FROM CZECH TO NEW ZEALAND: HOW I MADE IT TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD
- coupkovasvatava
- Jan 19, 2017
- 2 min read
One day mum and dad booked the most expensive flight tickets (have I mentioned dad was sick of the city and impatient to get home NOW no matter what?) and on Tuesday 17th we said goodbye to my Czech grandparents and got on the flight to the other side of the world.
The first 50 minutes to Frankfurt I was pretty (and loudly) unhappy and I can imagine parents started to quietly accept that the remaining 28 hours were going to be a nightmare. About 10 minutes before she was called to the check-in counter mum had remembered one important thing: travelling to New Zealand as a tourist requires a return flight ticket. Which we didn´t have. Oops. After a lengthy phone call dad had with the immigration, explaining our extraordinary situation, making a lot of promises, we were allowed to board. I think he was really mad with mum at that time.
On the plane I got my own bed and sadness from the previous flight was replaced by excitement. I mean – it was still long and super boring, but I was only little, I had enough food, comfy place to rest and – most importantly - my lamb, so it was not too bad. With the hindsight, when I see what I could actually have claimed, I would have done it differently. The lame tongue gets nothing, right?
We had to change once more in Singapore where we had a 4-hour gap. With all those playgrounds, butterfly gardens and fish ponds it was not too bad even though it was a little bit annoying that our economic class ticket was exclusive of a free lounge access.
The last plane was all right apart from a single thing. Just across the aisle there was a 6-month old Kiwi girl coming back home from the UK with her parents. And man, she was just showing off all the time – doing all those sitting up and standing tricks which I had no idea about. Gross!
Anyway, 29 hours + 12-hour time difference later we landed in Christchurch and there was no winter anymore. We carried no dirty tents, hiking boots, nuts, fruit... so after dad explained again why mum and I didn´t have return but only one way flight tickets they let us in. The airport shuttle took us to one of the worst motels I have ever seen (not that I have seen many, but still!) - with two single beds, a broken portacot and a shared bathroom outside (thanks daddy for treating us :-)) – and there we were: super tired and extremely jetlagged in beautiful New Zealand.
Your Annie
Some facts:
When: 17. – 19. 1. 2017 Where: Brno (Czech Republic) - Prague (Czech Republic) – Frankfurt (Germany) – Singapore – Christchurch (New Zealand) How: train, bus, plane
How long: 3,5 hr. + 29 hr. How far: 228 + 510 + 10 298 + 8 410 = 19 446 km
