Day 97 - Flying
With the taxi pre-booked and the hotel kind enough to let us raid what was already ready from the buffet 2 hours early today should have been a simple and relaxed flight, but at check in just about everything that could have gone wrong went wrong! The real adrenaline shot to get me going was that, in contrast to every other country we've visited, the New Zealand tourist permission tax (not a VISA) thing is supposed to be applied for MORE than 72 hours in advance, and not within. Aw cr... I filled it in while in the check-in queue and the payment went through just as we reached the desk. "What is the expiry date of your travel authorization?" I look down at the email which clearly says "Pending" and has no expiry date, something you'd expect when you'd only just pressed submit. "Errrrrrm" I say, buying myself time to Google how long these things last, "I don't have one, just the reference code." "I need an expiry." I hand her the phone, she looks at the email, huffs and seems to continue. Emma meanwhile is pretty smug to be the one without VISA issues this time and is happily explaining how I could just stay here a few more days. "Shut up" I hiss, seeing the boarding passes being printed.
It's funny how bigger, major problems overrule small ones so I was perfectly relaxed as I had to repack all my luggage because the box was overweight and then as we had to argue heavily and pay 120 euros per person as the boxes were oversize, events that I would normally describe as stessful! If you're flying Southern China Air they'll happily tell you its 32kg and no size restriction and all possible online, while hiding that actually that costs loads in the small print 🤬. It's no Indigo! I was still relaxed (about these problems anyway) as we taped up the boxes and took them to bag drop, 5 mins after it was supposed to close. To my immense relief my travel authorisation came through as we were going through security, so I could relax into the flights and stop Googling about how comfortable kiwi jail cells are!
The changeover in China involved very strict security and a lot of wandering around buying interesting snacks! Wild to be on Chinese soil, even if we were still airside.
Some weird, some very recognisable snacks!
Southern China Air managed to redeem themselves somewhat by providing one tea on the first 3 hour flight and four on the next. 4!
Sleep pods, free cold and boiling water dispensers and a coffee shop that looks like an Apple store!
I'm writing this at the end of the 11 hour flight from Guangzhou to Auckland - hopefully the strict kiwi biosecurity is smooth before we get on the bikes for the final cycle day to our end destination - 80 miles to Emma's parent's house!!! Incredible that that is finally upon us after months of cycling there!
Food spend: 17.93 euros Tea consumption: 12