New Zealand, Part 1

First, a word about Paris. It seems our trip to New Zealand came at a fortuitous time. Whether it was divine intervention or random circumstance, for some reason we were not meant to be in Paris at the time of the terrorist attacks. I am infinitely grateful for this fact, but it was still heart-wrenching and frightening to learn that several of the attacks took place very close to our home. When the attack locations were published, I instantly recognized two of the streets as ones I often travel on. In fact, I walked past the Bataclan concert venue just over a week ago when buying a suitcase for our trip. And we have friends who go to work every day very near the attack sites. It's a decent, relatively safe neighborhood populated by hard-working Parisians, and now terrorists have shattered any feelings of safety and security that once existed. It was our home, is our home, and this tragedy has changed it forever.

New Zealand, however, is the perfect antidote to violence and hatred. In what has to be one of the most beautiful, serene, and majestic countries in the world, it seems impossible not to be kind and loving to each other. I want to tell you about all of the amazing things we've seen in only five and a half days, but I'll start at the beginning of our journey and take you there in shorter instalments. It hasn't been the smoothest ride.

Mon, Nov 9 - Wed, Nov 11
We left in the evening, flying from Paris to Dubai overnight on Emirates Airlines. Emirates is a nice airline. They give you a hot towel at the start of every flight, they feed you frequently (you can choose one of their many types of special meals if you have dietary restrictions), and they have hundreds of movies and shows for you to watch. So it was a fine, sleepless 6-hour flight, then we arrived in Dubai (a very blingy and commercial airport), and a little while later we headed to Bangkok on a 5.5 hour flight. Again, no sleep for Talia. I don't do well with sleeping on planes, unfortunately. Next we had a one-hour "break" in Bangkok while they refuelled the plane and we were herded through security in the airport. Then we hopped back on the newly cleaned plane and flew to Sydney. This time it was an 8-hour flight. By this point, I was sore, exhausted, and really not looking forward to an even longer flight. Rory successfully slept for a good portion of this one so as to align his body with New Zealand time. I, however, did not. Finally we made it to Sydney and I'm practically bounding off the plane. It's only two more hours to Christchurch! I'm nearly done! I'll survive! Hallelujah! We got back on the plane for the last time. And then something unfortunate happened.

Sleepless in Bangkok, attempting to smile

Food poisoning. I'll spare you the gory details, but suffice it to say that I quickly realized I had a serious problem. I suspect the culprit came from one of my Emirates gluten-free meals; my hunch is that it was a salad with tuna on top. Future gluten-free Emirates travellers, beware. I spent most of the flight in agony in the tiny lavatory, and once we arrived in Christchurch, for the next two days I alternated between being miserable in bed and being miserable in the bathroom. This was my first experience with food poisoning, and I have to say, I'd rather not try it again.

By Friday, I was well enough to get out of the house a bit, and Rory and I had initially planned to spend the weekend travelling, so I didn't want to waylay those plans with my illness. Not yet feeling completely better, we rented a car and began to make our way up the east coast of the south island. It was a mostly wonderful journey with breathtaking scenery and experiences. But you can read all about that in Part 2.