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This is my last and final blog. As this is more a platform designed for travel blogging I shall end the trip here but should anyone care to follow more wittering I am thinking of starting up a Wordpress blog full of my very well thought out and valid opinions on life and how things work....ehem...! I arrived in Auckland airport nice and early for my 2.30pm flight on Thursday. Things didn't really bode well from the start when I clapped eyes on a 200+ queue for luggage check in which I joined at the very tail end. About an hour and a half later this ordeal had ended and i trotted along happily free of my rucksack to the departures gate. 2 pm came and went, 2.30 came and went with no sign of anyone informing us as to what s*** might be going down with our flight! Eventually at about 3.30 we were informed that there was an "engineering issue" and the flight was being postponed until 6pm. Mildly disgruntled we all went to collect our complimentary refreshment vouchers as a small compensation for their pissing about. 6 pm arrived and to be honest nothing looked to be moving much until I saw a tall blonde lady with a striking air of authority approach the microphone. It's never good news when they crack out the dictatorial blonde from the control rooms to tell you how it's goin' be! Sure enough our flight had been cancelled as this "issue" that posed itself as fixable by 3 pm was apparently insurmountable now. Absolute chaos ensued in the departure lounge as you can imagine. A range of emotions from bewilderment to frustration to livid rage meandered their way through the crowd as we were told to sit still and await to be assigned a hotel for the night. Queuing is never ideal, delays even less so and cancellations downright depressing. However there is a lot to be learned from these types of situation not least how you yourself react to them. Practicing patience is by no means a passive thing, it's not something you either naturally have ability for or don't. It really is something you have to work extremely hard at refining for the rest of your days. It's very hard to not flip the lid and start cursing the cosmos for putting you in this situation. I saw people slam fists, raise their voices and act aggressively towards staff and...surprise, surprise..this did not advance their case one iota. I myself tended towards the over emotional reaction of remaining on the verge of tears until Id gotten decent nights sleep. The next morning came and a bus drove us all back for attempt number two. I can't say what in particular changed overnight - was it the refreshment of a decent nights sleep? The renewed ability to think straight after food and rest? Survival mentality? - but the mood of the crowd and myself of course had lifted very exceptionally on that Friday morning. There was a great sense of camaraderie, a feeling of "we're gonna get through this and we'll do it smiling". It was really was quite buzzy (courtesy of Jess Covell - when something is real buzzy or quite buzzy it is apparently a bit weird maybe even unexplained but nearly always in a good way I think!). I met tonnes of interesting people in the queue who shared their stories with me - lets just say the theme of that queue was "it's never too late". To live, to love again, to travel or to change your world completely. I am absolutely shattered, ready to be committed as the fella says but I'm home everyone's well and the rain is beating off the window pane. Ahhh Ireland, what more could you ask for?
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