transition to holiday

Wednesday night. I go to bed thinking, I don't want to go to New Zealand. All I want to do is stay at home. Relax. Read books, play WoW, write code. I want to stay in the comfort of the familiar.

Thursday morning. I wake up thinking, Okay, New Zealand, it'll be fun. It'll be good to get away from the familiar. To take a break from reading, playing, coding. I'm ready and willing to go.

Okay, still not dead keen but ready and willing.

There's also the feeling that I don't really want to just curl up in my comfort corner and wait for the end. Blaaahh to that :-( 

Various things to be done before we go. Deb works on the garden. I water my pot plants. One is an avocado "tree" that Deb started from a pip and I put in a pot. Another pot contains several loquat seeds that I potted, no sign of growth. I water them both and tell them to sip slowly, make the water last for a few weeks. The third pot only gets a few kind words, no water. It's a cactus and gets water only twice a year.

We return all library books. Ooops... I pick up two more... I'll read them when we get back :-)

Over the last couple of days I've accumulated a small pile of travel essentials, most of it seems to be electronic items and chargers. Today I spend half an hour putting clothes in a case, adding the essentials. Deb spends the same sort of time packing. And we're done.

Dinner at home, rest a bit, drive to the airport... and the blog is now, again, my holiday journal...

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Holiday journal: New Zealand 2020. Go:

Driving to the airport. I comment that I'm nervous, as I always am at the start of a holiday. Deb says that she is stressed, will it all go okay?

I'm the holiday organiser, as soon as I step on the first plane I'm okay. Once we are started I know that the plan is good... or, at least, I know that I can work around any problems. I may have doubts about going but I know that as soon as we board the plane, all will be well.

Deb is stressed. She says, she is stepping outside her comfort zone. But, she says, that's good. Is she looking forward to NZ? I ask. Oh yes,definitely, Deb replies happily.

So that's all good. I'm happy to go to NZ. Deb loves the place :-)

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So far, this holiday has trod a precarious path at the edge of disaster. Before we even leave home.

The planning begins with Deb saying, Let's go to NZ (okay, she actually says New Zealand) and walk the Routeburn Track. Okay, I reply, hiding my doubts. Let's invite my sister, Deb says. Deb's sister has joined us on several of these walking holidays. And so it happens.

There's a chance that I may pull out. We plan before a scan then finalise when I have the okay to travel. This time I'm okay -- but Deb's sister pulls out. Unfit, asthmatic, worried about a three day walk in the wilderness. Sensible call but disappointing for all of us. I attempt to soften the blow by mentioning my plan for a drive-in-WA holiday. I gloss over the camping aspect of that plan.

So it's just Deb and me. With three days -- either side of theTrack walk -- booked into a 2br rather expensive unit. With no (no obvious) cheaper option. Oh well.

Then there are storms in the south of NZ. The Track is washed out! Will it be walkable on time for our walk? After a week or more of uncertainty, the walk company offers refunds.

Deb and I go for a test walk, with backpacks. I struggle. I complain. The Track is still closed. We take the easy option and cancel the walk.

What about the rest of the trip? We will go anyway. What about the three days when we should have been walking the Track?

I look at options... We could cut a few days off the holiday. At a cost for changing flights. We could just stay in Queenstown -- the base for the walk -- and do... something else. Deb is good at finding things to do :-)

And some good news! Thanks to the flooded Tracks -- several popular walking Tracks are closed -- we can get a smaller, cheaper room at the rather nice accommodation that I had selected. So I book a longer stay in Queenstown, get a rental car, leave the rest all the same.

Back from near disaster, through chaos, back to a reasonable -- I hope -- holiday :-)

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We're at the airport... well and truly early. We check in... and spend three hours sipping coffee. It's tedious, it's ridiculous, I'd still rather be at the airport -- checked in -- than at home and nervously watching the clock.

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Our first flight! Perth to Melbourne on a Qantas plane. Packed like sardines in seats designed for midgets.

I have a lot of disparaging remarks to make about Qantas seating. I may save it for later.

We are now sitting in Melbourne airport. Our next flight will soon be boarding. To be continued... :-)

Nick Lethbridge  /  consulting dexitroboper
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"The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you." … B.B. King
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