Stockholm – London – Hong Kong – Kerikeri, and the best 360SEK I’ve ever spent!

This entry is (probably) going to be brief (and undoubtedly littered with typos!) as I’m at the mid-way point in my journey from Stockholm, Sweden to Kerikeri, New Zealand.

Sitting in Hong Kong airport at the travellers lounge, I’m enjoying possibly the best 360SEK (400HK$) I’ve ever spent. A 20 minute hot shower after having been awake for about 28 hours so far, with 2 flights, a lot of airport securty, a talkative travel buddy (now boarded his next flight – more about him later), air-sick kid in the row in front (poor guy!), and feeling a bit worse for wear – yes, the 20 minute hot shower was definitely needed!

Coming up is a 15 minute neck/shoulder massage – which is also seriously needed (although I’d trade it in a flash for the opportunity to sleep for half a day before boarding the next flight…which ironically enough, has a flight time of about half a day!)

Of course, the full experience of long-haul travel is hard to put to paper or screen, as the millions of new impressions, new information etc etc that is being processed in the brain is sometimes more than enough just to cope with, let alone distribute (am I rambling now? hmm….) My Chinese is pretty much what it used to be (which isn’t necessarily a good thing, as it used to be more or less non-existant)…which is why it’s great that the level of English in this ex-British colony is superb. Probably better than mine actually, given that my mind has been focussed on Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and German for the last 6 ½ year!

Right, time to relax again, then that massage…then it’s another couple of hours wait, before a 2nd ½ day flight, 3 more hours waiting, 40 minutes in a mosquito, and then a short ride from the airport. (I purchased my ticket from Auckland to Kerikeri about an hour ago, so I hope my Dad checks his email when he wakes up! – he had planned on driving to Auckland Airport to pick me up!! )

More later, when things are a little more coherent.

ps. Yes, pics and videos will follow once I get to to NZ!