I’m leaving NZ today, not ready to go yet. Spent the morning packing, barely able to fit everything in 2 bags and my carry on. I had time for a walk up to the war memorial to get a last look at the harbor and mountains then into the Waimapihi Reserve to say goodbye to the bush.
I Ubered to Annemarie’s and caused some last minute stress by leaving my phone in the Uber! Uber’s customer service is basically nonexistent unless you are a ‘Diamond’ member so we resorted to Annemarie FaceTiming my phone until the Uber driver picked up and brought my phone back. Whew! At least it didn’t really affect the time we had left to spend together-we had lunch and got in one last go on the flying fox at her local park before heading to the airport.
At the Wellington airport there is an exhibit of Streetdog bikes, made by KTN, the e-bike company that Owen works for. They are definitely not like any e-bikes I have seen before, very sleek like a 50s style motorcycle.
Annemarie made sure I got all checked in and took a picture of me with Smaug. After lots of hugs and kisses we had to say goodbye. I knew this part was going to be hard after getting to be part of her day-to-day life for so long. But it only has me more motivated to find a way to get back to New Zealand often!
Because I was seated in the back half of the plane to Auckland I boarded and deplaned my flights the old school way – walking across the tarmac and using the stairs into the back of the plane. Not sure if that’s standard practice or because the flight was delayed and they wanted to make up some time. I decided to get some extra exercise and walked the half mile between the domestic and international terminals, instead of taking the shuttle that tastes almost as long as walking. Going through passport control and security took forever (though I love how NZers always work to keep things light, like the sign about being patient if security takes awhile) so I got to the gate just before boarding started. I lucked out with an aisle seat and no one in the seat next to me. What a difference it makes to have the extra space on a 12 hour flight. I realized on the flight from Wellington how lucky I am to have short legs, the guy sitting next to me spent the flight with his knees jabbed into the seat in front-yuck! On the flight to SF, there is a family with a very busy toddler and preschooler sitting across from me. It will be interesting to see if they manage to sleep on the flight!
