The Trip Home and the Aftermath

Our first flight from BA to Santiago was running about 15 minutes late, so we literally had to run from the gate to gate at Santiago airport to board our plane to Auckland, and then they confiscated our booze off us! (even though we had been told it would be OK in BA - what a rip!) - so lesson learnt, only buy Duty Free at your final destination (oh well, at least it hadn't cost us much). So then it was on the plane and finally on our way home.

We didn't sleep as well on the way home as what we had on the way there, so we arrived at Auckland at 0400 pretty tired. It was very weird hearing English again, and especially hearing the Kiwi accent - I literally wanted to crack up laughing, thinking to myself (Oh my God, do I sound like that?" We also kept trying to speak Spanish to people (like at Duty Free and at Immigration) and got some very strange looks, before we remembered to speak English (that was pretty funny)!

We hung out at the International Terminal until about 0545, and then walked over to Domestic to check in for our flight back to Napier. It was very fresh outside, only 11 C, so we were freezing. We landed in Napier at 0800, and the pilot announced that it was only 3 C outside (and we thought we were cold in Auckland). Just after we got off the plane Nic turned up to pick us up, and take us home (finally!).

Possum ran under the house when we got home and it took a couple of hours for her to come inside, and then she completely ignored us for a while. But by early afternoon, she was all cuddles again.

It was very weird being home again, and I definitely suffered from culture shock for the first few days (trying to speak Spanish to people, noticing the Kiwi accent, looking the wrong way when crossing the road, etc) and I really noticed the difference between the places we had visited and home. It was kinda like I expected to arrive back and it still be the middle of March, but I've somehow travelled forward in time and now it is nearly the middle of the year.

But all in all, we wouldn't have passed up this trip for anything. We had such a great, eye-opening, exhilarating time. We have seen so many wonderful sights, ticked lots of things off our "Must Do" List, and met some of the most gorgeous, lovely, fun people along the way. We found SA to be incredibly safe (unlike some of the stories we had heard), and we would definitely love to go back some day if and when the opportunity presents itself.