Getting There

Day One

A long long day.
We began easily enough. Good sleep and waking about six, ready to go. Breakfast, saying good bye to Kieran, (not Neo!!!) then the last checks and off in the car. Good drive up to Hunua to pick up Paul who took the car home - Shuttle was $70 per person one way – so this was a no-brainer.

Airport 1 Auckland. No fuss, just quietly did our thing and their things and made our way through to boarding to find our flight was delayed - food vouchers helped. Duty Free shopping always seems to tempt you into over-indulging, but still, some perfume and a couple of bottles of scotch and we’re both happy.
Delayed boarding, then we seemed to sit for quite a while once we got into the plane, then we were off.
After three hours, when we should’ve been over New Caledonia, Denise pointed out a brown land mass. The hostess told us we were going up via Brisbane and Cairns. The sunset was quite spectacular lighting up the landscape, outlining river beds and hills.
Films, games, sleep, food - good quality. Getting Denise comfortable.
Landing at Hong Kong at 10.30 pm local time 23° and raining, but terminal nicely air-conditioned so you only realised the humidity going through the air bridge.

Airport 2 Hong Kong. At 10.30 at night not a lot was open and we had less time than we realised. Denise a bit stressed & out of drug sync!! Had a plate-full of Kimchi - Korean cold chilli cabbage. Which was just as well because things didn’t go according to plan. Checked back in and boarded promptly without too much hassle. Then a delay once the doors were shut as they needed some extra paperwork done !?? Out on the runway and first in the queue for takeoff when– “This is your captain speaking, while taxiing out something showed up as faulty which requires a visual inspection so we’re back to the terminal for that.” Back we went, had the visual then joined the queue at the back. Once we were in the air we were informed that the original flight path went over the earthquake zone in Szechwan province and China didn’t want commercial traffic in the area. So we were re-routed up to Beijing and then across Mongolia and Russia. I went to sleep which left Denise seeing the landscapes and cities by night including a spectacular view of Beijing. I caught some of the sights later. Then, more sleep, bridge and movies, until we began flying over the Baltic (saw the coast of Latvia and Lithuania) and Scandinavia (Sweden and Denmark). Wind farms and canola (rape) fields. Then across the top of the Netherlands and up the North Sea to fly up the Thames Estuary and came in at Heathrow after a 13 hour flight instead of the 11 hr 40 min expected.

Airport 3 Heathrow. Arrived Terminal 3 with just under 2 hours to boarding, so the first thing was to get to Terminal 5. Both of us were tired and having looked at the stuff on the Internet I knew what we had to do, but had forgotten to transmit that knowledge or the fact I had it to Denise. So I just wanted to get on with it and follow the “clear” signs and she wanted to check whether we were going in the right direction. Down to the Transit station and walked out into the chilly London air in our lightweight travelling gears - all the temperatures had been in the 20’s according to WeatherDock predictions via weather.com, but the overnight temperatures are much cooler. In a very efficient way we got to the infamous Terminal 5 to find a modern clean building which functioned very well - clear signs, and not too far to walk. Went through their bag search - and had to take our shoes off. For the first time the metal buttons on my shirt didn’t trigger the sensors, but my bottle of aftershave made sure my bag got searched - everything out. What I didn’t realise was I didn’t put my NZ/Europe adapter didn’t get back into my bag. First things first though, toilet stop and shave, only to find the razor didn’t work. An electrical goods store next to the loos weren’t at all helpful. I asked if I could check whether it was the razor, but I’d have to buy a NZ/Brit adapter then find a socket somewhere else - as if! Denise found Boots and got some cold sore cream, then we wandered a bit and found a second set of toilets where – success the razor worked and my face felt happy. Then it was queue up time again. We arrived at the check-in counter just as they called the flight to board so it was all very simple, Until 10.40 came and went, then a group of young people clambered in, and Denise noticed long metal cases being loaded into the cargo hold from a security van. She thought they were musical instruments, but they looked like the size of case that the movies have sniper rifles in. Then the captain spoke saying they had some paperwork they had to do extra and some unspecified loading that had to happen. At one stage there were seven guys loading these cases on. We left nearly 40 mins late. British Airways provide a drink and nuts or muesli bars, and had a hostess who couldn’t work out what we were saying. Nice German woman next to us thought it all a bit odd as she could understand us okay.

Airport 4 Frankfurt. Also arrived here at Terminal 3. Disembarked on the ground and taken by bus to passport control. Not a friendly face in sight as welcome or help. Border booths and surrounds austere and not particularly efficient in organising people. Still, got to pick up the bags through customs - declaring our medication and wines and not even having our bags opened by the friendlier customs men, then got some Euros (the Germans call them “oyros”) Then food. Found a bistro near the bag pick-up area and started lunch. Over half way through we heard a notice about an unclaimed black hand bag somewhere come over. Next moment the police arrived and moved us all out of the area. I finished my Danish pastry and we went to get the train to Frankfurt. Shuttle bus to Station terminal - do we go up or down. From the little I had gleaned we wanted a long distance train, I thought, so up we went and found a ticket booth. No, we wanted the subway. The intercity connections were €12 and the subway €3.60. He was right we did want the subway so off we went, down the escalators to the platform, bought ticket through the machine. Engaged a lovely German woman who helped and reflected on how unwelcoming she felt her reception was by her own people. Got to Frankfurt am Main Hauptbahnhoft to emerge into the streets of Frankfurt with our bags reasonably intact, very tired and wondering how we would cope for the next wee while.

Hotel 1 Hotel Domicil – Best Western. Asked directions and found Karlstraße easily and the Hotel Domicil down the street. Tidy, nice and the room, though small was comfy. First job, just to have a rest, then start to unpack and rearrange, then shower and tea. During the unpacking I discovered the missing plug adapter. Denise remembered a DutyFree shop on our way here so I went back to it to see if they had one, but unfortunately no - not our NZ/Eur type, so I started walking and found myself in the sex-shop part of the city - just around the corner from our hotel too! Got accosted by one or two hawkers who were trying to inveigle customers inside their joints. Round the corner I found a store run by some Pakistanis which had just what I wanted. Then back to the hotel. Told Dania Ruggerio, the receptionist, where I’d been and she pointed me to some savoury dining places. We found Der Alte Oper 10 mins down the road and a plaza with restaurants and Denise chose one - Kubu. Very nice dining, then a walk back to the hotel and thanks to a wonderful lime sorbet with vodka (lots) it was lights out and time to go to sleep. The walk included a number of sculptures in front of buildings (banks mainly) and a in a park. Frankfurt has made an impression on both of us.