Travel Diary - Day One

Day One

As trips go, not particularly eventful. The plane from Dunedin was delayed 30 minutes on the tarmac to take on extra fuel. Then the plane in Auckland was delayed 2 hours for who knows what reason. I did get to see a whole lot of old friends for the short time I was in Papakura. It was the local Boys Brigade 60^th Anniversary and there were lots of people I hadn’t seen in a long time. That was good.

Back to the plane, we finally boarded a little after 8pm. The plane was packed full. I had been given a window seat and when I got there a lady had already made herself at home. I couldn’t be bothered making anything of it and in the end that was a good thing because it was much easier to get up and wander around from there. Her name was Vanessa and it turned out she had done a theology degree, had taught English in Japan and was heading to BA with the thought of doing the same thing there. We covered some pretty deep theology as we went and easily filled three hours of conversation. Most of the rest of the flight was spent sleeping or reading.

Arriving in BA and processing through customs was a piece of cake – they didn’t even look at my luggage. I found a bus/taxi combo to get me to my hotel – just under $20 for a 75min bus ride and then a shared taxi. The most interesting sight from the bus, apart from all the motorcyclists in shorts and t-shirts and no helmet, was hundreds of people picnicking on the green belts beside the motorway – and that includes the green bits in the cloverleaf areas. The taxi ride was something else – why pay for a roller coaster ride when you can travel by taxi in BA! Whew! But it was definitely fun.

My hotel room is rather nice and even has a couple of TV channels in English with Spanish subtitles. I don’t think it would take all that long to learn the language if I was going to be here any length of time. There are enough similarities to English and sufficient translations all over the place that I would pick it up fairly quickly. The great thing about my room is that it has an airconditioner. I enjoy the heat (it was 33° when we arrived) but having it a little cooler to sleep is definitely a good point.

Dinner, at 9pm, was pizza from a pizzeria just around the corner from the hotel. Good pizza, if a little much – a very similar setup to what Ruth and I experienced in Rome – you could order a piece of ready cooked pizza that was then heated up for you, or you could order a full pizza. The pizza was good and the chef was a rugby fanatic who wanted to talk about the Pumas and the All Blacks and how the All Blacks were the greatest team on the planet – he obviously hasn’t been following the Tri-nations recently!

The bed is decent – I’ll have no problem sleeping on it while I’m here. The only real hassle so far is that a button on my watch has died and I can’t change the time – just means I have to constantly covert – not a major, I may even just go without for a few days, but a pain nonetheless.