Sometimes you’re traveling and everything goes off without a hitch. Some other times are like yesterday. We were standing outside our hotel in Adelaide at 4:20 a.m. waiting for our ride to the airport for our 6:05 a.m. flight to Brisbane. Roslyn checked an app on her phone and discovered our flight had been cancelled. Bad weather in Brisbane had prevented the flight from getting out. I started working the phones, hoping Virgin Australia could get us on another flight. But no. They couldn’t get us to Queenstown until the next day.
By this time, we’re at the airport. We get a seat in the check in area, and I start calling our travel agency contacts in Australia while Roslyn calls are travel agent back in the US, where it’s mid-afternoon the day before. About 30 minutes go by, and I get a call from the travel agency (their Toronto office!). She hasn’t been able to find us a flight, but she suggests I go find a gate agent and see if he or she can put us on another airline.
I find gate agent Brett. He is sympathetic. He makes a call. No soap. Can’t get us on another airline out of Adelaide. But give him a few minutes to make another call. OK. A few minutes go by.
“Do you have all your bags with you?” he asks.
“Yes, right there,” I reply, pointing to our spot about 20 steps away.
“Come on then,” he commands.
He tags our bags, ushers us through security, and puts us on a cart for a ride to the gate. Brett, gate agent and miracle worker, has found a way to get us and another couple with the same problem on a flight to Melbourne. From there we’ll fly to Auckland, and from Auckland to Queenstown. We’ll arrive about four hours later than originally planned, but who cares?
The first flight takes less than two hours. The second flight takes about four. And because it’s a long flight, they serve lunch; just like airlines in the U.S. used to do.
We land in Auckland and go through the process of clearing customs. I spot Roslyn’s suitcase right away. Where’s mine? It’s not there. Roslyn, who’s operating on about two hours of sleep, starts to lose it. One of the crew members from our flight is nearby getting her bags and sees Roslyn. She rushes up to ask what’s wrong and how can she help. She directs us to the baggage office. There, the nice folks at the desk find my bag. It’s still in Melbourne. They’ll get it brought over on next flight and delivered to our hotel in Queenstown, probably tomorrow. Well alright then.
We flew on to Queenstown, which is spectacularly beautiful. I got a NZ sim card for my phone, we picked up our rental car, and found our hotel with no trouble. Got settled and strolled into town. It reminds me of Banff; not just physically, but also in that all they young people working in the restaurants and shops have come here from somewhere else.
We crashed early, and got a good night’s sleep. Hoping for a fun Sunday some good pictures to share later today. Even though Queenstown is more than a thousand miles closer than Sydney to the west coast, it’s two hours later here. We’re now 18 hours ahead of ET. Our longitude here is 168 degrees east; we’re almost at the International Date Line!