diego, jumped in a hir van and drove on the wrong side of the road with very little sleep- it was great!! We made it to the hotel and settled in to our tiny, tiny little room. So far the carers Mike has had have been fantastic so hopefully that keeps up. We have found a supermarket and are already over how sweet everything is. Ash is being an angel (except that she is still awake now!).

We have found a couple of things to do around town and everything seems quite accessible so far … enough from me for now. Have a great weekend. Will write more once we have been to project Walk on monday.