Wow, so STILL reading this blog, eh? ;) Greetings from home! Late at night on Sunday over here. It was a long journey to get back home - 32+ hours of straight traveling.
My last night in Dunedin, I talked to the bartender/receptionist at my hostel and told her that I needed to check out around 7:10 or 7:15 (since reception didn't open until 7:30). She kind of gave me a weird look and was nodding along and told me to just come downstairs in the morning. I asked if they were going to be open and she said yes. So I packed up everything fairly neatly and evenly between my 2 suitcases (only about 4 lbs difference!) before bedtime and then woke up early in the morning the next day and got everything ready. Then I walked downstairs around 7:15, and guess what? Reception was NOT open. Now I had a bus leaving at 7:45 to go to Christchurch with the stop being 5 blocks away. Check in for the bus was at 7:30. I needed to catch this bus or else the only way I would catch my flight out of New Zealand would be to buy an additional flight going from New Zealand to Christchurch, which would have added a few hundred dollars to my trip. So I hesitantly waited until 7:30, but of course, with this being New Zealand, saying something opens at 7:30 means that they'll try to get there at 7:30. Then I started to panic, and around 7:35, thought screw it, wrote a note on a sheet of notebook paper, ran upstairs to my room (with my backpack on!) telling them I was checking out and grudgingly telling them to keep my key deposit. I could have returned my keycard with the note, but damn, if they were going to keep my key deposit I'm gonna freaking keep the key then! Then I blasted out of there and luckily hit pedestrian green lights on the way there and had to semi-drag my wheeled luggage across the streets.
I got to the stop at exactly 7:45 and most fortunately the bus door was still open. I waited by the bus and then who should come out the bus depot but Keith! Keith - my absolute favorite bus driver from New Zealand FIVE YEARS AGO! He's such an amusing spry old man. He drove the Queenstown - Dunedin route back then so he drove me at least 3 times back then, and this was the Dunedin - Christchurch route so I wasn't expecting him at all. I was semi-hoping that I'd see someone I'd recognize somewhere - ANYWHERE in New Zealand but didn't think it was a high possibility because it'd been so many years, but leave it to the last day to see it happen! Keith asked me if I had checked in yet, and I said no, and he said I needed to check in and gave me the manifest and told me to take it to the lobby. He had a bemused look on his face and I think he was pulling my leg because I never had to physically check in at the desk when I bought tickets online, but that put me in such a good mood I went anyway. The woman at the desk asked if I was Diana, and then she said, "You're a bit late." No kidding.
I got the last empty row of seats on the bus and was in good spirits (the running to the bus stop through the cold morning air cleared my sinuses temporarily too). I was in such a daze that the 6-hour bus ride didn't seem long at all. I was packed with meds too and was trying my best to suppress my coughs. We stopped in Timaru for the midday break and I had my last mince pie (yum) with tea. Then we got to Christchurch, I took one last walk around Cathedral Square, and then found this shuttle that drove to the airport, and off I went.
It's kind of a blur from there. It was about a 2-hour plane ride to Auckland, and then when I got there I had less than 20 minutes before I boarded my Auckland to LAX plane. And that's when the day stopped going so well. My cough had gotten worse, and no joke, this guy sat sort of near me by the gate, but then after I started coughing he got up and left. And then the plane was packed. At first I thought I was going to get lucky because only 1 other person had showed up in my row, and he moved to the window seat to give us more space. But then I found out that some passengers couldn't get on the plane because the air bridge was jammed. Then it wound up being a very full plane, and I was coughing so much and trying to muffle it with one of the airline's thick napkins. And then I needed to use the restroom but 1) the flight attendant who cleaned the trash neglected to take my soda can and 2 cups so I couldn't lift my tray table, and 2) we of course hit turbulence and the seatbelt light went on for 2 hours! Finally I thought screw it and bolted for the toilet with the plane shaking. When I got back to my seat the other 2 people had gone to use the toilet too. =) Then I think I got 2-3 hours sleep at most. A few times when I fell asleep I found myself waking up to cough. And then about 2 hours before the flight ended I got kind of nauseous and couldn't even eat most of my breakfast. Me - NOT eating?!
Finally we got to LA and I feared that the U.S. would be as bad as when I got to New Zealand, with a team of people passing out flyers on swine flu and then asking every person who passed if they felt all right. I would have been delayed at least a little because my voice was still gone and I was coughing and my nose was red from using so many tissues. I'm pretty sure that I had developed a fever the night before too. But nope, immigration in the U.S. was completely chill. Made it through LAX with no problems but then my flight to Houston was delayed, but the flight was not packed at all and I got an empty seat buffer between me and the aisle guy. I had the same problem when I was trying to sleep; I kept coughing myself awake.
So I'm finally back in my house today. It felt really surreal to be driving again. I thought, "Whoa, everything seems so much quieter." Then I realized once I got home that my hearing is a little bit off. Then I took my temperature, and I DO have a fever. And a nasty nasty cough. So I am doing what I have NEVER done before. Not skydiving, not bungy jumping, not firewalking. Nope, I am calling in sick for work for the FIRST TIME EVER. I'm not even going to attempt to go and start coughing and then start feeling bad and then having to drive home, nope. I know there are some of you out there will be quite proud of me for actually, you know, doing what I SHOULD be doing. Maybe this vacation has changed me! =)
