The people you meet …

Today’s post brought to you by: Selamat hari jade Gail

Grateful for: Mum (Doris, not Nigella, phew!)

Trying hard to accept: Failing, sleep-deprived brain

I tried.

What I did:

• Schmoozed, smiled, grovelled and begged in Wellington and Sydney for upgrade
• Shared birthday news with airport security, flight attendants and Peter (Malaysian/NZ guy in next seat; works at Wishbone production kitchen and daughter having $200/head wedding at Prefab)
• Asked for extra food. Burn lots of calories stuck in seat for 13 hrs.

What I got:

• 2-4-1 seats
• Pre-breakfast drinks and snacks like they got in business class – just for me!
• Extra dinner
• Extra snack box
• Happy birthday in Malay & Mandarin from Peter

What I didn’t get:

• Anything else
• Wedding invite from Peter

Sydney international terminal is bigger than Levin:

• Chanel, Bvlgari, Tiffany, Gucci, Hermes as far as the wallet can see
• 432 duty free stores
• 431 tech stores
• 430 food stores
• 6,736 dazed passengers

Lurking at device charging station I met Scott from Hunter Valley who was off to Bali for men’s meditation (surfing) and mindfulness retreat. What a coincidence.

He chucked in high-flying job (wow another coincidence – except the high-flying bit) to set up corporate mindfulness gig. This after he burnt out and attempted suicide – as did 3 others in his family – cripes. 33 men committed suicide on Sydney’s Avalon beach last year.

To my right were Mike and Greg from Minneapolis – off to do whole of NZ in 2 weeks. More coincidences than you can shake a boarding pass at … this one’s suuuuuuper spooooky.

Mike’s ex-Bwoston so naturally we got talking about Boston row houses I saw on recent episode of House Hunters. And blow me down with a cockatoo feather – Mike was on the episode!! He lived next door and was walking his dog during filming!! So I’d seen him on TV just before I met him in Sydney!! I kid you not!! Exclamation mark! Exclamation mark!

Wow, I thought, the people you meet. Rocked up to departure gate and Liz from Qantas exclaimed “Oi! You were born in Taumarunui! I used to manage Dragon and they’re from Taumarunui!” “Yeah I know!” I exclaimed back. “They slept on our living room floor once and heated white stuff over tinfoil on our stove!”

Now stuck again. This time on LAX runway for 30 minutes. Mindfulness mind just reminded me: Accept what it is and make the most of it. On that note, sleep time. Zzzzzzz.

Bonza transit terminal in Seedney. Bonza!

You know you’re in the US when the small-sized coffee is BIGGER than your head.