Loss and Gains - A Tale of Transit

24 hours is a very long time to be in an airplane, even if you get to walk around for an hour half way. I just checked the time and at 7.30pm Saturday night (NZ time) we still have six freaking hours to go before we even reach London.

We were incredibly spoiled by Gin and her family. After a very hectic few weeks packing and saying our goodbyes, Christchurch was just what the doctor ordered. I’ve spoken of the bed and our joy at sinking into the many blankets and the warm air of our guest room. The next morning was no less indulgent, being welcomed into their home by her parents, whom we’d never met, and spending the day lying in front of a wood fire, on thick carpet with views of their chilled and foggy country garden. Not a moment were we cold, despite the rapidly decreasing temperature, which started at 7 degrees Celsius. After weeks of panic, stress, lists, last minute purchases and teary departures, this was pure luxury.

We were spoilt for company, sitting around the big dining table swapping stories and catching up. Gin and I only lived together for 6 months when she gave big city living a try 5 years ago, but we are family, and her parents welcomed Courtney and me as such. It was heartbreaking to hear the real stories of the Christchurch earthquakes. The news doesn’t tell you the horror of a ground-level kindergarten crushed by the stories above it, with no one walking – or toddling, or crawling – out alive.

You don’t stop to consider what happens in the central city aquarium when the many blocks surrounding it are cordoned off for safety. Sharks, an octopus, hundreds of fish - and, from memory, lizards and other native animals – perished when power no longer kept their water pumps going and keepers no longer fed them. Without permissions to go into the central city ‘red zone’, keepers had no choice but to let their beloved marine life die a slow death by starvation, drowning or illness.

To hear the stories that only locals know, and to see the look on Gin’s face as she recounted her own experiences, with sculptures falling around her from the ceiling of Canterbury University, the whole ordeal hit home in a really different way. As much as we sat glued to the TV for days afterwards, aching for the people of Christchurch, it gave us no real indication of what was really happening.

Despite the eye opening conversations of the morning, we were soon back laughing and recounting stories of our time together in Auckland. Courtney and I were incredibly spoiled. Despite not even knowing us until they awoke to find us in their house that morning, Gin’s parents took us out to dinner at an amazing Italian restaurant, refusing to let us pay, and following it with hot chocolates and coffees at their favourite coffee house. We both felt incredibly grateful and spoiled and welcome and it was the perfect start to our holiday.

I could have happily stayed longer, longing for the comfort of that amazing bed, but after all this waiting; our adventures were now waiting for us. Gin and her Dad drove us out to the airport after her Mum hugged us goodbye and invited us to stay for a couple of days on our return trip in September. We were stoked to find that my retentive planning and resultant web-check ins meant we could join a baggage-drop queue of 3 instead of a check-in queue of hundreds, that hadn’t moved by the time we moved on. At least I earned brownie points from Courtney for that one. We waved goodbye to Gin and her Dad and looked at each other, a little incredulous that this was actually it now.

Nineteen and a half hours later, and with another sixteen to go before we actually reach our destination of Athlone, Ireland, we have slept in the most awkward of positions after my plans to stay awake until Irish night time fell apart a few hours in (PS Air Asia seats are made for Asian people, i.e. People that aren’t just shy of 6 foot such as myself), read countless magazines (thanks Nana, love you!) and eaten way too many lollies. We’ve spent a fortune on Air Asia-branded bottled water and smelt the humidity of Malaysian air after gazing down on miles and miles of identical plantation rows. We’ve eaten real Malaysian curry puffs, found Bickfords Creaming Soda (made us think of you Steve!), struggled with Kuala Lumpur’s airport Wi-Fi and failed to find a cheap PSP for a bored Courtney (Malaysia is not cheaper!). 

Courtney managed to leave things on the first two planes and is now very paranoid. The first flight he lost his gloves, which isn't such a big deal. The second flight - his cellphone.

Kuala Lumpur airport did not live up to its reputation as a ‘shopping mall with a few planes on the side’ although we were ushered through an empty and dimly lit ‘holding cell’ of sorts for transit passengers, so I don’t think we saw the best it had to offer, just the departure lounge shops. The highlight was an airport staff member who greeted us with a big ‘Kia Ora’ and then ‘Ka Kite’ (Maori words from back home) accompanied by a proud smile. I’ve read Kendra Wilkinson’s autobiography front to back and Courtney has played more Bubble Blast and Angry Birds than my now-flat phone cares to remember. We have no window on this second flight but according to the Captain we’ve flown over India, Afghanistan, Russia and Eastern Europe and will cross over Holland’s airspace before entering the United Kingdom. We caught glimpses of desert through someone else's window, and only a few hours later, glimpses of snow capped mountains.

