Here we go again

Molly, disguised as a piece of baggage.

I know I really should have written this introduction on the plane but, you know, I just didn't feel like it, so there. (My bad.) So now it's one o'clock in the morning, not even 12 hours since we arrived , yet it seems like an eternity, and even though William warned us not to go to bed befor dark, I did, slept the sleep of the dead, and now  we are both wide awake, listening to the sounds of the rubbish trucks and music from a nearby bar, absorbing the atmosphere of a brand new city, and trying to process the previous day/days.

I've kept the old blog because, although it is two years old now, the title is still apt and it is still part of the same journey. ( Wish I'd finished it, but still, no use crying over spilt milk, and I still might, one day.) The first part of the blog is about our adventures in going to attend the wedding of our oldest son, William, and his beautiful bride, Julie. This one is about our adventure in coming back to visit them and meeting our brand new baby grandson, Philippe Alexandre. (Only a few more days now.)

To announce the news of Philipe's existence, a bare 7 months ago, they sent us a parcel with a tiny, plush rabbit and two return airline tickets to Santiago, Chile. And, well, he's here now - as in, in this world, and so are we - as in, in Santiago. In a few days we will travel up to Florida to meet him in the flesh. Flesh!!! Makes him sound edible, doesn't it? Can't wait to have a little nibble.

Probably the most daunting part of this whole journey was the fact we were flying standby - no guarantee of a seat on the plane! And it's not like we were just trying to get to Auckland. We are not very experienced travellers, so it is very nerve wracking, this not knowing your exact itinerary, and we still have to face the return trip, but I'm hoping we will be well seasoned by then and a lot less anxious.

In fact, other than the few nail biting moments when we were at the check-in counter wondering if we had a seat, the journey has gone quite smoothly.  My bag weighed well under our 23kg limit. Alanna, Molly's new slave and our house sitter, arrived just before we got in the car at nine o'clock. Our friend, Mary, saw us off at Napier airport at eleven. We had about 5 hours to wait at Auckland airport, even that wasn't too bad, and we had a very good flight over to here. Great seats, even though the plane was packed, yummy food, 2 and three quarter movies, easy access to the loo, well, you can't expect too much more. We thought the "Whiskey, ice cream or coffee?" ( "Yes please"),  just before sleep time, a nice touch.The captain announced, just before landing, that it was only 10 degrees in Santiago, which gave us a start - " Oh no, we don't have enough clothes!" - but it was much warmer than that. I even took my cardigan off, so that's saying something.

So here we are. I'm about to snuggle back down and see if I can get a few more hours sleep before we meet up with Will, who flys in for the day tomorrow - no wait - today - hang on - it may be yesterday (if we were in New Zealand). Ha ha. I am very confused about the time ( don't get me started on the money- blimmin' pesos).

 I will continue this later.

Note to self - no more into the sun selfies.