Start of the return home

An easy morning, though a little concern when I couldn't padlock my check-in luggage as I already had padlocks in place but no keys anywhere to be found to unlock them, despite hunting high and low last night and again this morning. M to the rescue with a vice-like grip on some tin-snips that did the job. Whew. And how very Nelson to have an ex-student check me and my bag in. She even apologised for "being a pain" in Year 10 though both M &I assured her she most certainly wasn't!

Sitting waiting for the first leg of my return home to begin I stumbled across the totally unexpected breaking news announcement of Jacinda Adern's resignation as PM. Whilst I was initially stunned, on reflection I have to admit that I've thought she appeared to be a bit tired the last few months. To hear that she's said she has "no more in the tank" for another 4 years makes perfect sense and whilst I'll miss her compassionate and barb-free leadership, I totally understand her decision. Another example of great leadership decision making I think.

So.....another hour-plus to boarding then a long 12+ hour flight into the night to San Francisco......dinner not long after take off and breakfast not long before landing. This is the flight that demonstrates the absolute enormity of the Pacific Ocean....... immediately we leave Akl we're over the Pacific and immediately before landing in San Fran we're still over the Pacific!! 12 hours of nothing but Pacific Ocean. That's a l-o-t of water.