The flights

25 hours of flying alone to end up in France. Not too bad really.

The car trip up to the Auckland airport was the quietest my family and I have ever been. I think we were all a bit nervous, scared and excited for my trip. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time so we handed my suitcase in and wandered upstairs to the departure area. While we were sitting down and just waiting for the check in time, my friends Jade, Hannah and Dana arrived and gave me a massive surprise. I was so overwhelmed with the nerves and excitement that I began to cry (which rarely happens). We spent the next 45min together until it was time for me to leave. I am still very happy that they came to say goodbye, it was an awesome thing to do. Then it was time to say goodbye to my parents. I began to cry...again although I am pretty sure everyone else did too (unless we all had something in both of our eyes). Even though I will miss them a lot, I know that they love me heaps and I will see them again!

Then came the 11 hour flight which I could not sleep on, whether that was due to the nerves or the noise. That flight was from Auckland to Hong Kong. While waiting in line, I met a lovely lady from Norway who had been travelling in New Zealand and she had just been to the Coromandel! Unfortunately she had not been able to go the Cathedral Cove when she was staying in Whitianga so I was able to show her my photos of Hahei and the cove.

The next flight went from Hong Kong to Zurich and it was an even longer flight! It took 14 hours. This flight felt extremely long but I managed to sleep for a few hours which helped me to feel less sick and made the time pass slightly faster, although there was a time where I thought I had slept for about 2 hours at least...turns out it was more like 10 min.

Once that long flight had finished, I had one left which was from Zurich to Paris. The last flight felt like I had gotten on the plane, sat down, and stood up again compared to the previous flights as it was only an hour long. The flight was delayed by about 20min due to the foggy conditions in Paris. Flying above the clouds was amazing and the view made me stay awake instead of falling asleep!

I arrived in Paris where it was about 0°C and cloudy, collected my bags and was met by my host parents as the children were at school or work. They were waiting at the arrival part with a silver fern picture with my name on so it was easy to see!

So far I have had two days in France and although I understand barely any of the language, I think that listening to the language 24/7 has helped me understand it a bit more. Bring on the next three months!