Wow. I can’t believe it’s been almost a month since we got back… I wanted to come back to this and add in some things, and update this last entry on how we got home and what happened after I left off in France. It’s still pretty fresh so hopefully I can remember things well enough!
So I packed. It took a long time - most of the day, I think. I procrastinated on my laptop writing stuff and playing solitaire, and Nai kept coming into my room to see how I was getting on, and so did Roo and Jess, and Ellie kept finding things she'd forgotten and shoving them into the suitcase with reckless abandon. I'd then have to sigh, get up, and fix it. Nana actually helped us pack properly though. I did try, but eventually I conceeded to the fact that I wasn't doing a very good job. Things just didn't seem to fit the way they had on our way here. Maybe it was partly due to the fact that I was trying to put as little as possible in my carry on bag, to avoid massive shoulder and neck pain.
I had my laptop all charged up and ready to go so that I could use it in the three airports (Paris, Hong Kong, Auckland) that we'd be waiting in over the next 30 hours. My battery allows for about 4 hours of usage depending on what I'm doing.
I cried when we said going to everyone at the train station in Montpon. I didn't plan that - I didn't realise how much I would miss everyone. I hugged them all - Nana, Papa, Nai, Roo, Jess and Andrew - and Andrew said, "You're welcome in our house any time, okay? We'll miss you." And that made me cry a bit more. They'd all been talking about me going to live with Nai and Andrew and the kids while I do my teacher training. It's a lovely thought, that those four people want me to stay for so long. But I'm not sure if I'll do it. You all remember what happened the last time I spent an extended amount of time in England.
So anyway, we got on the train to Bordeaux, and that... that was an experience. Ellie and I sat with the suitcase on a row of three seats. There was another row of three opposite us, and then a space to the left where people boarded and disembarked the train, and a tiny loo. It was roomy enough, I guess. The most interesting thing that happened was that a guy (a cute guy) got on with a little ginger cat on a red leash. I honestly don't know why he doesn't just get a carrier cage or something, because that little cat pissed everywhere. The guy put it on the ledge beside the door and it just... weed, all down the side. And this guy had no idea what to do. There were about ten people all up in the little space. I caught the eye of the girl sitting across from me and we shared an amused look. He sat on the floor with the cat and did nothing about the piss. Cat pee usually smells awful but I didn't smell anything, so at least we got to ride with the cleanest cat (or near enough) in the world.
Now, Bordeaux is motherfucking g o r g e o u s. Second only to Sarlat in my France Travels. The shopping area is all narrow and colourful with buildings that rise up on either side, and segway off into more streets, on diagonals, not boring straight lines. And the buildings match! They match! It made me feel the same as when I saw Wanaka (South Island) in 2010. The buildings just all go together, like rama lama lama
ke ding a de dinga dong.
Bordeaux was a bit stressful though. It is, as you know, in France, and in France they speak, as you know, French. So finding a way to get from the train station to the airport took a bit of time and two visits to the information centre. I tried to pretend, when I saw the Info Centre Guy for the second time, that I hadn't just been in there talking to him ten minutes previously. If it hadn't been for Ellie asking a bus guy where we could find the Airport Shuttle, I might have walked off completely in the wrong direction. That was one time when having Ellie along actually came in handy.
The shuttle cost a whole 7 euro, which was bollocks, but we made it to Bordeaux airport with heaps of time to spare. We found an ok cafe and I got out the old laptop and spent about an hour catching up. It was, of course, a super ridiculous time in the morning in New Zealand, so no one was online. I made a status on facebook, made a post on tumblr (no notes) and checked hotmail, blogger, ao3, my sideblogs, my friends' blogs, my kiwibank and youtube.
Then:
Plane, Paris airport was shit, planeplaneplaneplaneplaneplaneplaneplaneplaneplaneplane, Hong Kong was alright, planeplaneplaneplaneplaneplaneplaneplaneplaneplaneplane, Auckland, plane, Palmerston North. The number of planes is equal to the number of hours we spent on them.
I'd like to go back, though, and talk a little more about Hong Kong, because some things happened there. I think we spent around six hours? I was so happy that I'd managed to get a couple hours nap on the plane from Paris. It meant that I could slouch around Hong Kong without the crippling need to fall onto the floor and go to sleep. We got there so far ahead of the plane to Auckland that our flight wasn't even on the board yet. We arrived around 3pm but our time didn't show up until 7pm. We got McDonald's (they have nuggets... right... but the numbers of nuggets are 3... 9... or 20....) and saw a man eating fries with chopsticks. I had a moment of major panic because when we got to the foodcourt I realised that I'd left my wallet (with all my money, my eftpos card and some other bits inside) with the baggage trolley downstairs. I ran down the escalator (or tried, but in Hong Kong you Do Not Do That, and I was stuck behind two girls the whole way. I went over to the trolleys and had a frantic-lookaround, and may have freaked out in the face of a confused Russian woman who couldn't understand me, but the info desk was right behind me and it turned out that some beautiful, lovely person had handed my wallet in. I had to name three things that I had inside and then they gave it back! Wonderful.
So we got McDonald's and then went back downstairs and made our way to the gate. I sat online for a bit (on the airport computers because I ran down my laptop battery while we waited in Paris) and then napped on the seats. It was mega empty. Ellie charged her iPod at the chargy place. She wasn't exactly watching over the bags while I slept but luckily no one touched them.
Cue 11 hours on a plane. I watched movies and slept.
In Auckland we were told that our big bag was still in France and that it would be put on the next flight to Palmerston North. That was another thing I had to deal with. I had to be the reliable adult all the way from France to home, and it was exhausting. I did an okay job. I got us where we needed to go, but I hated it.
And so now we're home. Every now and then I think I do not fucking miss airports and planes at all, but I do miss France and Family.
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