Day 1: And off we go!

Is there anything better than an airport? If you say yes, then I'm very sorry, but you're wrong.

Everyone is excited and happy - smiles all around. It's all pretty and shiny with such wonderful lighting. There's food to eat, shops to look at, accents to hear, and views to marvel at. I would happily wait in an airport all day.

Right now, having scoped out my gate, I am sitting in the lounge watching the planes land right outside the window next to me. It doesn't matter how many plans come and go, you just can't help being caught up in the view, wondering where each plane is heading. It's like stepping into a life that isn't yours, one where adventures seem not only possible but here and now. This life doesn't have dishes or classes to prepare for. This life is all possibilities and no worries. It's nice having a little fantasy every now and again.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. You can't cut right to the adventure, after all.

There's a lot of work involved in getting ready for a trip. Forget the money and the planning - no one ever really talks about all the cleaning - and, if you're me, that's a lot of cleaning you've been ignoring for some time!

Jodie is very kindly house sitting for me while I'm away (thanks!), but that meant getting my house into a slightly less shameless state before I headed off. Do the washing, find my bedroom floor, vacuum, do the dishes... It was a lot. So of course, I did what any sane person would do and completely procrastinated by packing instead.

I was faced with two options.

Option 1: Pack the darn suitcase and move on with my life.

Option 2: Spend the next 4 hours that I should be cleaning slowly inching each item of clothing closer to the suitcase and then formatting those 740 (seven HUNDRED and forty) photos into a stop motion video.

I think we all know which option I went with.

So yeah. Sorry Jodie.

Wendy and Mike very kindly drove me to the airport, ousting Jess in a move I'm still not sure she's entirely over. I would say that I have all the thanks in the world to them (which I do), but in truth, I think Wendy was far more excited by the trip to the airport than I was!

Obligatory departure shot

Obligatory Mike-bomb shot

Having had a lovely farewell lunch at the airport (at a cafe called 'Kitchen by Mike', because we had to) I left behind my airport gurus and wandered off on my own. Thankfully there was no dramas and through border control I went.

That's it for me for now. I'm going to watch the planes with the family of kids that have adopted me at my table (Hawaii for them - they're very excited!) and then off to board in an hour. I get in at Auckland in midnight on the dot so send me some non-sleepy thoughts.