It’s interesting how you can look forward to a journey for weeks, but then at the morning of departure find yourself standing in the shower wondering what the heck you’re going to do. Traveling for 24 hours to the other side of the world, what was I thinking?

I think back of the phone call with my brother last night. He told me “Enjoy it as much as you can, because seven weeks will pass by really fast.” He is right, I better enjoy every single moment of it. Leaving for a long journey is actually a bit like it’s your birthday: you get messages and phone calls from so many people wishing you a great time. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!, they tell me and that’s what I’m gonna do.

Packing the last stuff in the morning is still a bit stressful, it’s always a challenge to get everything to fit in your bags, but I manage to fit everything in. Finally when I’m in the train to the airport I’m able to relax. Everything is packed in my backpack and cabin trolley, I’m ready to go. Getting through customs is annoying as usual and I’m thinking by myself again that one day I’ll be flying in a private jet. Never stop dreaming, right?

I thought I would have some time to work at the airport, but everything took longer than expected. Just a cup of coffee and a phone call later and it’s time to depart. I get on the plane and am happily surprised that the seat I bought has an extreme amount of leg space. I can stretch my legs completely and have three windows for myself. I’m so thankful I spend some extra money on this. I send some last goodbye messages and the it’s time to go offline for 12 hours. First I looked up to disconnect (aren’t we all a bit addicted to the internet?), but it’s actually okey. I collected a lot of movies in the last few weeks and have some good books with me, I’ll be fine. In about 12 hours I land in Kuala Lumpur where I have two hours to get on the next plane. I’ll probably write some more when I’m there.

It’s quite strange to be at the airport in Kuala Lumpur. It’s starting to get light and everything looks so different than in Europe, but I’m glad the first part of the journey went terrific and much faster than expected. I do some workouts at the airport and get to talk to a kiwi girl who is also heading to New Zealand. I send a few messages home, post a picture for my daily photography challenge and then it’s time to get on the second plane. After having traveled with KLM the first part, entering a very old plane of Malaysian Airlines is a bit of a disappointment. Less leg space and old uncomfortable chairs. Fortunately I’m a bit tired and also excited for getting closer to New Zealand, so I don’t mind it too much. Though, if I ever fly to NZ again in the future, I think I’ll take the Arabic route. Nine hours traveling left from Kuala Lumpur to Auckland, so I’ll watch some more movies and maybe will try to sleep a bit. Next time I land will be in New Zealand, exciting!

The second flight seems to take much longer. Probably because on the first flight I talked with some people and was still full of energy, while now most of the people are sleeping and the lights are off. I’m thankful that I brought my iPad and have a lot of movies with me. I think it’ll be better to stay awake then to fall asleep now, to get faster in the New Zealand day rhythm. Also, I’m not really tired anymore, I just want to be there.

I’ve only just written the lines above and suddenly I do get tired and I close my eyes. I actually manage to sleep for an hour or so. I’m thinking about how comfortable it would be if you could move instantly to the other side of the world, like teleporting, instead of flying 24 hours. In the end I think I wouldn’t like that too much either, because the fact that it’s such a long journey to get there makes it also more special and exclusive. I think that if it was just a matter of seconds or minutes to get to the other side of the world, it would loose some of its value. Having said that, I’ll be glad to finally land in Auckland soon.

The moment you’re landed is often quite a relieve, especially after a long flight. After I got through customs I get myself an New Zealand SIM card so I can be online here as well and then I take the bus to the center where I’ll stay in a hostel for a few days. The long traveling is over for now, time to wind down and prepare for the adventure on the two islands of New Zealand.