I wrote a wee post yesterday about how the enormity of this trip had only just set in. One person responded by saying it would be a life-changing trip. It's taken me just nine hours into my trip to discover this is, in fact, the truth.
Check in at Auckland International Airport was relatively smooth, aided somewhat by a familiar face. Kristin Edge of the Northern Advocate is traveling to India with a friend to tuk tuk their way down India. A fascinating trip, but one would also assume it would be quite the bumpy road.
Their reasoning - a simple why not. Fair enough too, that's what I based my trip on some nine months ago. Some people plan babies in that sort of timeframe. This trip is my baby.
Cathay Pacific was OK if not slightly uninviting, but the luxury of having two seats to myself was something I must thank them for. It certainly helped the 11-hour journey go somewhat faster, at least in my mind.
After watching Rio 2 and a whole first season of Only Fools and Horses, I sat and listened as the cabin crew said we were closing in on Hongkers. It was around then that I pulled up the window cover and looked out to something that made me realise how big this trip is for me.
In the distance was what looked like luminescent lava; cities bursting with orange lights that created what almost could pass for an eternal artificial dusk. The bustling Hong Kong boasts a population of over 7.15 million people, and it was upon seeing this dimly-lit haze hovering over one of the cities that I felt nervous.
But why nerves? Is it because there is so much unknown on this trip? That I've barely seen much of these cosmopolitan culture capitals and now they're becoming substantial parts of my next month? Who knows.
One final note. We were reminded ever so politely by our Cathay Pacific captain that it was 32 degrees at 9pm. For the second time in three years I've left a kiwi winter behind with absolutely zero regrets. The heat here, though, is a comfortable one.
Time to wait for my flight to London (Heathrow) at 12.35am, some two hours away. Until then I'll just continue to walk around this airport in amazement and awe, forever soaking up the notion that even at 10.30pm there's probably the population of Invercargill walking around this complex.