We’re looking forward to stretching our legs for our 5 hour stopover in London, hopefully finding a power point somewhere and maybe a café that sells better coffee than Air Asia. We need to find new Sim cards for our phones, and then it’s one more flight to Dublin and a bus to Athlone, our new home away from home for the next 6 days.

As I sit back in my seat with now five and a half hours to go, I’m very thankful this flight is empty and we have 3 seats between the 2 of us. I’d be lying though, if I said I didn’t dream of that beautiful luxurious bed back in Christchurch whenever I closed my eyes.

PS If anyone at home wants to borrow Kendra’s book let me know and I’ll post it at some point so I don’t have to carry it round! xx

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There’s no Turning Back Now

Yesterday was an entirely weird day. The previous night we were at Courtney’s brother’s house saying goodbye to his friends. We got home around midnight and I was too cold and tired to do any packing or sorting. By morning, I was up and ready to go but Courts was a little… seedy, to say the least.

We ambled around getting ready and didn’t even really notice the time getting on. We felt no sense of urgency to get to work and were already running late when we realized we needed petrol as well. We took Monty’s car through the car wash ready for his big return and made it to work half an hour late.

My boss arranged a chocolate cake and took it into the main Contact Centre where she proceeded to embarrass me with speeches from her and our team. I both loved and hated it, but it really did mean a lot. She pulled out a list of stats of my time there, things like having done 30 induction courses for new staff and trained 200 people. It was the 700 phone screens that got me jaw-dropped as recruitment was my least favourite part of the job.

They presented us with a going away gift too – 2 tiki key chains, a traveler’s notebook and 2 tickets to the very top of the Eiffel Tower. I was lost for words, we hadn’t been planning on stretching our budget to get to the top and here they’ve given us an experience that can’t be had anywhere else. Once that was all over (even the GM and head of IT came down which was awesome) I sent a goodbye email to my wider team and said my goodbyes. Courtney, in true Courtney style, took forever saying goodbye, but we finally left around 1pm.

I can’t explain how surreal it was to drive away from work. I know I wanted to leave, to get away from the air conditioning and fluorescent lights, but I’ve still spent the majority of my waking hours there for 4 years – it would have been weirder if it didn't feel a little like leaving home.

We spent the afternoon packing and cleaning and awaited the arrival of Mum and my sister after 5pm. By this time the stress had got to both of us and we were arguing and taking stupid things to heart. Courtney is a leave-it-to-the-last-minute guy whereas I would have had everything ready the night before if I hadn’t been waiting for him to be finished with bits and pieces. Having agreed days ago that the morning of our flight to Christchurch we would start the day in the clothes we would wear on the plane, I thought it was safe to pack everything up. Alas, Courtney needed a shower and afterwards needed everything I had packed up. It was silly but it did really stress me out, knowing we still had stuff to do and yet here we were undoing everything I’d already done.

Saying goodbye to my animals was the worst. Only animal lovers can understand it, but I was more upset leaving them than any humans – I can Skype the humans, I can’t Skype my little furs. I said goodbye to Izzy early on and left him to play in the bedroom with Njaro. We have routines together, he and I. he sleeps under the covers with me and rests on my pillow when he gets too hot. It will be extremely weird not having that. 

Saying goodbye to Toby was even worse. By the time I came to do so, Nurse B’s Mum had arrived to take over house sitting duties and I didn’t want to get upset in front of her. Toby is my buddy, and he’s a Mummy’s boy too. He understands a lot of words, some of which don’t translate when other people say them because it’s the inflection in my voice that he picks up on. I feel like he will be living in a metaphorically darker world for 4 months, all these words in his head and no one saying them. He’s a Border Collie so he is smart and needs mental stimulation. I think it will be like if I went to a small town in China where people spoke broken English at best. I know he will be safe, but he’s still my little boy, and I missed him the second I was in the car.

I didn’t cry saying goodbye to my Mum, sister, Squish, Lobster and Wozz at the airport. It didn’t feel like a big goodbye scene because we were only at a domestic terminal and I knew I was only flying an hour. I was a bit sad when I realized there was a viewing platform and, not knowing about it, they had left already. It really hit me though on the plane. Instead of thinking how 4 months is so short and I want to be in Europe longer, I was thinking how 4 months is so long and I miss my home already.

