Long haul to London

Our trip started the way it was going to continue in that there was a difficult but it was overcome thankfully! First hurdle was in Christchurch due to fog. There had been flight cancellations in and out of both Christchurch and Auckland in the morning which led to flight delays all day. The lady that did our tickets was very doubtful I would get onto the 5.55 flight and then the next flights were all full. I was seriously thinking that I would have to go home and then try again on Saturday. James was confirmed so he got on the flight and then I had to wait with about ten other standby passengers and wait for my name to be called. My flight must have been looking after me as only four of us got on and I was one of them!!

We got to Auckland with about four hours to spare but ended up needing that much time as the link between LA and London was down and so no boarding passes could be printed. Thank fully they got it sorted and we got our boarding passes after about an hour. I had paid for an upgrade on my staff travel ticket but unfortunately the flights were almost full so I didn't get to be in business class with James. Luckily I had an empty seat beside me so had a bit of space. The flight went well and James and I met up on the airbridge. In LA even though we were just in transit we still had to through immigration. I also needed to get issued with a proper boarding pass as only had a standby ticket. We got to immigration security and my fingerprints were scanned and unfortunately they didn't match my passport. I had to be taken into the immigration secured office escorted by a big burly security guard. Luckily as I was in Transit I was priority and got seen quite quickly and was cleared. It was a bit scary though and I did worry at one point that I might get sent back to NZ - I must not look like much of a threat. James was waiting for me outside the door and lovely lady from AIr NZ (who was called Lovely) came to check on me and helped to hurry things along.

We made it to the gate with plenty of time to get my boarding card issued and unfortunately still no upgrade, even James didn't get into business class as it was full. He did get a premier economy seat though and he very kindly let me sit in it and he had my economy seat. It was nice to be in the nice seats with yummy food and a bit more space to spread out and the ability to have a better sleep.

I had a good flight although James didn't fair so well with not much leg room and the flight was much more crowded so no spare seat beside him. We arrived in London on Saturday morning which was a bit odd as we had been travelling for 30 hours and had left Christchurch on Friday evening.

We had a lovely taxi drive through London to our hotel and it felt surreal seeing Daffodils and blossom. Our hotel was right by St Paul's cathedral so after we checked in we had a coffee and then went and explored the beautiful St Paul's. James struggled with the no photo policy so just and to embrace the ambience. He was able to take photos from the top of the dome though as it was outside. I had been up there last time and so didn't go with him as the staircase is very steep narrow. The staircase winds up through the cone and is metal and open so you can see right down so not great for my fear of heights. James enjoyed it though and got some good photos.


After St Paul's we walked across to the millennium bridge and along the South Bank to the London eye. We decided to not go on it though and instead walked over to Big Ben and Westminster Abby. We were starting to get tired so decided to catch the tube home. The queue was really long for tickets so we decided to just jump on the bus. The buses no longer take cash and we didn't fancy having to go queue up again so tried to use our credit card to pay. It only worked for one ticket but the conductor let me on anyway.






So nice to get back to the hotel and then had dinner at the English pub down the road it.

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Toulouse to LA

We left Toulouse almost a week ago and am feeling homesick already(that is for my French home). I loved France so much, made all the more special by lots of fantastic travelling, wonderful food and many lovely people that we met on the way. That being said we are all ready to go back to NZ.

We were lucky enough to be upgraded to business class (a perk of being relocated back to NZ by Air NZ) and had a great flight.

Penelope all set up and ready for the 10 hour flight.





James and Hannah were up the front and had to be on their best behaviour as Rob Fyfe (ex CEO for air NZ) was sitting two seats behind them. We arrived into LA at 7.30pm and headed straight to our hotel. Our hotel was right near the airport which was nice and convenient. None of us slept that well and we were all awake bright and early. Our first impression on LA was lots of lining up for everything and huge amounts of food. For our breakfast we had to queue and got eggs, bacon and sausage - not much fruit on offer. It was all very yummy though and set us up for the day. We headed to the rental car company to get our car and were quite horrified by the queue to get the car! It took over an hour to get our car and then we were off to explore!

As it was now almost lunch time we headed straight for the farmers market in west Hollywood. James and the kids had a gluten free pizza and I had Chinese. We then headed to the Grove shopping area which was very nice with lots of lovely shops.

Hannah posing with Isabelle at the American girl doll shop






Penelope was desperate to head into Hollywood so we drove to Hollywood boulevard and found a park. One of the interesting things about LA is because everyone drives it is very easy to get around and also very easy to find a park. The parking buildings are easy to find and easy to drive in - especially after narrow little French streets. Hollywood boulevard was very busy but we still managed to find some famous stars and get our photos taken with a few famous characters (for a few dollars of course).

Outside the Chinese theatre.























Lots of people were lining up to get photos of Michael Jackson's star but James just quickly took one as he walked by!





Jasper was very happy to get his photo taken with bumblebee!





Hannah was very excited to get her photo taken with a minion.





It was very hot in LA so we decide to cool down with an icecream. Jasper found this great ice cream parlour where you chose your ice cream flavours then your add ins and then they mixed them up together - delicious!






We decided to leave the busyness of Hollywood and head into the hills. We went for a drive on Mullholland drive and Penelope chose which house she would like to live in when she's a famous movie star!!






View down into LA from Mulholland drive.






A wonderful day and was topped off by drinks at the hotel bar and then leftover pizza for dinner. Best of all though is that we all had a good nights sleep.
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Farewells and final adventures

The last few weeks have flown by in a packing frenzy. All our boxes have gone on the plane that James is delivering so we are just living out of our suitcases for the next three weeks. We have had many farewells and are very blessed to have met so many lovely people in France.

The leavers from Year 4





Jasper with his buddies from year 5




Hannah's wonderful speech language therapist, Florence.




Jasper with his mates playing quiddich in Our back yard at his leavers sleepover.




Our goodbye BBQ with some of our lovely friends we have made.




Penelope's lovely group of friends who came for a sleepover.



Goodbye dinner for us and housewarming dinner for our friends Jackie and Felix and family.


Off to the Tour de France with the Patreane's and Caleb Wilson - such a fab day. The drive home was pretty bad though due to the tour traffic. We ended up going off the main road and winding up over the hills and the two and a half hour journey ended up being four hours.


Afternoon snacks at Rozenn and Mary's house to say goodbye to the Hicks who have gone back to the States.


James' replacement in Toulouse is Mark Wilson. He and his family, who are good friends of ours from Christchurch, arrived at the end of June. Jasper has really enjoyed having Noah here and they have really enjoyed catching up. We will look forward to hearing all about their French adventures when they come home in a year or so.


Our second last day in Toulouse and a chance to say goodbye to CJ, Cyrus Alexia, and Alivia from Church.


We sold our car to Bob (who is also in Toulouse to replace James) and as he lives right in the centre of Toulouse we all decided to have one last trip in. We finished our French adventure with one last ice cream from our favourite gelato shop in Capitole.


We have had a very busy few weeks but it was so lovely to be able to say goodbye to all the special people that made our two years in Toulouse such a special time.

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