Buenos Aires to Auckland - Holdups and Home

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There wasn’t meant to be a day 45 of our holiday but Aerolineas Argentinas ensured we got an extra - albeit unwanted - day. We had a buffet breakfast at 0730 and checked out, joining our fellow passengers in the hotel foyer to wait for the 0830 bus that AA had organised to transport us to the airport. It wasn’t altogether unexpected that nothing had shown by 0900. The hotel tried to help as best they could and we were eventually herded into a large van with broken rear doors and a female driver that had clearly never driven a van in her life. I spent the whole journey holding on to the rear doors to stop them from opening and distributing the contents of everyone’s bags across the motorway.

Unbelievably, despite the fact that we had our boarding passes, we were told to queue at check-in and ended up there for over an hour. With 45 minutes before the flight was due to take off we finally checked our baggage in but got in a verbal scrap with the young guy at the counter who told us that Aerolineas Argentinas would not pay our departure tax. I made my point loudly and definitively and managed to get the departure tax paid without too much further hassle.

The flight took off just after midday and we arrived into Auckland mid Sunday afternoon. We flew through immigration, customs and MAF (even with a few too many cigarettes and cigars) and were met by Jo’s parents. Mum met us at our place and we told a few tales before starting to unpack.

As the items came out of our backpacks the memories flooded back. Those who haven’t travelled don’t understand the feeling of reliving a holiday - in a way I feel sorry for them - it is almost as good as the holiday itself. The good times are highlighted and retold with enthusiasm and vigour and even the bad times are relayed with a rose coloured tint… moments that had Jo and I on the verge of despair even became funny over time.

The trip had reminded me of the value of travel. We had learned so much about the places we had been to and even more about the people that inhabited them. The language barrier seemed to be overcome by a great deal of hand signs and a few smiles at the right times. We had met, made friends with and been completely pissed off with people from so many different walks of life - and that is a privilege that you can’t put a value on.

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