Day 162: Buenos Aires, Argentina to Wellington, NZ via Sydney, Australia

Well everybody! I guess the Ice to Ice Tour is now officially over. All that is left to do is to tie up some loose ends, write some summaries that might help others thinking of doing similar things and get our girls out of Argentina and back home.

I am beginning writing this on the plane in the way from Buenos Aires to Sydney. I will finish it, all going well, from home in Wellington NZ. We are flying Aerolineas Argentinas and travelling in business class! That's a hoot! The fare for business class was $130 more than the standard fare. That might sound a lot but it is a 16 hour flight - so that's less than $10 per hour. :-) It means you get a lounge to sit in while the plane is delayed 90 minutes, priority boarding so you don't have to stand in huge queues and a reasonable seat so you have a chance to get some sleep. It made sense to me.

So we were up this morning not long after 5am, showered and packed and ready to go. The hotel ordered us a sizeable car (almost a limo) which was just as well because we had lots of luggage. It also meant that we had a driver who was only slightly insane instead of being stark raving bonkers as all other BA taxi drivers seem to be.

Check in was straightforward enough although the flight had already been delayed an hour from the original ETD of 8.30. I sat in the lounge and did some posting of blogs while we waited. It would seem that the days of lavish airline lounges might be over. It was most certainly not like the Koru Lounge that I enjoyed while working at the Teachers Council. Still a coffee and some fruit and a quiet place to wait was ok.

Kiwi checked it out. Seemed ok.



We eventually boarded at around 9.15 and were then held at the taxiway for a further 20 minutes so the rubber bands could be retensioned. Finally we were up up and away and into some bumpy turbuturbuturbulence as we cruised down the east coast towards the South Pole. Apparently we are to fly over some southern islands of NZ. Not that we are likely to see anything. And will arrive in Sydney just a little late at 3.15pm local time. Well, we'll see.

Kiwi thought the seats were ok.


And then found himself a snug little possie. He wasn't so sure about the feet though!


More to come. :-)

Sydney was ok - good to see that relaxed Aussie humour. Because our plane was late Dick had a bit of a scramble to get clear and then catch his flight to Auckland. I had a bit of time to kill and then left at 7pm.

Shirley was waiting for me at the airport when we arrived just after midnight. Goodie! What else can we say.

That's going to be it for a while. Summaries and comments later. I'm going for a nap. :-)

Location:Wellington, NZ