Auckland to Cairns

You have got to love international travel. There is never a dull moment. This morning we left our hotel at 3:00 am to catch our flight from Auckland to Sydney and on to Cairns. We arrived at the airport with approximately 2 hours until our flight. However, returning the rental car was a bit of a disaster. Because it was so early, the rental car return was not open yet. So we parked it in the Hertz lot and went into the terminal that was nearby and intended to return the car where we rented it. The terminal that we were in was clearly not open yet, there was not a person to be found. Thinking that we were in the wrong place we went back out to our car and drove around a little more. The place where we returned it was clearly correct, however, the terminal that we needed to be at was a 15 minute walk away. Keep in mind that we did not exactly pack light. We each have two humongous suitcases and duffel bags as well as a laptop and my purse. So there we are running through the parking lot with all of our belongings. By the time we get to the terminal we are completely sweaty and exhausted. This whole ordeal has taken a deal of time and it is starting to look like we could potentially miss our flight if things do not go smoothly. We get to the Qantas check in area and there is a line that stretches forever. Fortunately since we were cutting it close we got to move to the front of the line. Aside from a less than helpful ticket agent and bags that were too heavy making us have to quickly redistribute some items, we made it to our gate just as they were beginning to board. All this drama and it is not even 6 am.

In Sydney we needed to go though customs. This is an amazingly difficult ordeal. You need to go through immigration then get your bags, go through quarantine, go to another terminal, recheck your bags and go through security again. We only had two hours to make our connection. Because of VERY long, slow lines we got to our gate just as they were beginning to board. It is quite stressful.

Now however, we are on our way to the city or Cairns which is on the ocean, up by the Great Barrier Reef. I suspect that within a matter of hours we will be sitting on the beach with an umbrella drink in hand and will have forgotten all about the airport drama.

Cheers mates.