The Journey

The Journey

I started off from my friends' flat in Glasgow at 5am (UK time) on Tuesday. I was picked up, graciously, by my friend M at that time who gave me a lift to the airport. Crazy girl, but I was very thankful for it as at that time it had started drizzling and I really didn't fancy a 20 minute walk to the station and then a 25 minute bus ride. Instead it took us a nice 20 minutes to get there.

I arrived at Glasgow airport to find that the desk I was told would be open – Emirates – wouldn't actually be open until 8am. Handy. Especially as my flight left at 8.20am. Panicked, I went over to the Aer Lingus desk. They were the first flight of the day, although it was Emirates who would have my ticket. Thankfully, the ladies there told me that I could just present my passport at the check-in desk when it opened at 6.20am and I'd be able to get my ticket. They said once I got to Dublin, the desk there would be open and I'd be able to get the rest of my paper tickets there. It's the first time in what feels like forever to have a plane ticket in my hand instead of an email print out.

My flight from Glasgow was fairly simple. There was a lot of waiting around until my flight. I hadn't been so early for a flight in ages as I've only taken hand luggage for the past few years. I was very happy to find a Tesco Express and had what will be my last can of Irn-Bru to wake me up. I'm told you can buy it in specialist shops over here for about $4, so they'll be few and far between – and for emergencies only. The plane itself was like a toy plane. It had open propellers, it only had two seats on either side of the aisle and I saw a member of the ground control crew hand the pilot a piece of paper through his window. That's how close they were! I sat next to a sausage skin manufacturer – no joke. Yum. No food on this flight, though I was definitely glad of my Tesco salmon and prawn sandwich when I got to expensive Dublin.

I had about €20 in change from my last trip to Portugal. I bought a pack of cards, a burger king sandwich and a bottle of water. With my last €3 change, I got a pint of lemonade and sat at a window in a bar watching the planes for 2 hours. Obviously a highlight of my trip.

My flight to Dubai was okay. I was happy enough in my aisle seat, but at the same time I was in the very back row and right beside where all the food was prepared – so a bit noisy. I had planned to sleep on this flight but only managed about an hour and a half right after take off before I was woken up for lunch by an air hostess. Or flight attendant, rather. I watched two films and read my book for a bit. The man beside me snored for a bit and well... and 8.5 hour flight isn't as exciting as you think! As a transfer, every time I came off a plane, I had to go back through security again. The coolest x-ray machine was in Sydney!

Dubai airport is huge! It literally took me about 1 hour and 20 minutes to go around Terminal A (of which it actually went all the way up to F or G I think). Most of the airport is duty free. I browsed the book shop for a bit, looked at the gold as I was told to, asked about my flight at a desk (where I was rewarded with a breakfast meal voucher, thank you very much) and finally settled in a big armchair at Costa for a snooze. Two hours later, I wake up cramped. Although still a while before my flight, I decided to go look at the boards early and saw my gate had been announced. I bought a falafel and hummus wrap with my meal ticket. Possibly the best wrap I've ever had and that's saying something. Find the Olive & Fig if you're ever in Dubai! To get to gate C, I had to go down a huge elevator, go on a train and then back up a few escalators. I met a guy from Norway at the gate, and spoke to him for a bit before we were allowed through.

On the next flight, I was rewarded with extra leg room at an emergency exit but no pocket to put my things so I had to hide them all under my blanket at take off. I sat beside an Austrian girl and a German girl, both very friendly. I met another German girl in the waiting area before take off. Here is a picture of them all in Bangkok. It took us about 5 hours to Bangkok, where we waited for 1.5 hours, then another 9 hours to Sydney, where we had another wait and then only 2.75 hours to Christchurch. I slept for a grand total of about 7 hours on these flights, could have been less. I watched some Poirot and a bit of the cartoon version of Robin Hood. I finished my book that I bought in Glasgow (Divergent, recommended by HM). I started my next book, a Kate Mosse historic novel bought for 52 AED in Dubai. All very interesting, I can assure you. I even got one of the German girls, E, to take a picture of me with boomerangs in Sydney airport to prove there was a person behind the camera.

We got to Christchurch at 3.30pm on Thursday. There was an ill man on our flight so we had to wait for medics to come on board to check he wasn't contaminated (and therefore neither were we). While we waited I talked to the flight attendant in front of us. She was from Nigeria and had worked for Emirates for 3 years. She was very kind and was glad of the extra Haribo I left behind on purpose (as they are not allowed to take anything offered by passengers).

I got through customs pretty quickly and I now have one lovely stamp in my passport. I collected my bag and gave up my apple when they searched my bad. I was, however, allowed to keep my chocolate and raisins, much to my happiness, as I doubt I'll be able to find cheap dairy free chocolate here. In Tesco it's only 30p for a 100g bar.

I made it through. My other friendly passengers – one Austrian and one German girl – were nowhere to be seen as I did wait a bit for them, hoping to confirm plans to maybe meet up in Dunedin next month. I might meet them again, you never know. I managed to find a bus leaving for Christchurch centre easily, found my hostel on a main street and was settled in by 5.30pm.

My first night in Christchurch, I walked to a food shop in shorts and t-shirt, the day still a little warm and a lot nicer than Scotland (sorry guys). I made chicken soup back at the hostel and ate hummus on toast. I met a few other hostellers and managed to have a hot shower – which felt amazing!

In the past three days I have managed to get myself a work number, bank account, phone contract and new shoes (jandals!). I have explored some of the city centre, I've been to an open air free cinema to see Great Gatsby and I have joined the local library = free wifi. I have a met a lot of nice people in the hostel – mostly German! - and hope that I'll eventually make some friends here.

Tomorrow I leave the centre for West Melton, a wee village just outside the city centre to a Wwoofing farm. I'll be there a minimum of 5 days, most likely without internet, and it'll be up to my hosts how long they want to keep me there for. I have no plans after that. My friend P arrives in NZ from South Korea on the 11^th of March and until then I don't have many plans. Oh, well, I have one plan... and that is to go to the Hokitika Wildfood's Festival over on the west coast. Eating all sorts of lovely foods (or bugs). Yum.

Signing out now before you get bored of me yapping on so much! I'm off to watch 21 Jump Street with my fellow hostellers. Talk to you soon!

Kirsty

Days in New Zealand: 3.5