Day 1 – Saturday 14 September 2024

The final lead up to the holiday has been less than ideal. After months of careful planning I hoped to feel on top of things and to be able to cruise into the trip with pre-holiday relaxation vibes.  4 days ago what I thought was spring hay fever descended, took root and became a head cold virus that shared the love with Vernon being sick with it too.  For me, it ruined my sleep for the 3 nights prior, with fits of coughing resulting in less sleep than a new mother.

My head felt like it was filled with cotton wool and I was over everything and could not really attend to any last minute checking or details with any clarity.  I have already discovered I forgot to pack my teva sandles despite them being on the list …..as my sweaty feet reminded me at Singapore airport.

Ah well things could have been worse. More important matters were attended to with ‘Uncle Roger’ settling in to look after Miss Bella and our home. We were ready for bed by 9:40pm the night before which is probably a record for us.  What was not done, no longer mattered. We triple checked our passports, foreign currency card, and with devices and new power bank we were ready.

The alarm woke us sharply at 5:45am and after a quick get ready fortifying coffee, we were waved bye bye by Bella and Uncle as the dented Uber car took us out the drive in the early morning light to Tauranga airport.

Bags checked in, and just within their bulging weight limit, we waited for our flight that was delayed 15 minutes. We arrived in Auckland at 0800 with oodles of time before our international flight with Singapore airlines at 14:00.  Hindsight number 1 – perhaps I was over cautious not booking a later flight of 9-10am – as this made for a long day.  Maybe yes, maybe no – often these flights are cancelled or there could have been fog this time of year, that may have put our flight at risk.

We made good use of our time by taking in as much exercise as possible and continuing to pre-load water fluids. We shared a relaxed egg bene and checked in our bags as soon as we could, to get to the departures side.  There waiting for me was my new camera body – I upgraded my A6500 with the newer A7000.  I have so missed having a real camera, since selling my older one to fund this.  High hopes for some amazing captures, especially the Northern lights!

The flight with Singapore Airlines was very comfortable, albeit with lots of warnings regarding turbulence prompted from the unpleasant incident in earlier this year in May.  The flight was full – actually overbooked and we had secured seats right at the back which was quite good – as we could recline without disturbing anyone, and it was easy to get up and stretch and toilet. The food was excellent for airline food – especially the chicken dishes Vernon chose.  

Jet lag. Now I am no medical expert, however we have been blessed to never have had jet lag.  From day one, this has been our recipe for success.  1. If you can, get a good sleep the night before, even if it costs you to stay at the airport. 2. Make sure if you are not already in the habit of being fully hydrated, to be onto it for at least every day for 3 days before travel, AND including the day of travel – no last minute drinky drinky. 4. Add in some good natural jet lag supplement pills for the flight such as Kathmandu ones (but they no longer make them) or there was the Arepa flight hydrating drinks? (Note this time no pills or hydrating drinks and so far so good). 5. Watch your drinking on the flight – sugar, caffeine, alcohol.  We enjoy all the latter, but very moderately and always up the water to compensate. 6.  Drink lots of water on the flight even if you don’t feel like it.  Aim for a large glass 300ml per hour if not more. 7.  Do get up regularly and do all those embarrassing movements like you actually go to the gym and do yoga, when your body demonstrates you don’t! 8. Wear good compression socks. 9. If possible before the flight get in some exercise, even a brisk 20 minute walk.  

For cat napping on the plane we have ‘turtle original’ neck collars.  Love them. Enough said. Good ear plus also assist.  Even if you cant sleep, you can still do some deep relaxation.

We arrived to a tropical humid 28 degrees welcome at 9:45pm local time.  The scanners did not like our passport photos and the reality check, so we had to be manually processed.  It told me to take my mask off? Really? And Vern, the promising beard he is sporting is very different from the clean shaven man on the passport. Well, to be fair we did not get told the reason, but duly processed and finger printed we exited and set out to find our airport hotel.  

Even with directions, we took an unintentional long cut of double the expected distance – probably about 2.5km total.  We had planned to enjoy the indoor waterfall and Jewel area however it was later than expected and we were starting to feel tired and figured we would do it on the way back as the prospect of stretching out flat was more attractive.  It seemed a lively Saturday night with many happy travellers and locals enjoying the shops and eateries. The aromas were tantalising.  I do wonder what sauerkraut fish is though?

I had pre checked into the hotel so it didn’t take long to confirm my identity and pick up the key. More lost in translation directions, another long cut, sweat running down my back into my errr undies, and finally we got to our room.  I had been up 23 hours by this stage due to my cough interrupted sleep the night before and the ungodly early start.  

Vern is like our daughter or other way around.  When tired, he is really grumpy and does not function and will simply go to bed or sleep upside down in a tree – but he will sleep. Me, I get over tired but can function adequately, however am best not talking to anyone as my fuse is not just short, its nasty.

Accordingly, with as little conversation as possible we showered and fell into the super king size bed as swiftly as possible.  Thank God, I had a great sleep, only one coughing session, but a pretty good 6-7 hours before the alarm woke us at 5:45 to head down to breakfast downstairs, before checking in at 0700.