Everything changed so drastically in one day. There was no resting period between finishing work and leaving, so in one day I left my job, my friends, my animals, my family, my home, my stuff – my sense of normality and grounding. I cried on and off the entire flight, moving between excited and incredibly sad.

It helped that my darling Gin was there to pick us up at the airport and that she had the most comfortable bed ever in the history of the world waiting for us at home. Her house smelled of fire and homeliness and warmth, and it was easy to fall asleep.

Today is a huge day. See you later New Zealand, we’re off exploring.

If you’ve travelled, what did you miss the most? What was the hardest thing to leave behind?

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The Grass is Always Greener

As I mentioned the other day, there has recently been a movement in the blogging world called #Blog4NZ. In the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake, interest in visiting NZ took a nosedive. You can't blame anyone really, I have to admit to thinking 'thank goodness we're leaving soon' in the shock that followed the disaster.
The thing is though, that us Kiwi's, we're survivors. As much as I struggle to know what to believe about the powers that be, only someone that has been here can explain the energy that comes from the earth beneath us in this damn fine country. I suppose if you've lived here all your life, you may not know there's a difference, but there is, and I have to say I think us Kiwi's learnt a thing or two from this land we call home.



http://topnews.net.nz/



New Zealand has a reputation for being clean and green. Most of the time, we live up to this reputation, but it's not so much the lack of smog and litter - the air, earth and water feel more pure the second you leave the cities and enter 'real' New Zealand.

This is the point that I admit I am not the best advocate for New Zealand. Why? Because I've seen so little of it. Growing up we explored much of Northland and the Coromandel, but if you look on a map, that's not much of the country at all. I can wax lyrical about Cape Reinga, our most northern tip, or about Pauanui, my favourite holiday spot. I can speak of long wild beaches and lazy beach towns. But until last year, I'd never set foot on the South Island.

I feel incredibly lucky that I saw Christchurch before the quake, and even luckier that I wasn't there several months later when the shaking started (by all accounts it hasn't really stopped since). I've seen Wellington twice, and Rotorua once but that's about the extent of my exploration.

On the flip side, I've explored Gold Coast, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth in Australia, and New York, Washington DC, Memphis, Nashville, Las Vegas and LA in the States. I've been to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands and as you all know I'll see 9 new countries this year when we tour Europe. So I'm a little ashamed that I know so little of my home.

Many of the #blog4NZ posts I've seen have been from Americans and Canadians, among many others from around the world. They speak so highly of our country and share so many amazing stories and pictures. So, after we get through Europe and settle in, probably after the Long Haired Boy finishes his degree, I have a feeling we'll be off to pick fruit in orchards, walk through national parks, taste our wines and see our southern most tip.

How much have you seen of your own country compared to the rest of the world? What is one thing in your own country you haven't done but really want to?

Out with the Old and in with the New

Another Friday, another weekend! And of course, another Europe update.

First things first, I have sold my car! A little earlier than anticipated, but it's gone now so it's too late to change my mind. The bike has had a few issues lately and those issues have been costly, so we really needed a bit of extra income. My car isn't anything flash so I put a sign on it and figured that since I only really use it for groceries once a week and we live in a dead-end street, it would take while to sell.

Not so! Within a couple of days we had two offers, both from people that live on our street. This is where we learn a lesson in how to get what you want - try being a nice person. Simple right? Offer One came from three gentlemen who were poking at the car as it sat outside my house. I was on my way out and only happened to cross paths with them but I let them have a look. I popped the bonnet for them and they promptly started twisting and turning things before letting themselves into the car as I stood talking to Courtney and driving it back and forwards. Not a huge deal, but wouldn't you ask first?

The offered $800 and despite us saying several times, more and more sternly with each breath, that we couldn't go below $900, they ended up walking away saying they would take the car and bring us $800 on Monday. They blatantly ignored us, speaking in their own language to each other, and tried to bully us into the lower price.

Offer Two came the next day from a really lovely family whose own car had just died on them the day before. They were polite, built rapport by joking with us and chatting, asked permission before doing anything to the car, and went out of their way to get the money for us as quickly as possible. Despite telling the first group we wouldn't go below $900, I happily sold it to these people for $850, because they were nice to me. It's not that difficult people!

In the end, I'm very happy. I had budgeted a minimum of $800 from the car to take to Europe, and with precision timing, Natalie's new car is coming home with us from a weekend away in Napier this weekend so we won't be stranded with the groceries!

