mockoblog

Yesterday I went to the airport with my luggage to weigh it. It was like a dummy departure. I fly Emirates Christchurch to Vienna via Sydney and Dubai and they let you take 30 kgs + 7 in the cabin. Yet from Vienna to Bucharest I fly a budget Romanian airline, Blue Air , where the limit is 20. So I’m only taking 20, of which nearly half is the weight of my Samsonite-like suitcase. The test scale was frozen at 3.30 kgs so I looked around for cameras and I couldn’t see any (of course they could see me left, right and centre in this age of terrorist hysteria!), I found the power cord and unplugged the bloody machine, then powered it back to reset it. I had 21.6 kgs of which today I have to leave some behind. I also tried to pay the $25 tax they charge you when you leave New Zealand from Christchurch International but I couldn’t. You must pay on the day of departure. Emirates had quite a number of counters open, most of them economy class, where there were moderate lines, but I went to their customer service desk and I found out from the blonde there that I don’t really have to check in three hours before take off; one would be cool. This is good. I’ll be a bit longer in Christchurch, the city I love since I settled here ten years ago. I’ll have time for a last Heiniken on New Zealand soil.

Dress rehearsal before the trip to Europe: my boss flies me to Dunedin and back to attend a work function and meet one of the top two guys in this country. No, I haven’t forgotten the story with the girl with coloured bracelets, how could I? But I’m on board a plane right now and that’s worth commenting.

If you ask me what Dunedin is, hey, it’s a town in New Zealand, even smaller than Christchurch and definitely colder ’cause it’s further South. So I fly from the domestic terminal in my town after spending an hour playing pool in the friendly restaurant they have up on the top level of the old building. I expected a small craft but instead I found myself in this Boeing 737-300 configured as a one class only. As I’m sitting at the back I can see most of the cabin, really full of comuters and business folk. Loads of people travelling this maybe 250 mile distance in a blue carpeted Air New Zealand plane with blue uniformed air hostesses, of whom one is really nice. If you like the flat chested skinny type of girl with long hair and high heels. I have lollies. The packet contains five. (…) We are descending already and I have to switch my Nokia of. (…)  As soon as we boarded the plane the captain said: ‘it’s going to be a bumpy ride’. And it bloody was. If you ever come this way, hire a car, get a bus or do the old hitch hiking. Nice scenery, too. As Dunedin is wedged between some rugged hills and the Pacific, its airport is a zillion miles away from the city and this kind of sucks, too.

The town itself is lovely, Scottish styled and full of students, not all drunk. I can’t say I’d like to live here, but its Octagon Square and the new Chinese Garden are worth seeing.

(More pictures in the next mockopost.) If this gusty Nor’Western wind is on tomorrow again, I’m not looking forward to my flight back.

Dress rehearsal before the trip to Europe: my boss flies me to Dunedin and back to attend a work party and meet one of the top two guys in this country. No, I haven’t forgotten the story with the girl with coloured bracelets, how could i? But I’m on board a plane right now and that’s worth commenting. If you ask me what Dunedin is, hey, it’s a town in New Zealand, even smaller than Christchurch and definitely colder ’cause it’s further South. So I fly from the domestic terminal in my town after spending an hour playing pool in the friendly restaurant they have up on the top level of the old building. I expected a small craft but instead I found myself in this Boeing 737-300 configured as a one class only. As I’m sitting at the back I can see most of the cabin, really full of comuters and business folk. Loads of people travelling this maybe 250 mile distance in a blue carpeted Air New Zealand plane with blue uniformed air hostesses, of whom one is really nice. If you like the flat chested skinny type of girl with long hair and high heels. I have lollies. – pic needed – We are descending already and I have to switch my Nokia of. – pic needed – (One hour later:) As soon as we boarded the plane the captain said: ‘it’s going to be a bumpy ride’. And it bloody was. If you ever come this way, hire a car, get a bus or do the old hitch hiking. Nice scenery, too. As Dunedin is wedged between some rugged hills and the Pacific, its airport – pic needed – is a zillion miles away from the city and this sucks, too. The town itself is lovely, Scottish styled and full of students, not all drunk. I can’t say I’d like to live here, but its Octagon Square and the Chinese Garden are worth seeing. I this gusty Nor’Western wind is on tomorrow again, I’m not looking forward to my flight back.