The flights over here went very well. We were very lucky to have been given business class tickets from Benedikt's company which meant we could wait in the lounges in between the flights too. That really helped.
 We flew on Emirates and so had a chauffeur service to Zurich airport. The kids loved facing us like this and were in good spirits |  Nico, the experienced traveller made himself comfortable immediately ands went into zombie TV mode. We had to force him have a sleep during that first 6 hour flight to Dubai |
 I was sitting in the chair/bed next to Rebecca and had Leo on my lap. I couldn't see her due to the divider between us which was not ideal |  She would holler for me and either Benedikt or one of the lovely crew members would help her. What a madam |
 Lolly was pretty well behaved, he just kept me busy for the first couple of hours |  Then he settled down for a nice sleep thank goodness. Bit of a tight fit in the bassinet! |
 It was really crazy, her little 80cm body in that big bed! They even bought her a mattress. Lucky girl. And lucky us as it meant she slept for a good few hours |  We had a few hours to kill at Dubai airport in the early hours of the morning. Thank goodness for the free prams everywhere as we had to walk loads |
 The second flight which was 8 hours also went well, the crew were amazing, Business class with Emirates really is FABULOUS |  Benedikt got a surprise upgrade to first class, but we had to decline it which was a BUMMER. He would have loved to have left me with the 3 kids! I couldn't take it either as there was no baby allowed with the upgrade, and besides, I was covered in baby puke. So Benedikt stayed with us instead and got Leo to look after. For 5 mins :) |
 Leo had been very restless and kept me awake a lot. So I watched a lot of TV. And drank Moët for breakfast :) We were all VERY happy to eventually arrive in No-Nappies-Singapore |  Our mountain of luggage made it too. 16 pieces in total! Well, all except Nico's booster seat, but Emirates called a day later to say that have it |
We spent our first week in a serviced apartment in a hotel. I found it great. It was all on one level and quite small so I had more control over Leo who explores and climbs everything. It was cleaned daily and had a small kitchen where we could do basic meals. We were opposite from a good shopping mall, we had reliable wifi, super friendly staff and it was well located.
We went grocery shopping (expensive) on our first day and for a bite to eat (cheap-ish). Then to bed. Only to wake up a few hours later ready for the day. Except it was 2am. That happened the first 3 or 4 nights and it was horrible. I am usually a really good sleeper, so to have that taken away from me was torture!
On our second day we were all in various states of sleep deprivation and couldn't co-ordinate our catch up sleeps so took a rest day. Nico had been woken up at 11am by Rebecca, but fell asleep at the breakfast table, so went back to bed until 1pm. I found the jet lag much harder than our February pre trip, possibly due to having 3 small kids to look after!
On our third day we did an excursion. We went to see the Gardens by the Bay. It was a disaster. The heat was brutal. We were all tired and grumpy. Leo wouldn't sleep. I had a nasty headache. And the much anticipated children's play area was closed for renovations!
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It was also Easter Sunday, but doubt that had anything to do with everything being so busy. We had done some last minute easter egg painting (with kokis) and then Benedikt hid them all round the apartment the next morning. Quite pathetic really! But the kids enjoyed it nonetheless.
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Our hotel had a great swimming pool and we spent a lot of time there. Benedikt returned to work on the Monday, so I would take the kids there, it was quite breezy being on the 4th floor. I read my book and drank cocktails while they played. NOT.
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Benedikt didn't work full days thank goodness. He had quite a of admin to get through though, like opening a bank account and getting his work permit etc. We braved IKEA one morning and ordered a replacement couch, dining room table and TV cabinet. I went with the kids one afternoon to Christine, who is the wife of a collegue of Benedikt's. She is super nice and also has 3 kids. All at the Swiss School
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We ate out quite a lot that first week, and when we did eat in, everything was washed up for us. Another reason I was happy there :)
 Our first meal out was Taiwanese. Since then we've had Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Italian (!), Thai and local. |  Fresh juices instead of ice cream. The kids loved them. Maybe I will win the ice cream war after all! |
 Guess how long it took Rebecca to eat that bowl of rice? :) |  Nico mastered it |
 Our favourite meal was at a Vietnamese restaurant |  I am loving the food here. As a vegan there are just SO many options when eating out. Something that I always found difficult in Germany |
We went to our new house a few times too, for the handover first of all. Then to be there for the IKEA deliveries. Then to plan our internet access set up. All very efficient and fast and ZERO hassles
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We visited Nico's new school and got him some school uniform. His classroom (below left) is really nice and his drawer, locker and chair were all ready for him.
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So as you can see, I have started a new blog to cover our time in Asia. Here is a link to my last blog. And just to explain again, Sarah means 'princess' in Hebrew. I don't really regard myself as royalty. Although my fans do