The other big news is that all the accommodation for Europe is sorted! This is a huge milestone for me as the last few places had proven to be quite the headache to arrange. In the end, everything fell into place. Not all places take bookings in advance, but we have emails from each stating as such, and I will print them out to take along just in case.

I really don't want to plan out every day or anything like that - the element of adventure and exploring is the best bit! But travelling in high-season means many places will book out, so we have tried to book our accommodation in areas central to multiple towns, and for a minimum of a week unless we're en route. Hopefully this means we can still explore and enjoy the attraction of the unplanned unknown, but from the safety and security of a home base.

The only other exciting news I have is that I have upgraded from an old Nokia brick phone that couldn't do anything but call and text to an HTC Desire smartphone. It's like jumping and ending up on the moon, it's so different! Despite our tight budget, we realised that a smartphone would be far handier in Europe than what we had and by selling my old phone, iPod Touch and Navman on Trade Me, it hasn't really cost us anything to upgrade. Not only does the HTC do everything those three things did, but it does more. It's ultimately a much better choice.

For now, we are off to Napier to visit Courtney and Natalie's family. I've only been once before but I loved it! Beautiful weather, open spaces, quiet roads. I came back feeling so relaxed and refreshed. If you ever come to New Zealand, don't go past it. Check out the #blog4NZ posts that have cropped up all over the web this week. Bloggers the world over have written about their experiences with our beautiful country in an effort to mend our reputation after the devastating Christchurch earthquake. I was a little late out of the gate and I feel bad for that, but I can still encourage you all to read up - some of the posts have even inspired me, a born and bred kiwi, to see more of this country I call home. Search Blog4NZ on the web or #blog4nz on Twitter.

Europe-y Bits and Pieces

www.zwani.com

Friday! This means Europe update time! And that tomorrow is the weekend, which to be honest is probably more important. Who am I kidding, it's definitely more important.

I'm starting to feel a bit more relaxed about our trip now. Not that I was uptight or anything before, but the to-do list is getting shorter, almost everything that has to have a deposit has one, and the savings for actually eating and fuelling the bike can start to rack up. With 84 sleeps to go it's not a minute too soon.

Courtney has booked his full car license and sits it on the 24th (wish him luck!). He won't be driving a car while we're over there, but he's getting it anyway to avoid any confusion in the translated International Drivers Permit. It would be a nightmare trying to explain to a cop that yes that does say Restricted but he does have a full bike license, really!

I finally, fiiiiinally, booked our flight to Christchurch to begin our trip too. We are flying with AirAsia, and they only fly out of Christchurch, which is an 80 minute flight from Auckland. Even with the additional flights, we save hundreds of dollars. We've timed the trip so that we get to Christchurch 24 hours before we leave and can spend the day with a dear friend of mine, Gin. Gin lived with me many years ago and is like a very far away little sister that I don't get to see nearly enough. After the horrible Christchurch quake, during which she was at University and had pieces of building falling around her, I am even more anxious than usual to see her. I can't think of a better way to start the trip!

http://babyccinokids.com

I also booked a walking tour through Athens for the two of us. Every other city we plan on visiting, we are looking forward to exploring at our own pace, learning as we explore. Athens is a bit different for me though. Classical Studies was my favourite subject at school and I have a couple of papers towards a degree in it, that I did out of interest only. I want to hear as much information as possible about the ruins we see. It's one thing to see them in books and online but I'd hate to completely miss something super exciting (to me, at least) just because I didn't recognise it out of that context. The company I booked through only employs University graduates who have studied to be tour guides. Who would have thought you could do that. Poor old Courtney won't suffer for too long though, the tour is 3 hours long and includes only 45 minutes of walking. After that, we have days to explore on our own.

We've finally booked accommodation for Rome, at Plus Camping Roma, but I still can't find anything in Barcelona. Actually, that's not true. I found three campsites, via Barcelona Tourist Guide. Camping Masnou was too small - as in, they have no website and you can't book online. Camping Barcelona was too big - as in, we could have stayed at a hotel for what they quoted. Camping Tres Estrellas was juuuuust right - but they didn't reply to any of our emails. So we're back to square one. Hostels don't have parking for bikes, Hotels are too expensive, and if we stay out of town the prices don't seem to differ from the most expensive we found near town, so there's little point. What a defeatist attitude! I feel a little defeated.

So close to having all of our accommodation booked, but the last few are proving the most difficult. It will be such a good feeling when it's all ready to go though!



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