This is a „true“ travel note, because today is the „never ending plane ride“ from Sydney to Beijing via Singapore. We flew down from northern Queensland the night before and checked into the Mercure Sydney Airport hotel close to the international terminal. We organised the hotel shuttle for 5.40 a.m this morning!

This is also the perfect test for my TravelTec as I had to get in touch with my friend in Beijing who would be picking us up as well as talk to my secretary at work in Zermatt. When we left Sydney at 8.00 in the morning, it was only 6.00 in Beijing and only midnight at home in Zermatt, so no phone calls would be made just yet. Having my TravelTec already set to the two different time zones made it child’s play to figure out when to call.

Our flight to Singapore was an enjoyable one as we flew on Singapore Airlines which is notably one of the best in the world. The kids were happy as they each enjoyed their personal play-station/video/TV on the back of the seats in front of them. The food was quite good – much better than the normal plane fare that we have had on other flights – and the seven hour flight to Singapore went more quicker than I could imagine!

Singapore airport is a real treat to spend some time at and the 2 ½ hour layover passed by without us even beginning to get bored. Of course, the entire airport is more like a huge shopping mall, than it is an airport. Larissa, our oldest, was able to take the laptop and email her friends back in Switzerland. Callum and Bryany enjoyed the fish pond in the middle of the airport and Margaret simply spent some time “shopping” at some of the many boutiques. As usual Swiss chocolate was on sale as it usually is and we had to pick up a box to bring along with us as a small house gift for my friend Ed Williams, who would be our host in China. We had arrived in Singapore at 2.30 p.m. which my TravelTec told me was 8.30 a.m. back in Switzerland. I was able to make my phone call, but my daughter didn’t find any of her friends up and out of bed on a Saturday morning for MSN duties.

On the second flight to Beijing, we had another 5 ½ hours of flying time and both of our youngest fell asleep nearly at the start of the flight. We arrived at 10.30 p.m and cleared customs after 11.00 p.m. Our body clocks were still on Sydney time, which was 1.00 a.m.

Luckily Ed was there to pick us up and we made the trip home, arriving shortly before 1.00 a.m. Beijing time. Needless to say, everyone was so excited that we had finally arrived in Beijing AND that Ed had picked us up and brought us back to his comfortable apartment in the middle of town, that we all stayed up until nearly 3.00 a.m. talking, chatting and drinking some very enjoyable French red wine.