I remember the first time I was here. Very early morning with a number of other UK travellers whose day had become night, evening had become morning, in a hazy, delirious, sleep-deprived state surrounded by the neon orange glow of the lounge. But that was now nearly four years ago...
Well, it's been a while since I last blogged personally (not that I've blogged much professionally either recently for that matter) but it's also been a while since I've had the time to have the inclination.
Any free time I've had has either been spent sleeping or thinking of sleeping - it's good to have the space. Though, being perfectly honest, I'm absolutely shattered. Just off a three hour flight from Sydney to Auckland and having to jump on another plane to Christchurch.
I currently have a very active appreciation why frequent travellers are more susceptible to psychotic episodes. Fight Club is personified.
In spite of this and the single-serving friends, I have reason to be optimistic, if not outright excited.
I've never been to Christchurch. This is a new city for me. New places to eat out. New people to meet, undoubtedly with different outlooks on life. Another city to try and find a good running route in. A city to try running in a decent pair of trainers! It will be interesting.
The funny thing is though, that I think the only reason I'm blogging is that I'm sitting at the slowly filling gate without Internet access, noting my thoughts via Live Writer to publish later. The truth is, as much as I love the Internet, I have to pry myself away from its never-ending depths. I get easily lost in it, consumed with task lists, research, learning and always trying to achieve more for myself - almost to the point of burnout. The blessed curse, the poisoned chalice, the "double-edged sword" if you will :) Yes, I use the buzzwords part in jest, part in a bid to maintain my sanity. Anyway, that's a thought for another day.
It is fascinating how different the experience is when you've a Gold card. Qantas could not do enough for me on the other side of the Tasman. Here, within seconds of chatting to Air New Zealand I'm being dictated to, forced to handover my hand luggage and with no option or choice of seat. I am suddenly another statistic again. A customer to be tolerated, not embraced. When you travel frequently, you think having a Gold card isn't that much better - you're still herded and tiredness is tiredness.
But the contempt is more noticeable from those members of staff on pseudo-Nazi power trips of their very limited authority. I'm sure many will take umbrage at my comments and to be perfectly fair, I completely empathise because every flight has some joker who thinks he doesn't have to put his seat back up or turn off his phone or - as in my case - hand over his hand-luggage because he flies frequently... Funnily, in all my flights, I've yet to see a defiant women - I find that very curious.
Of course, my first experience of Air New Zealand (and subsequent ones till now) were somewhat different with a couple of hundred thousand Star Alliance points in hand. How it changes.
Now all that awaits me at the gate is the unfortunate family with the screaming children, followed by the inevitable announcements of delayed flights, keeping an eye on your bags for security reasons, making sure you've only one piece of hand baggage before the rabble finally rushes at the ground staff to scan their boarding card, repeatedly getting in each other's personal space while apologetically placing our belongings in the overhead compartments and await another pre-flight safety demonstration. Calm as Hindu cows.
The irony is, I still love flying. And yes, my flight has just been announced as delayed. Some things are simply not worth worrying about.
Christchurch, here we come.
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