San Francisco to Auckland

Two of the five of us are in New Zealand.   It took a lot to get here. There were countless choices and decisions to be made.  Only the first two were easy.  Decision 1: I (Munazza) will be traveling to NZ to attend the first in-person Ren Xue retreat since Covid.  Decision 2: Kestrel will be coming with me to the retreat.

Everything else was hard.  

Air New Zealand cancels the flight and moves departure date up by two days to Oct 29th and puts us on United Airlines without telling us.  I discover this because I happen to be checking in on my itinerary.  Air NZ customer service takes a while to respond but finds space for us and also moves our return date up by two days. 

A few days after this and three days before the trip I discover that Kestrel's passport has expired and this is after checking to make sure it wasn't.  We stay up most of the night researching what to do.  Looks like we have to call them when they first open (5am PST) to make an appointment.  So we do. There is an opening in San Diego.  Steve decides to travel to San Diego but continues calling the SF office in case something opens up.  He eventually finds one for early Friday morning.  (Otherwise, the plan was for all five of to hop in the car.   Kestrel is a minor and both parents are needed for passport renewal.  I considered calling Fudge to see if Cedrus and Jupiter could hang out at her place while we made the trek to San Diego passport office.  Jupiter gets nauseous in the car and I really did not want to put us and him through it.)

Steve, Kestrel and I travel to SF early AM on Friday (the day before our flight).  The passport office gives it to us but Steve hangs out in SF all day and works from a cafe so he can show up at the passport office at exactly the right time for pick up.  I drive Kestrel back home because he threw his jaw out of alignment the day before and needs to be seen by the dentist.  Meanwhile, Cedrus takes care of himself and Jupiter all day long including getting up three hours before his usual wake up time and also chaperones Jupiter play date.   Steve remembers to breathe after they hand him the new passport. 

We are all set to go. Except that I have been having an exceptionally hard time with the idea of being away from Cedrus for 2.5 weeks.  In my mind Cedrus is still a baby plus I am taking his brother away (the person he hates and loves the most).  I am having a difficult time but fully realizing at the same time that if something like this is so hard to do then it probably means it is either time to do it or took a hard look at why it is so.

On Saturday Kestrel does his music school in the morning.  Steve and I play out our usual (but now vastly improved) patterns around disconnecting close to a major event. We catch it soon enough to do something about it. The day is about last minute prep of all sorts which in the moment seems important but is never clear how important in retrospect.  

In my/our defense, a lot of prep leading up to travel day and including travel day has been about setting all of us up for success and this entails a huge variety of things.  Too long to be listed here.  But perhaps one of the most significant one is stockpiling on Jupiter food and finding dog sitters and walkers and a place for Jupiter to hang out at a friend's house while Kestrel and I travel to the airport and Steve drives Cedrus back from a class at the same time.  (Cedrus is one of the dog walkers, as in he took on extra dog walking to earn cash.  Meaning he will be taking care of Jupiter more than usual but he will also take on some of the walking job we were going to give someone else.  Meaning Steve will pay Cedrus for these walks.)

We have been so busy that on Saturday afternoon (several hours before the flight) the only thing that makes sense is to watch the next episode of the Halloween Baking Championship.  It is one of the many things we like to do together and we have not had the chance to be together. The latest chew food thingies I got for Jupiter are a hit.  He gnaws on them while we watch.  It was a good episode but somewhat sad because the best baker ends up being booted from the show.

Cedrus takes off for art class around 3:30pm.  Steve drives him away and Kestrel and I finalize things, drop Jupiter off at our friend's house.  Our ride to the airport arrives right on time.  We get to the airport three hours before the flight as requested by the airline.  I can't believe we are standing at the Air New Zealand terminal.  I also can't believe that at the kiosk we find out that NZ now requires a visa of all visitors except Australians!!  I had checked travel requirements when I bought the tickets and this was not listed.  Eventually, I figure out this information was there, it was just not in the part they take you to when you click on the link.  Somehow they scroll you past that section and unless you are looking really hard it would be difficult to tell that there is more information above the part they reveal to you.

You can apply for a visa through an app while you are at the airport and they usually approve it within 5 minutes but it can take up to 72 hours.  Or at least that is what the app tells us. I apply for the visas, of course. But at this point I am thinking we've done everything we can and I am ready to go home and have an excellent Halloween with my family.  The nice lady at the airport insists that we hang around.  I am happy to be talking to her instead of the other lady who should be helpful but really isn't at all by any stretch of the imagination.  I sit there and finish eating my snacks.  I am not sure why I am not flipping out.  The nice lady keeps checking with us if we got a response from NZ immigration (which we hadn't) and then eventually decides to talk to her supervisor who advises us to get in the passenger line to check in.  This doesn't make sense but it eventually does.  By the time we get to the counter he tells us we got the visas.  Apparently the immigration folks tell the airline right away but not the passengers.   I am not sure what to make of all of this (including applying for a visa via an app) but we have our boarding passes so I decide we should get on the plane. 

So it was hard.  

Kestrel's conclusion: It was universe's way of ensuring that we don't take this trip for granted in anyway.  I am still concluding.

But I can say that sometimes when you get in a plane and fly some where and you find yourself in an airport far away from home you might find a very nice bird perched on a rock.  And that would be a very nice thing.

I hope this is the first installment of the several that will be needed to capture this adventure.  I propose that all participants (including Jupiter) contribute content.  With that in mind I nominate Steve to write the next post.   He will have to nominate the person or dog after him.