"Thank you for flying LanChile, we hope you had a good flight.."

Eh, no is the answer to that - could slap the people who came up with those stupid lines. Think by the time I arrived in Auckland I was mentally deranged and completely exhausted from lack of sleep.  Had I stayed another hour longer in Santiago airport, I think I would have set the place on fire.  After waiting 8 hours in Lima for my flight to Santiago, I had another 22 hours to wait for my flight to Auckland. 

My saviour in lots of my travels has been the 'Lonely Planet Thorn Tree Forum' - basically a forum where travellers can ask others questions from the sane to insane and get answers to any weird questions asked.  So I used it to type in 'Places to sleep in Santiago airport' (as there was no way I was paying $200 for a bed in an adjacent airport hotel). Some bright spark came up with the idea of a peaceful night's sleep on the 2nd floor, by all the offices (with maybe some carpet to keep me warm!).

Great, off I set with 'Junior' (my sleeping bag) and my small rucksack and headed for the 2nd floor at 4am in the morning - found a nice wee spot on 4 chairs next to a rather large window & not a soul in sight.  Opened my sleeping bag, hopped in, used my rucksack as a pillow...smug and smile on face off I went to sleep thinking I'd be fresh as a daisy for my long day/travel the next morning...

...Talk about the worst night's sleep ever - about 45 minutes later, I awoke to the sound of trolleys crashing along the floor; a woman sitting at my feet and then a large group of people with some sort of flags waving and screaming at the large window.  Little did I realise that the nice area I'd found on the 2nd floor was a viewing/waiting area for people waiting for passengers coming from arrivals.  So no sleep and waiting for 20 hours for my (delayed) flight to Auckland. 

Finally boarded the plane with 2 free seats beside me with a fella on the other end - was great, as I was going to sprawl out and lie down.  Well, not quite..some stupid French woman with her ADHD kid thought it would be a good idea to ask the man to swap places so her wee boy could lie down and sleep.  Not impressed!

So here I am in Auckland - a city similar to Ireland and the UK. The place is absolutely buzzing with the excitement of Rugby World Cup Fever. Today is the match between Wales (should have been Ireland) and France and there's so much going on. The people here are absolutely lovely and so friendly.  There are 'Fanzones' located all over the city and I'll be heading there tonight to go and join in the atmosphere near the wharf with all the fans from everywhere watching the match on huge screens - the crowds are everywhere. Reminds me a bit of All-Ireland Final Day in Dublin, except on a much bigger scale.

Staying in a YMCA hostel..should be called Y Weird CA hostel...some strange individuals roaming the corridors (but was the only bed I could get cos of the World Cup) Not sure who the hostel houses..disadvantaged from the community, inmates/whatever!! They do have a brilliant gym next door, with machines that actually work, so have been in my element. Have befriended a Brazilian guy who's here studying English until February and when he found out I was in NZ for 3 months, he gave me his number within half an hour of chatting.  So will meet up with him when my tour finishes back in Auckland again...think he's desperate for meeting new friends/people who stay longer than 2 days in the hostel.

Start my tour of the North and South island tomorrow morning for the next 29 days. Hiking/cycling and other adrenaline fuelled activities await. Oh and back to sleeping in a tent again. I think my love relationship with Junior will come to a final end tomorrow night - watch this space!



Finally getting my flight from Santiago Airport