I’d intended to do my standard “blog all of the things until people are totally sick of the sound of your typing” thing for this trip, but as it turned out, I didn’t.

Oddly, the reason wasn’t laziness, or at least wasn’t all laziness; I found it difficult to think of the Auckland & Wellington portions of the trip as being an actual noteworthy vacation, at least from a ‘write about it’ point of view, which is why I took so damn many photos, so that the folks who were interested could see something.

One of the goals of the NZ trip was to see whether I was going to be overcome with a wave of homesickness/nostalgia upon hitting NZ, and immediately make plans to ‘move back home’. That … didn’t happen.
Auckland was nice, seeing people was entirely awesome, but no desire to immediately move back to Auckland has thus far emerged. Not planning to get a bus pass and an overpriced poorly-insulated flat.

Likewise with Wellington; Great to see & hang out with people, and to roam around the city, but no plans to move there.

Of course, when I decided to leave Perth it was a few days after a visit to NZ, once I’d had some time to myself to be alone with my thoughts, (which is usually when they get weird & creepy) so I may just be talking total bollocks here. Maybe after a few days I’ll be filled with an irresistible urge to move to NZ & start taking an interest in rugby?

OK, the rugby thing seems unlikely.

Nymphadora made sure to tell me, as I left this morning, how much she would miss me.
And my ability to open food sachets.

I actually got some work done, fixing some code I’d written, then documenting the damn thing while I still remembered what the requirements were.
Also discovered that our version control system had decided that I totally wanted to delete that project, and that if I wanted to cancel the delete, I’d need to delete the project first.
Not sure what I did to it, but I did it a lot, it seems.

Still, that can be a problem for Future Craig; That guy’s awesome, he’ll figure it out.

Aylesbury to Marylebone – Done!
Marylebone to Paddington – Managed!
Paddington to Heathrow – Achieved!
Self-Service check-in kiosk – What Are A Passport?

Maybe it was wondering whether I was able to enter NZ, but didn’t know how to ask.
Or maybe it was having a bad day.

In any case, after maybe 40 minutes in a line, one of the check-in assistance folks sorted things, got me my boarding passes, and tagged my checked luggage*.
Got through security in about 20 minutes, at a VERY relaxed pace.

So, now I’m loitering airside at Heathrow Terminal 2, in the patio balcony section, of course, trying to decide how to kill the hour & a half until the gate is announced.

* checked luggage weighed in at 5kg, so, lighter than my carry-on.

Made it to Singapore.
That was a long damn flight, with a fair bit of turbulence, so they left the seatbelt signs on for most of it.

Got some sleep, which is more than I expected, and watched both Pacific Rim films.

Once I got to Changi Airport, had a moment or two of confusion because I couldn’t find a sign pointing me to Terminal 3.
Then realised that this probably means I’m already in T3; Asked someone, and they confirmed it. (I get the idea it’s a common question for arrivals)

This is a big terminal.
Maybe not “Report on an Unidentified Space Station” big, like Dubai, but getting there.
It might be the number of people here which stops it from being creepy big.

And I made it to NZ.
Tired.
Very tired.