International travel, for most of us, is a long-distant memory.
And I'll put my hand up and say that a small part of me, is relieved. Because whilst I love the allure of a tropical beach, cocktail in hand and the waves gently crashing on the reef, or the sparkleof a foreign city glistening in the evening light full of possibility, I'm also what they call an "over-organised unorganised stressy traveller".
Okay, maybe "they" don't call it that, but that's Me. I was reminded of that particular conundrum recently as I was tasked with getting my daughter to Auckland and back chasing her sporting endeavours.
The organised part of me likes to be at the airport with at least an hour up my sleeve. Yes, I know domestic lets you check in online, and I know that you don't need much time If you only carry a bag on.
But what I require is 15 minutes for all of that, and a further 45 minutes to check the tickets I printed two copies of were in my pocket and were for the correct flight, check the digital board and compare flight numbers on my tickets four times and spend at least 10 of those minutes standing unnecessarily close to the gate in preparation for a boarding call that there's absolutely no chance I could miss.
I was so over-organised unorganised in our preparation to return to Hawke's Bay that I removed my face mask from my bag, placed it on the bed beside my bag ready to pick it up as we left, and forgot it as we drove off.
Leaving me to run around the airport in a complete flap looking for the Air NZ handout masks like they were calling my name at final call and I was in the carpark. (I wasn't, there was 45 minutes until flight time and I was 6m from the gate. And I thought I'd forgotten it; in my constant preparation I'd absent-mindedly packed it back into said bag and it was under the undies in the corner ready to go.)
Even as I was crossing the tarmac after checking gate numbers on every available screen on the way out, I wondered silently to myself, is this the right plane ... or will I end up in Dunedin?
I needn't have cared, "have a lovely flight to Napier", the baggage handler exclaimed. And as I stepped onto the plane and the stress dropped away, I thought, thank goodness that's as far as I'm going, because my pockets aren't big enough for any more tickets. - Adam Green
