The Journey Here - Blog 1......
8 hours of Airport Time
25 Hrs and 35 Mins of Airtime
33 Hours of total travel time
We had done all of our packing on the previous few days so it was a pretty relaxed morning, we packed our car, and we where going to head upto Belfast where we would fly out the next day. We sat in the car, excited and pumped to get our journey started, turned the engine, cough cough, splutter.....and nothing. Tried again, cough cough, splutter.....and nothing. A Big Fat Dud!!! Wonderful, not even left the house yet, and we have issues, good start. (By this point the Heavens had very much opened) We've had one issue before with our car not starting and that was when it was reasonably low on petrol and what it had left over was bad stuff, so we figured it was the same. We sent the Boate parents off to the garage to get some petrol for us. As the garage was just around the corner, and we where very eager to get going, we decided it would be a good idea to try push start it, Jen was in the drivers seat, so I used the force (my legs) and started the car off down the gradual incline of Pine Valley. We bunny hopped a little down the road and Jen managed to get the engine turning over, it was clear the car was not well though. With a few hairy moments on the way to the garage, we chugged up alongside the pump to give the car what it desperately needed, some good clean fuel! After a few miles of high revs and smokey fumes out the back, the bad stuff was cleared and we where on our way!
We spent the night in Belfast with Mr and Mrs B,in a really nice hotel called 'Dukes at Queens' (Right in the middle of the University district, so there was free parking, wuhoo) After too much fatty food consumed, and a pretty excitable nights sleep (meaning, there was very little, infact it was kind of like Christmas, when you know santa is coming in the morning, and all you want to do is sleep so you can wake up quicker, yet, you feel every single toss and turn, and a millienium seems to pass until the sun comes up again) we headed to the Airport. More bye's at the Airport, and onwards we went.
Flight number 1 was with BMI, from Belfast to London (1hr flight)
Verdict: Short but Sweet
Good: Seats where very comfortable and pre chosen so there no 'every man for himself' Ryanair syle, lots of leg room, short journey, no bumps mid air.
Bad: No snacks, no personal entertainment system (although that can be forgiven on a flight from belfast to london)
Landed in Heathrow, 2 hours waiting, Heathrow is massive, nuff said
(The rest of the journey was with Air NZ)
Flight number 2 was from London to Hong Kong (11 hour flight)
Verdict: Long, but reasonably comfortable
Good: Food was really good (Infact suprinsingly edible for Airline food), personal inflight entertainment (movie central), very friendly staff
Bad: Legroom was minimal, it was a night flight so we had to try get some sleep (Never easy when there is roughly 100,000 lbs of Thrust kicking off next to your head), the people infront had their seat back for most of the trip
Landed in Hong Kong, crazy looking airport, super long building, infact its on a island, and there are mountains all around. We did a lot of walking here, trying to keep our blood pumping (good advice for anyone doing ridiculously long flights) Brushed our teeth, washed our faces and moved on....
Flight number 3 was from Hong Kong to Auckland (11 hour flight) (On the same plane, they re-fuelled and restocked)
Verdict: More of the Same (but dragged a lot)
Good: As above
Bad: As above with the added extra of being the 2nd of this type of flight in a very short space of time
Landed in Auckland where it was very sunny, and everyone seemed happy to be living. (Note to anyone flying to Auckland, the runway is very VERY close the edge of the water, but never fear, you do actually land on concrete, much to my relief!)
We indeed where happy to be here, knowing we only had a hop skip and a jump and we had made it. After collecting our bags and being sniffed by some dogs (not any old rabid dog though, these dogs where looking for traces of drugs or bombs, none of which i was praying we had any of)
A short walk outside to the domestic terminal which i would describe as....pleasent (as per the sun that was beating down on our tired and limp bodies)
Flight number 4 was the last one from Auckland to Christchurch (1 hour flight)
Verdict: Short and Great Views
Good: Free snacks and drinks handed out even though we had a 1 hour flight (Take some lessons Mr Ryanair), views from the plane across New Zealand where stunning, mountains, lakes, rivers, beaches, the works basically!!!
Bad: Not much, just dying to get there by this point
And then we landed! We got into the airport, collected our bags, and went to the arrivals area where we where enthusiastically greeted by.......no-one! James was late. We went to ring him, but our phones died, so after hunting around the airport for a spare socket, raking through our bags to get plug convertors, we charged it up enough to try make a call. By which point (20minutes later) James came trundling through the door. Happy as larry that we where there so promptly (As parking was free for the first 10minutes) we exchanged hugs and left for the car.
Pulling into the NZ Chez Ridpath we had done it, Monday we left Dublin, Thursday we arrived in Christchurch! Almost a week of travelling, mintues worth of sleeping, and eating airplane food! We tucked into some cheese on toast, and what is the first thing you want to do after travelling sat down for the past 33 hours, yes, we went and sat down!
We are now currently trying to get over some Jet lag, top up on our tan (its a hot November) and unpack our bags.......
Keep watching this space for more to come on our adventures!
Love and God Bless to you all !!!
Ian and Jen
(or Mr and Mrs Ribpage as the hotel in Belfast liked to call us)
xxx
We are sitting here laughing as we can't believe James was late - not like him at all. Great to hear you arrived safely and NZ put on a spectacular display as you flew from Auckland to Christchurch. It really is a beautiful place.
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