Sheila's Stories and Stitches: Final Day

Have to get my fill of Bluff oysters before we leave!

Our final day in New Zealand! Our flight is not until the evening so we spend some time in downtown Auckland. I finally find another shop I've been looking for - locally made arts & crafts by various artists. Elephant House has all the things I've been searching for. Luckily we have room in our suitcases! Speaking of packing....we found out we still have nine bottles of wine, not the six we thought (a bag had rolled under a seat in the car). Looks like we'll pay some duty when we arrive in Japan.

We do a little more shopping and wander around the waterfront. I see the cutest little book swap/library. Looks like Auckland has also found a use for some of the shipping containers. Mostly I read on my Kindle now, but I still love physical books!

We then walk through the Maritime Museum. This gets Steve in the right frame of mind for our afternoon activity - a sailboat trip around the Harbor. We have a brisk breeze and it's partly cloudy...perfect!

I'm able to take some photos of downtown as we sail around. Steve is a little busy though! The captain asked if anyone wanted to drive the boat and several people volunteered. Then it was Steve's turn, and the captain could tell he knew what he was doing, so he was in charge for almost a quarter of the ride.


Captain Steve

Auckland Skytower and waterfront

The Cloud at Queen's Wharf

While Steve is busy with the boat I'm ~~acting as a lookout for boat traffic~~ practicing my selfie skills.

O Captain! My Captain!

After our final adventure we're ready to go home and see the dogs. Once again we arrive early at the airport but we had a late flight (11:00pm) and we wanted to make sure traffic, etc wouldn't be a problem. Plus, we had access to the business lounge, and we wanted to shower before the flight. So we turn in our car (no accidents - sigh of relief), and go to check in...only to find out it's like Europe...you can't check in unless it's within three hours of your flight. Ugh! And we've dropped the keys off to the car, so we can't go anywhere.

Clean...sleepy....

I'm hot, salty, and sticky from the day on the water. I was really looking forward to that shower and don't feel like sitting three hours (I said we were early) before we can get to the lounge. I have a brainstorm - maybe there are showers before security. I check with information...and there are! For $10 we're able to get a towel and soap and access to the shower cubicle. I feel much better!

Once we're situated on our China Southern plane and fed (some of the best plane food I've ever had) I'm all set to get some sleep. As usual, it's only a few hours, but it's better than none. After an awesome breakfast (mushroom tart) it's close to landing. I'm reading on the Kindle, but I pull up the map to see how close we are to the airport. I glance up every few minutes, and then I become a little disturbed...

The plane is in the center of the screen

See in the upper right corner - Guangzhou? That's where we're supposed to be landing for our connecting flight to Tokyo. It's about 10 minutes since we flew past it. No one (flight attendants, pilots) has said anything. I'm starting to have some scary thoughts, but I decide to wait and see. Our flight path does not reassure me...

You can't even see Guangzhou anymore - it's off to the east.

Now I'm ready to say something, but the pilot finally comes on with an announcement. Due to bad weather we're diverting to another airport. I vaguely remember a few rumbles but then the plane shifted elevation and I figured we were out of it. That must have been when we changed course.

Are we still in China?

Neither Steve nor I have been in this situation before. I check with the flight attendants, but they don't know anything. We end up flying another 25 minutes to land in Haikou. We sit there for a few hours, without pulling up to the gate. If you're stuck on the runway business class is where you want to be. We have access to drinks, snacks, bathrooms, inflight entertainment (Steve got to watch a bonus movie) and power to our electronic devices. We're able to use Steve's phone to check flights, and we watch our flight to Tokyo take off while we're still stuck on the runway. We do see a flight a few hours later, so we're hoping we can make that one.

Just what I want to see - back to the originally scheduled airport!

We finally take off (obviously no three hour rule in China requiring planes to unload) and fly 45 minutes back to Guangzhou. We end up having to wait in a long line before getting up to the counter. She types for a few minutes, then tells us we need to step aside and wait for a manager. Eek! The manager finally comes over and says there are no seats available on the next China Southern flight so they're going to see if they can get us on another flight. She asks for her passports, then runs in to a room. A few minutes later she comes out again, without our passports, talks to other passengers, talks to the counter people and goes back to the room. This goes on for about 20 minutes and we're looking at the other people who are also standing around waiting like we are. Some people were in worse situations as they're flying to far flung sites with only one flight a day.

Finally our manager comes back and says they can get us on a Japan Airlines flight taking off in a couple of hours. However, she has to go to the Japan Airlines counter with our passports in order to get the tickets. And we can't come with her. Hmmm....this is not a situation I want to be in - trapped in China with no passports. She does lead us to a nice lounge to wait. At first we're okay...but when it's 45 minutes before the flight we are very nervous. We talk to the staff and they tell us not to worry. Yeah, right. We figure they're already boarding the flight. But five minutes later somebody else shows up with our passports and tickets and it turns out the gate is only a couple minutes walk away. We happily board the plane to go home.

Once we land, we head to the Customs line for items to declare (something else we've never had to do before). We tell him we have nine bottles of wine, and he pulls out a calculator. He never asks to see the bottles, and we're kind of glad - we packed them carefully and it would have taken some digging to get to them. He finishes up, and holds up the calculator to show how much we owe - $4! We smile, tell him okay, and he escorts us to the cashier. Maybe we should have just brought all the wine with us instead of shipping it back...

Unfortunately, due to the delay the dogs had to stay an extra night at the kennel. We were very happy to have them back the next day! It's a relief to hear they had a good time at "doggie camp." They made friends and had lots of play time.