On my way...

Here I am at Auckland Airport - I’m on my way... There's WiFi internet access at the airport, but the minute you get connected they reduce the signal down to one bar, which isn't actually any use to anyone. Rats! Guess they want people to pay for their internet access instead. Ah well. So I'm going to have to save this and post it later on. [posted in HK 12 hours later]

It's the most beautiful blue-sky day today. Not a breath of wind in Wellington (Yes! I know! Incredible!) and none here in Auckers either. Which, seeing as I'm a somewhat reluctant flyer, is very good news indeed. Mt Taranaki was visible through my window as we flew up here, and it looked quite magnificent. It was covered in snow pretty much the whole way down, shining pristine and untouched.

The geography of Taranaki always amazes me - the land surrounding it is so completely dead flat, and then suddenly you have this classic cone-shaped volcano rising sharply out of the rural landscape like some kind of alien insertion- its borders delineated by the almost-perfect circle of native bush that surrounds it. It's quite wonderful.

I haven't had much sleep - a little over 5 hours last night - I was far too keyed-up to go to bed early, plus I had to do stuff like finish my GST, pack my stuff, water the plants, wash the dishes etc etc. It's all done (hooray!) and I managed to cross pretty much everything off my list in the end. Go me!

I think I've packed everything I need. I'll probably realise something vital I've forgotten when we're somewhere over the Pacific, but I figure as long as you've got your credit card, your e-ticket and at least one passport, you'll be fine. :) A phone is useful too, especially if it has your sister's number and address in it!

I had a funny dream last night. I dreamed that Winnie decided to come home, so she walked all the way from the cattery to my house, somehow got in through the locked cat door, and crawled into bed with me. As she's my automatic sleep-inducer (I fall instantly asleep if she curls up under the covers with me), this was a very restful dream, to say the least. I miss her and Bailey already.

So. The flight to Hong Kong is 11 hours and 40 minutes, which I guess is just about bearable. That's similar to the NZ-LA flight I've done a few times. Then it's 3 hours mooching around in Hong Kong airport (probably only two once we've done the taxiing around the runways and getting off the plane thing) and then it's another 12 hours 50 minutes to London. Ugh.

I hatehatehate flying to Europe. It's why I go back to England so rarely - that 24-hours-in-a-plane thing is just no fun at all. Ah well. It was worse last time I was in Europe - I left from Lanzarote, so I had to fly Lanzarote-Madrid-Heathrow-Bangkok-Auckland-Wellington - with a 6-hour wait at Heathrow, 3 hours in Bangkok (I had a foot massage! It was heaven!) and another 4 hour wait in Christchurch, when we were diverted there due to fog in Auckland. At least we didn't have to fly back up to Auckland in order to fly back down again to Wellington, which is what they were suggesting at one stage. Heh.

Hopefully once we're airborne I’ll feel inspired to blog about something of great social and political import (thanks, Janis!) instead of all this mememe stuff. We shall see.

Hopefully I won't be sat next to some huge snoring person who keeps jabbing me in the ribs with her elbow the whole way (True story! After an hour or so I got out of my seat by climbing over her, found a steward and burst into tears. He offered me a cup of tea and moved me to an empty row of three seats, where I could lie down and sleep. Bliss!).

Hopefully also I won't be sat next to some loud American who drinks bottle after bottle of red wine, gets absolutely hammered, attempts to engage me in loud political debate which keeps the neighbours awake and gets him shusshed, and then proceeds to try and put his head on my lap and grope me all the way to our destination. Bleagh. I couldn't move that time, as the plane was pretty much full.

Heh. Here’s hoping! The majority of the people waiting for our plane appear to be Hong Kong Chinese - which means they are not fat, and are probably not obnoxious Americans either. The cabin staff have just been beeped through onto the plane, so I guess we might be boarding fairly soon.

Technorati tags: holidays, England, New Zealand, air travel, Taranaki.