Friday, July 06, 2012

Murphy's Law Arrival

Murphy's Law Arrival
aka thick fog in Auckland

Well, a smooth transition onto a domestic flight home was not to be. First indication of the disruption was when the pilot of our large plane from Singapore said that conditions on the ground were 'hazy'. He wasn't kidding by half: you could barely see a meter from the window. It's lucky we were on such a modern aircraft with all it's instruments, as I heard of other large international planes that had to turn back or divert.

First indication of the fun ahead came when I couldn't check my baggage in at the international terminal. But it was still only mid-morning and there were still a couple of hours for the fog to clear before my next flight. Check-in was 'suspended' but the flight wasn't yet cancelled...

When you see TV news pictures of the chaos caused with these kind of airport disruptions, you usually get to see the crowds of people. But what you don't see is how much queuing then becomes involved. Once your flight is cancelled you queue to get another time.... If the new flight gets cancelled, you queue again... There are queues to use the phones, and queues to get accommodation. I must admit, I was feeling quite tired and it was hard to be patient when home and bed were so near but so far...

When my second Palmy flight was cancelled, I decided to try booking on one of the big Wellington planes instead, as they were still flying. I was booked to fly out at 6am, and the lovely smiling young woman at Auckland tourism booked me into a nearby motel for the night that did early airport transfers in its room price.

Auckland airport was still fogbound this morning, but my Wellington flight flew. Then I caught a shuttle to the railway station and found I had 20 minutes to get a seat on the Northerner train due to depart. Now I am en route north for Palmy, and the sun is even shining.

Full credit to the Air New Zealand staff involved with all the bookings yesterday. They were unfailingly polite despite the pressures. But there weren't enough ground staff on hand to deal with the problems. People queued in the wrong places etc. They really needed more people on desks, plus a few more 'triage' people working down the queue lines, helping to answer questions etc.

But all that is behind me, and I am on the train home!


Sent from my iPod

16 comments:

  1. Woohooo!
    Home again with your feet firmly back on Kiwi soil :)

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  2. Glad you're home safe and sound Margaret. Thanks for blogging en route I loved following your journey 'live'
    x
    Nell

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  3. Thanks Nell. Blog will be Quiet now for a while. Will make a retrospective Cluny blog though and will let you know when I start that!

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  4. Glad to know you have made it back, enjoyed your blogs and am amazed that you can do it with the iPod! We are having an evening in Christ The King Church Greer's Road Christchurch with "The Way" being shown, have your Christchurch friends returned? Grandpa Joe

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  5. My Chch friends arrived back in the country not long before I did, and they too are still recovering from jet lag, but at least they missed the Auckland airport Fog Experience!! I rang them last night and they were talking about "The Way" movie and had even tried to get it from a shop but it wasn't available. I don't think they had heard about that showing- it might even be their parish, but they haven't been back long enough to be back 'in the loop' of things. They loved walking the Camino though and I look forward to sharing photos and Camino tales with them before too long. Margaret

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  6. What a fantastic trip!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  7. The trip was- the arrival back in NZ was a nightmare! But I am home now!!!

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  8. Hi Margaret,

    The Way will be shown this weekend at the Church Parish Hall at 7pm; there seems to be a few copies in Christchurch, a copy was given to our retired priest last month. It would be very exciting for the viewers if your friends turned up!

    Grandpa Joe

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    1. Grandpa Joe, I've let them know- not sure what their plans are...

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    2. Sorry Margaret the film The Way is now being shown at 7.30pm on 21st July and not this weekend at the Parish Hall Christ The King Greers Road.

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    3. That gives me a good excuse to ring my friends :-)

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    4. I just rang them- this weekend doesn't suit at all well anyhow, but the 21st seems like it could well be possible :-)

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    5. Thanks Margaret, The notice is
      CTK Family Groups’ Movie Night: The Lewis
      Family Group invites all parishioners to a ‘movie
      evening’ at our Parish Centre, commencing at 7.30pm,
      this coming Saturday 21 July. Please bring a plate of
      supper and a cushion! The film to be shown is “The
      Way”. A movie about a father’s pilgrimage in Spain.

      Very informal gathering of parishioners, introduce themselves, their presence would add substance to the gathering

      Joe (the Malaysian)

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  9. Gosh- I was at Auckland airport that day coming in from Melbourne with @barbs1. We could have had a coffee together while we waited.

    I stayed a night at Barbs place in Hamilton before flying home on Saturday.

    Good for you to be safely home.

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    1. We could have indeed- there was plenty of time available :-) I hope to miss that adventure next time around when Auckland airport has it on offer though!

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