Travel Diary - Day Fifty Two

Day Fifty Two – Homeward Stretch
Tuesday 20 Oct 09

Got up and had a shower and then went down for breakfast. This was much more of a breakfast that I had expected. There was a whole buffet of food ranging from cereals to preserved fruit, fresh fruit (nothing like Guyana), croissants, bread, cheese, ham, eggs, and a pile of other stuff that I didn’t really take great note of. I grabbed a few things and ate without a lot of enthusiasm. It was all very nice, but in my head I was already on my way home and the food was just a way station. Went back up to my room and finished packing (almost, more on that later), then went down and checked out and put my bags in storage while I went out.

The first task of the day was to find a stationery shop where I could get a container to put my portrait into so it wasn’t damaged on the trip home. I became rather good at miming what I wanted until a gentleman came and told me the name of what I wanted. Unfortunately I couldn’t understand him or catch the word, so it was back to miming. Eventually I found a place that sold what I wanted and I was a happy chappie. From there I just went for an extended walk and eventually ended up on the main drag. I found a nice spot facing the giant obelisk that commemorates Argentina’s independence and sat in the sunshine watching the people walk past and the traffic drive by, surprised at my sadness at leaving Guyana. I must have sat there for a good couple of hours before meandering my way back to the hotel where I ordered tenderloin for lunch, another good choice I have to say. It helped that my appetite had returned a little.

And then I became a giant blob, sitting in a chair in the lobby, writing and chatting with people on facebook. I just sat and chatted with one, two or three people at a time for several hours. I still can’t believe I sat still for so long, but I’m not sure I was really all there for most of the time – too tired to really care. Finally I collect my bags and asked the hotel to order me a taxi for the airport. That finally arrived, just as well I wasn’t in a hurry!! and I was off. The driver didn’t speak any English and after we had tried to communicate for a while we both lapsed into silence. The trip was uneventful and it was as I was walking into the airport that I suddenly realised that I had left my nice new Guyana shirt hanging in the wardrobe in my hotel room. I was too early to check in so I went in search of information so I could ring the hotel. After a false start giving the lady the wrong hotel name, I managed to get a phone number and set about organising to get my shirt back. It was an interesting exercise attempting to explain everything to someone who had only broken English – I am so going to learn Spanish next time I come here! Eventually I managed to get sufficient information across that he was able to email me details, and a day later they had found my shirt and were organising to mail it home to NZ. I was incredibly relieved at that little victory and felt much better as I settled in to wait for check-in time. While I was waiting I went and got changed for the trip home, cleaned my teeth and generally spruced up a little – felt much better.

The time finally rolled around and I went and waited in the queue. I was 7th in line and next to a young woman from Uruguay and her boyfriend from Brazil who were travelling to work in Queenstown. It was quite nice talking with them for a while and hearing their perspectives on NZ (they were going back after a two month holiday at home), and on South America. Finally the Aerolineas staff arrived and we shuffled our way through to check our bags. I asked for an exit seat and had no trouble getting one. In fact I had a major bonus – the seat next to me was empty and there was so much leg room I couldn’t have put my feet on anything in front if I had tried. Awesome! Went through immigration without a glitch, another stamp on my passport thank you, and found a café to while away the next hour or so. You get so used to waiting around that after a while the tedium passes into a dulled awareness of reality and you just don’t notice things any more. Especially when the trip is as long as this one. I didn’t want to go to sleep because I wanted to sleep on the plane – how else do you while away 14 hours in the air?

Then it was through to the lounge to wait for the boarding call. Didn’t have to wait long there before my row was called and I could move to board. But wait, we’re not done yet! Every single passenger was having their bag checked. This was a new one. In the end my check was cursory at best. Basically I opened the zip, the girl asked if I had any liquids or gels, I said no, and she waved me through. Good grief – I could be the ‘smiling Osama’ and get away with anything! Still, I don’t want to complain too loudly, it has worked out well for me but I do find myself wondering at the point of the exercise if you are not going to go through the process properly. Onto the plane to find my happy position and promptly fall asleep. Woke for dinner, some chicken thing, then took two sleeping pills and slept until breakfast, pretty much unbroken. Nice! Don’t even remember what breakfast was, an hour more flying time and we were touching down in Auckland.

Yet again customs was cursory. I declared my bits of wood, the lady asked if they were processed, I said yes and she sent me through. I like being trusted, but I just struggle with how much could find its way through without ever being seen. Through the gate and Mum picked me up and we were off. Spent the day at Mum and Dad’s, Michael and Pauline came for lunch, I slept for about an hour, filled in time showing off my gifts, sat around for a while and then headed back to the airport for my last flight. Oh yeah, somewhere over the Pacific Ocean it had morphed from Wednesday to Thursday – kind of weird, but there we are. The final flight with Air New Zealand was uneventful, we had a stopover in Wellington but didn’t get off the plane. We were given very nice Kapiti Cheese and crackers with the offer of wine, beer or fizzy to top it off. And we got it twice – once to Wellington and once to Dunedin – Kudos to Air New Zealand I have to say. Got off the plane in Dunedin to find no-one waiting – that was a bit of a letdown! Actually the kids had only just made it through the doors downstairs as I was coming out. Tim was waiting at the bottom of the elevator, Josh was collecting my bag, and Alisha had gone to find me via another route and was standing wondering where I had got to when we finally went back upstairs to collect her. Ruth arrived at that point and we were off to the car.

Good to be home? I think so. I need to sleep on it some more. It has been an incredible journey and some of my experiences will take a long time to come to terms with, but I know that God has been with me all the way.

To everyone who has followed along with me, thank you for your prayers, and your emails and messages of encouragement. It has meant a lot to know that so many people have travelled with me. I don’t plan to stop for long – there is too much to do and too many places to do it. But I hope that as we journey we can continue to enjoy each other all the more.

Andrew Scott
CWM Participant in ‘A New FACE Programme’, Guyana, 2009