Alastair is weer op reis!

Well, after almost exactly three years, I'm back in New Zealand. This time, I made the journey in one go and, having tried both, I can heartily recommend taking several weeks to make the trip. Door to door was around 44 hours, 29 of those in the air.

The routeing was Glasgow-Dubai-Bangkok-Sydney-Christchurch with the only decent break being an 8-hour stopover in Dubai for which Emirates provided a hotel room. It allowed for about 4 hours sleep which wasn't much, but it also provided a break from the airport and the opportunity for a shower and breakfast. It was about 1am when we arrived and the temperature was 36 degrees. Of course, the hotel was air-conditioned and actually quite cold. Lovely!

There wasn't much opportunity for sightseeing but this was the view from my window when I got up:

The last 3-hour stretch from Sydney to Christchurch was getting to be a bit of a killer but it was so good to step out of Christchurch airport into a crisp winter breeze after so long in air conditioning.

By then all I wanted to do was get into a hotel room and have a shower and get out for a walk!