lag

I love the way travel just makes one completely confused and disoriented, even after only a few hours. I began my travels at 3:30 in the afternoon, flying from Sydney to New Zealand, which is only a 3 hour flight. In an effort to make myself tired enough to sleep on the plane, I hadn't really slept the night before my trip, so, I was a little sleepy. I was sitting in the Auckland, New Zealand airport, when over the loudspeaker I hear:
'all customers who have completed chicken should now proceed to the departure gate'.
Pause. Blink. Blink.
Ohhhh.
Check-in.
For those of you unfamiliar with the New Zealand accent, they're a bit funny with their vowels. 'I' sounds like 'U', and 'E' sounds like 'I'. Just when I thought I had the Kiwi accent figured out, suddenly I'm hearing that people completing chickens. Ohhh man.

After 25 hours, countless movies (Air NZ had an awesome movie selection, by the way), much tea drinking, and a bit of dozing later, I arrived at Heathrow. Their customs officers have a funny way of grilling those arriving to their fair country.
'How long are you staying? Why are you here? Where's your return ticket? How much money is in your bank account?'
Yikes.
Meeting up with Sarah was less complicated than I had anticipated, as she ran up to me as I was looking for the baggage claim. Poor thing had missed her flight (not her fault... never buy your tickets from cheapoair.com), so she had only just arrived. Turns out her baggage missed the flight though, which is why you always keep your toothbrush and an extra pair of undies in your carry-on, ladies and gentlemen.
We're staying at the Palmer Lodge (http://www.palmerslodge.co.uk/), which is really awesome and I highly reccommend it. Met Theresa (my best friend since I was born, for those who don't know) for dinner at a tapas restaurant, and it was all just absolutely lovely. It's so good to be around people that I haven't seen in a year and that I love so dearly. It's almost like being home.