Friday 6 March was departure day, and it seemed to be upon us before we knew it. After several farewell events, dinners and tearful goodbyes, we left Auckland just as the spread of the Coronavirus was starting to gather speed around the World. Thanking our good fortune that we had booked tickets via San Francisco instead of through Asia, we checked in our four large cases and heaved a sigh of relief as we saw them disappear on the conveyor belt. Our adventure had really started and we were taking with us 20kgs of my son’s designer clothing which he couldn’t bare to live without, for him to collect in London in April when we planned to meet up with Jak and Ju.
San Francisco was a wonderful break. Far less crowded than usual the city was still vibrant although all the cavernous restaurants and eateries were half empty. We walked through the city, took a tourist bus, went over Golden Gate Bridge, watched the playful seal lions in the harbour, visited the Natural History Museum, wandered down Haight Street (the birthplace of hippies) and took in all the sites and smells of this great city. The smell of marijuana often filled our nostrils as we passed the many smoke shops where customers have been happily puffing away since it was legalised in 2018.
After two packed but fun days staying in a beautiful apartment close to a number of beautiful Painted Ladies (traditional, wooden, multi-storied villas elaborately painted in many different colours), we headed to the airport. Our luggage weight limit was considerably less on this leg and, although we had tried to keep our cases below 20kg’s we were reduced to wearing the heaviest of our clothing and leaving non-essential clothes in San Fran where we hoped some of the numerous homeless people would find them.
London beckoned and we landed in Gatwick on a very cold Monday afternoon with clear skies. It was exciting to be back but trying to navigate the narrow, busy pavements with four large suitcases plus bags over our shoulders was challenging to say the least! We had arranged to stay at the Central London home of family while they were on holiday and we quickly made ourselves at home before collapsing into bed, exhausted.
We slept the sleep of champions, eventually dragging ourselves out of bed a full 18hours later! Feeling refreshed and rather smug that we had managed to knock any jetlag on the head in the first day…. Or so we thought!