29 June Auckland

How great to take a walk with my Best Friend in one of my Favourite Places today.

I think I was extra grateful, because when the plane took off from Madrid, it looked unlikely I was going to make my connection in Istanbul. When these particular flights had been issued to me, I had rung the airline to query the transit time – only an hour and a half each in Istanbul and Hong Kong. I was assured it was plenty. But when we had to sit on the tarmac for an hour past our scheduled take-off time, I started to wonder. The cabin crew attendant thought she was reassuring me when she said, “Don’t worry, it’s not your problem. If you don’t make the connection it’s our problem. We’ll get you on the next available flight.” What she wasn’t considering (understandably!) is that my Favourite Son In Australia was currently not in Oz, but staying at home with us for just a few days. I didn’t want to miss seeing him.

Usually when a plane lands, I let everyone else do the rushing-to-be-first-off thing while I remain relaxed and take my time. Not this time. I had my seatbelt undone before the sign had blinked off, and my pack out of the overhead compartment. The Spanish girl sitting beside me had an even tighter connection time than I did and so she was ready to run too. When we made a move, it started a wave of others doing the same….and then the plane started moving again. OOPS we hadn’t arrived yet, so we sat back down, but not before explaining to those around us that we were trying to make a connection. When we finally did stop, we scurried down the stairs, only to be frustrated at the bottom as we had to wait for the amblers who clearly were in no hurry to fill up the bus that would transport us to the terminal. The two of us stood by the door and were first off – we ran – yes, you read that correctly – I, Rachael, who does not ever run except perhaps in Extreme Emergencies, ran. And not just ran. But ran up the stairs – much faster than the passengers on the escalator. I slowed down by the departures board and was DELIGHTED to discover 1) I needed to go to Gate 2 and 2) I was currently beside Gate 1, so Gate 2 presumably wouldn’t be far away. Still I ran. As I screeched to a stop at the Gate 2 Lounge entry, huffing and puffing, and sweating and probably flushed with adrenaline, the official with a stamp asked, “Are you ok?”

“I will be if you tell me I haven’t missed the flight to Auckland.”

Luckily for me, it had been delayed an hour!

Potentially not so good for the Hong Kong connection, but at least I would be much closer to being home.

Just like in Istanbul, we touched down in HK after boarding for my next flight had already started. On the descent into HK I had had a pretty significant nose bleed, so I’d decided I wouldn’t run….but when I saw there were 530 gates I changed my mind! This time I didn’t just slow at the departures board, but came to a complete stop. It was all in Chinese. Hmm. Look around for an English board – and boom – it switched to English. Scan scan scan for the right time and location, but before I could see it I heard a guy say to his wife, “Auckland Gate 6”.

I checked, “Are you going to Auckland with Air New Zealand in half an hour?”

“Less,” he replied and we all started running – it was not going to be such a quick run this time as we were starting at Gate 36 – but at least it wasn’t five hundred and something.

This time when we arrived, boarding had already started. Figuring I was safe now that I was at the gate, I whipped my journal out for a final very quick sketch.

Then my row was called and so I had to stop.

Was I ever happy to be on that plane!

Now the only remaining question was whether the Cheese Bag had accompanied me all the way.

But that’s not the end of the story.

It is now 9:42pm and I’m struggling to keep my eyes open, so the last word will go to GraphGuy. While I’d been sitting at Madrid Airport I’d sent him my last data – before I had even boarded my plane, he had sent these: