A girls night in is the new "girls night out"

---

We had forgotten to check our flight time before bed (this is how relaxed - or stupid - we’ve become) so ended up getting up 45 minutes too early. I remember saying to Ellie last night our flight was between 8 and 9am, but it didn’t cross my mind to check. Glenn gave us a lift to the airport, after handing me a piece of chocolate from his Dairy Milk Snack Pack - what were Dairy Milk thinking including Turkish Delight in their selection? Yuk!
After such a chilled out experience at Cairns airport the other day, we were disappointed this one turned out to be appalling. First the Meanie on the check in desk insisted we show our booking confirmations (not just our passports and reference numbers) so I had to root through my backpack flinging knickers and tampons everywhere before finding my document at the bottom. She also asked us if we had our Australian ETA Visa printouts with us (despite it all being electronic) and when we said no, she insisted we’d need these on entry to New Zealand. She suggested we find an internet cafe to print these out before we board our plane but we decided to wing it and if anyone asked we’d protest absolute innocence.
Then security bugged us to put cosmetics in a clear plastic bag (yeah yeah I know what you’re thinking: “this is standard stuff nowadays”... but really we’ve done the whole trip so far without bothering - El’s been carrying nail clippers and a penknife for God’s sake). More faffing about. Then he sent us to the biggest queue. The guy had a grudge, I just know it.
Had chunky toast and coffee then picked up a book from the book shop - I’m still mourning the loss of my last one (that I left on a plane) so decided to cheer myself up by burying my head in a new one. The flight to New Zealand was very short so we were there in 3 hours. Ellie’s friend Jenny met us at Arrivals and took us back to the flat in Auckland that she shares with her sister, Donna. They’d kindly offered for us to stay there for a few days - Ellie and I have saved sooo much money staying at Steph & Graemes; Sams; Squipsy’s; Glenns and now Jennys!
It was so nice to see a girly flat for once! We’ve stayed at so many bachelor pads now, all decked out with cold leather sofas, monstrous flat screen TV’s, separate beer fridges etc (not that we’re complaining of course!) so it was a nice change to see stylish furniture, book shelves, thick hessian curtains, and cozy cushions. They’d decorated with a mix of neutral colours and a contrast of soft and chunky fabrics; and I loved their country style kitchen!
We made a prawn and mango salad for dinner and had the best girls night in drinking wine and talking “men, sex and love” till we were blue in the face. Jenny and Donna are lovely girls, originally from South Africa and had some great travelling stories and experience to share.

---