Mum and I left Tauranga at 5pm on Sunday to get to Auckland airport at around 7.30pm. Because I had never flown through the USA before, and clearly my information gathering skills are lacking at the moment, I didn't realise you needed a visa waiver to transfer through an American airport. This obviously created a few moments of stress. The servers which issue the visa waiver were down at Auckland Airport, so I had to wait half and hour before I could get it. Although, once I went back to the customer service counter for the second time everything went smoothly.
Mark came to say goodbye at the airport, and gifted me a paua shell. We all had a hot chocolate, then it was time for me to go through security. My flight was scheduled to leave at quarter to eleven that night, but I am sure it left quite a bit later. For some reason they made us get our passports and boarding passes checked twice before we boarded. Everyone was waiting in the boarding lounge when they called us back to the start of the gate to get our boarding passes checked for the second time.
I was on the same plane, in exactly the same seat, from Auckland to LA, and then LA to Heathrow. There was an empty seat in between me and a girl going to start a job in London on the aisle side. I managed to sleep for over six hours on the first flight, and around four on the second. And surprise, it was a clear day in London, so I am glad I scored that window seat. I wasn't too tired when I got to Heathrow but there was a fair bit of waiting around to board the flight to Vienna. On the plane I fell asleep so it went super speedy. I opened my eyes as we were about one meter off the ground from landing, it gave me such a fright, my stomach did not like that shock at all.
I'm staying in Vienna for the day before I fly to Istanbul. Coming into Vienna felt like coming back to my second home. It's so familiar, and many things I had forgotten about this city came back to me last night as I ventured to my hotel.
Living back in New Zealand for the last three years has been amazing, but at times it has been hard. A small part of me wouldn’t let myself get attached to things there. I held back my willingness to make commitments because I knew I wanted to be somewhere else, but I didn't know where that somewhere else was.. New Zealand has my heart, it will always be home. Though right now my curiosity and wanderlust have the better of me. So here I am, in Europe again.
Video of Tauranga to Auckland.
Mark came to say goodbye at the airport, and gifted me a paua shell. We all had a hot chocolate, then it was time for me to go through security. My flight was scheduled to leave at quarter to eleven that night, but I am sure it left quite a bit later. For some reason they made us get our passports and boarding passes checked twice before we boarded. Everyone was waiting in the boarding lounge when they called us back to the start of the gate to get our boarding passes checked for the second time.
I was on the same plane, in exactly the same seat, from Auckland to LA, and then LA to Heathrow. There was an empty seat in between me and a girl going to start a job in London on the aisle side. I managed to sleep for over six hours on the first flight, and around four on the second. And surprise, it was a clear day in London, so I am glad I scored that window seat. I wasn't too tired when I got to Heathrow but there was a fair bit of waiting around to board the flight to Vienna. On the plane I fell asleep so it went super speedy. I opened my eyes as we were about one meter off the ground from landing, it gave me such a fright, my stomach did not like that shock at all.
I'm staying in Vienna for the day before I fly to Istanbul. Coming into Vienna felt like coming back to my second home. It's so familiar, and many things I had forgotten about this city came back to me last night as I ventured to my hotel.
Living back in New Zealand for the last three years has been amazing, but at times it has been hard. A small part of me wouldn’t let myself get attached to things there. I held back my willingness to make commitments because I knew I wanted to be somewhere else, but I didn't know where that somewhere else was.. New Zealand has my heart, it will always be home. Though right now my curiosity and wanderlust have the better of me. So here I am, in Europe again.
Video of Tauranga to Auckland.