The Longest Day: Our Trip Around the World

We did it. We’re home.

Grandma’s house. American soil. Everyone here is settling in.

It wasn’t easy.

Three flights. Four airports. Two toddlers. Eight suitcases. Thirty-two hours gate-to-gate.

KL to Cleveland is a ten-thousand-mile odyssey that will grind your biorhythms to dust. I’ve made the trip a few times, but never before with kids.

It was quite a ride.

Setting Out

I woke up on my final day in Malaysia and took some time to enjoy the morning. The air was calm and misty. I drank coffee and watched my father-in-law water his plants.

I’ll miss those quiet mornings in the Kampung. It was my favorite time to relax and reflect, or get some work done before the kids woke up.

We had an evening departure and the first task was a trip to the clinic for mandatory covid tests. Everyone came up negative (thank God). We finished packing and prepping and loaded two cars with everything we owned.

Pulling out of the driveway, I felt a powerful wave of sadness. I enjoyed this kampung home for three amazing years. It’s a special place, and it was emotional to leave.

We drove two hours to the airport and wrangled all our bags onto three giant carts. It was a bit much.

We brought books and clothes and car seats and computers. Photo albums. Personal effects. I had a backpack full of important documents and a duffel bag of kids stuff for the plane. The sheer mass of it all was overwhelming, but we were in good spirits and ready to fly.

We booked Qatar Airways for this trip. I’d never flown Qatar before, but my mom recommended it and put us up in business class.

Fun fact: I came to Malaysia through Tokyo, and departed via Qatar. I crossed three oceans and four continents and made an entire lap around the world.

Check-in was smooth, and it was nice to shed our copious luggage. Then came the hardest part of any journey: saying goodbyes.

My Malaysian family was so good to me. Especially Su’s parents. They housed me and fed me and drove me around and helped with my kids. We went through A LOT together. I’m forever grateful for their love.

After clearing immigration, we took a quick train to our terminal. I had a checklist of milestones to tick off as we progressed along our way. Twenty-two items ranging from, “Find the airport lounge” to “Fly fourteen hours to New York”. It helped me compartmentalize the trip a bit. (A bit.) And gave me a small sense of accomplishment every time I checked an item off the list.

We camped in the lounge for a while and tried to keep the kids from running amok. I felt a mix of excitement and nerves. We were finally setting out, but still had so much journey ahead…

Wheels Up

When the time came, we boarded our first aircraft and strapped the kids into their seats. Adam enjoyed the entertainment but got upset each time the PA interrupted his cartoon. 

That whole first flight was mostly a blur. We flew seven-and-a-half hours to Qatar and landed at three in the morning. I never really slept because I was anxiously checking on kids every time I heard a noise. They both cried during the descent (probably the pressure drop) and there was a point where I definitely felt like “that parent” with two screaming toddlers.

Everyone survived, and we deplaned in Doha all bleary-eyed and cranky. I followed a Qatar Airways rep as she led us through a maze of terminals and dropped us at the airport lounge. Our layover at this point was two hours. I would have loved to take a shower, but all I really did was change diapers and keep tantrums at bay.

We eventually boarded our next flight (fourteen hours to JFK) and Leila passed out before the plane even left the gate.

This was surely the longest flight I’ve ever endured. All my previous trips went through Tokyo, which is only 12 or 13 hours depending on where you connect. (Only.) I stayed busy taming children while watching chunks of Into the Spider-Verse when I had the chance. At one point after like six hours I checked the flight map and we were barely approaching Spain. I stopped checking after that.

The grind was made somewhat more bearable in that we had awesome accommodations. Our business class suite was like a little private pod. The seats laid flat and the food and service were amazing. I don’t know how we would have survived the trip in economy and I’m grateful we didn’t have to.

The kids were as good as you could expect for such an ordeal. They both slept on and off and stayed relatively quiet as I plied them with movies and snacks. When we finally landed in New York, they both went wild and let it out.

Navigating our next connection was another series of benchmarks on my list. First we went through immigration, where my year-long toil for American visas and passports paid off. The kids entered America for the first time (as U.S. citizens) and my wife officially became a Legal Permanent Resident.

After that we had to collect our luggage and go through customs. I had been dreading this as we had so much freaking stuff. (Six suitcases, two car seats, five carry-ons, two toddlers and a stroller). I bought three carts and ran around the conveyors while Leila threw a tantrum. Thankfully, some airport attendant saw us struggling and helped haul our massive load through the checkpoint.

Next we had to go back through security and do the whole TSA rigmarole. Apparently our stroller set off some substance alarm, which meant Su and I both got fairly invasive pat-downs. By that point I was just like, “Do whatever you gotta do.” We had made it. We were on American soil.

Our final flight was a two-hour jaunt from JFK to Cleveland. It felt like a breeze after everything we’d been through, but it was not without incident. Both kids got pretty cranky until a woman behind us offered lollipops. I gladly took this candy from a stranger and enjoyed some quiet time until Leila threw up in my lap.

Home

Finally, finally, finally, we touched down in Cleveland, Ohio. My mom was there to greet us along with my good friend Matt. We were exhausted, but happy. My car seats hadn’t arrived, but I didn’t care. (They were delivered overnight.)

We collected the rest of our bags and dove home. It was all familiar, but different. Satisfying, but surreal. Everyone was jet lagged and disoriented after crossing twelve time zones, but the kids took time to explore their new digs.

Since then, it’s been a few weeks of adjustment and settling in. We finally got over the jet lag and the weather has been amazing. We’ve been taking the kids to parks or playgrounds almost every day.

There’s been a lot of logistical stuff to deal with relocating halfway around the world. We got new phone numbers and I’ve spent hours trying to negotiate American healthcare. I had to retake my driver’s test (I passed!) and helped my mom buy a new car.

All in all, it feels great to be back. We hit an awesome time of year with pleasant weather and pretty blooms.

I’ve met good friends and family I hadn’t seen in years, and got to do American stuff like watch baseball and cook a steak.

Next time we make the trip, my wife and I agreed we’ll change a few things up. The first is pack lighter. Much lighter. Of course this was a move rather than a holiday, so we had to bring a lot of stuff we’d never ordinarily pack along. Even so, our carry-ons were too heavy and it made navigating airports a pain. This was our first time flying with kids, and we didn’t know what we would actually use. I overdid it with books and toys and stuffed everything so tight I had to unpack half the bag to take them out.

The second thing we’d do is use a layover to break up the trip. Slamming those back-to-back long hauls is too much with young kids. I kind of just wanted to power through and get home, but next time we’ll stop somewhere in the middle so everyone can get their bearings between flights.

The whole thing was such a monumental endeavor, I have to give myself credit for pulling it off. From all the planning and prep work to shepherding my family across the globe, it all came together and I like to think my dad would be proud.

Now I have some time to settle in and catch my breath. We’re living with my mom for a while until we’re ready for our own place. It was a hell of a journey, and something I’ll always look back on with fun stories for the kids.

We’re Americans now. Again. I’ll miss our quiet kampung home, but I’m excited for the path in front of us. I’ve come through stronger and wiser with many notches on my belt.

If you ever have questions about my travels, drop me a line. Until then, I’m back in the house I grew up, doing it all again with kids of my own.

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