We had a very long return home, 36 hours of travel. Paris to Wellington for me and Paris to Sydney for Bev. We took the Eurostar to London and then it was the Picadilly Line to Heathrow. It was relatively easy to get from where we were staying to Gare du Nord. Pierre suggested walking to Place de Clichy and taking the Metro from there to the Gare du Nord. It gave us plenty of exercise, and I got to carry heavy bags up and down steps. At one point I felt like Moses parting the Red Sea as commuters streamed and then parted ways around me.
We went Premium Economy to LA and it was an uneventful flight which took us over Greenland and Eastern Canada. At the latitudes we were flying we could see sea ice, melting glaciers and ice still on Hudson Bay and some of the other northern Ontario lakes.
It was a good opportunity to write some of my blog but it all came to an end when the battery almost failed and then the adapter would not charge it up. It had been due for replacement but it was clearly munted and I replaced it at LA airport. Same price there as in New Zealand. I have a MacAir and Apple do charge excessively for a part that must only cost a few dollars thus providing them with a horrendous profit margin.
We were in Business Class for the final leg (thanks to some airpoints) which meant being able to lie down and sleep. Despite that I still only managed 6 hours which was nice.
Next door to me was a 12 year old girl who was travelling with her parents. She was missing her birthday as she lost a day going over the dateline. However, the crew made a lovely fuss of her, giving a little ice-cream cake without candles of course and singing happy birthday to her. We got a nice glass of champagne. Even early in the morning it is good.
It was nice getting back to Wellington. It was picture perfect when we came in and the thing I really noticed was the landscape. The words describe this city that sits on the hills surrounded by sea fail me. The clarity in the early morning light was brilliant and I felt very fortunate to live in a safe and beautiful place very far away from issues that are confronting Europe at the moment.
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