Day 1

Kia ora katoa to our mokopuna and whanau,

Grandma and Koro are off for another big adventure.

Last week was a busy week of making sure everything was ready to leave behind for two months. We left Grandma’s car with Helen in Ohope Beach (Helen taught Koro how to drive, so Helen will probably use Grandma’s car to do lots of skids). We had a farewell dinner with Uncle Steve & Aunty Tilly, Miya and Ty. We had a farewell brunch with Uncle Lance and Aunty Judith. That silly animal, Ollie,

had to be fleaed, so he got taken to the vets for that job. Ollie gets very grumpy when Grandma tries to flea him, and he fights so hard he is like an octopus with claws. Very sharp claws.

Last night was packing our bags, trying to remember everything we would need for the next two months, but trying to make sure we only packed stuff we would actually use. We don’t want to be carrying useless rubbish for two months. Grandma made doubly sure that silly old Koro had packed the camera this time!

Unlike two filthy little savages that are his grand daughters, Koro likes a clean, fresh, sweet smelling pair of undies to put on each morning. So Koro made sure he packed every pair of undies he owns. And every pair of socks. And every handkerchief. Grandma says she is not going to wash them, and Koro will have to do his own washing on this trip.

Over the weekend we kept an eye on the news and weather reports, because Typhoon Mangkhut was traveling straight through Hong Kong on Sunday. Hundreds of flights were cancelled, and thousands of people stranded. Thankfully, by Monday the typhoon had passed through Hong Kong and our flight ran as scheduled. As we were taking off from Auckland the pilot said that while the typhoon was gone, there was a lot of congestion at Hong Kong airport as the airlines work to clear the back log of passengers.

There is always a lot of messing about with flying overseas. You have to be at the airport early, then sitting and waiting. Then a last minute trip to the bathroom before boarding.

Boarding the airplane is more queueing and waiting, finding your seat, trying to keep out of each other’s way as you get your belongings sorted and yourself comfortable.

You have to sit down, put your seat belt on, and shut up while the plane takes off. Take off is always exciting as the engines roar and the aircraft shakes and rattles down the runway. Then it is time to explore the movies or read your book. Within an hour or so the cabin crew start serving food.

After a couple of hours the excitement has worn off and the boredom sets in. The cabin crew come around and shut the blinds and darken the cabin to make everyone think it is dark and encourage them to go to sleep, so the cabin gets quiet as everyone sleeps.

During one of these quiet periods we began to notice a strange noise. A scratching sound, as if someone was trying to find the zipper to open Koro’s backpack. The noise was only happening every now and again, but it quickly became more frequent. Finally it was constant before it suddenly stopped and was replaced by frustrated BUZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

We opened the backpack and guess who was inside?

Buzzy Bee! The sneaky little bee has stowed away with us again. What sort of adventure would it be without Buzzy Bee?

Koro’s Fun Fact Number 1
I do not know if this is true or not, but according to Google it is true. One of the worst jobs in the world, is being the person who has to stand outside the aircraft after it lands, as the cabin crew opens the doors. Apparently the smell that comes out of the airplane is the most heinous smell in the whole world.

You see, an aircraft is a perfectly sealed metal tube. With the doors closed, no air can get in … or out. And for ten or twelve hours there have been 400 people sitting inside this perfectly sealed metal tube, and they’ve all been farting.

I would have thought someone could build a robot to do the job, but perhaps the smell is so strong that the robot would melt.

It took 11 hours to fly from Auckland to Hong Kong airport. At Hong Kong we had to change planes. So we had to pack everything and get off the first plane, then find our way around Hong Kong airport to get on our next plane.

Hong Kong airport is massive. We could not get over the size of the place. We had to take a picture of this signboard so you would believe us. There are 66 aircraft gates at Hong Kong airport. Auckland Airport has 16.

This next picture stunned us. This is

the list of planes that were departing Hong Kong while we were there. If you look closely you can see that there is a plane leaving every 5 minutes. That’s just the planes leaving, There would have been an equally as long list of planes arriving over the same period.

Our flight, NZ4211, is part way down the second panel, leaving at 23:05.

Despite its size it was very easy to find our way around Hong Kong Airport. We had to get from gate 55 to gate 212 in ninety minutes, and we did it very easily. The signs were clear and easy to understand, so it was simple to find our way along all the corridors, down 6 levels, onto a special train, then back up 6 levels and down another corridor.

We have finally arrived in Munich. From the time we walked out our front door until the taxi dropped us at our hotel was 32 hours. Grandma slept reasonably well on the plane, but Koro didn’t really sleep much.

We have arrived at our hotel at 6:30am in the morning. Unfortunately, it is not possible to check in until 2:00pm, as someone else is already in our room. So we’ve left our bags at reception, found a very good little café for some breakfast, and then we are off to explore. It is going to be a beautiful sunny day, forecasted to get to 27 degrees. Then we can have a bit of a sleep this afternoon.

Adventures are always more fun when they are shared. We wish we could have you all with us as we explore more of the world. Sadly we can’t, so this daily email with our silly stories is our way of taking you with us. These emails are unashamedly aimed at our grand children who we hope will one day follow our footsteps. We hope everyone finds them entertaining.

Know that wherever we are, you are all with us in our hearts.

Love to you all from Grandma, Koro & Buzzy Bee.