Heading Home
Got up and packed. Did the handshake hug things with my brothers from different mothers. The hugs had to be those blokey Kiwi ones with clenched fists so no one thinks anyone is gay. It was still pretty moving in a macho kind of way.
Took a taxi to the airport and found a cheap as direct flight to Gatwick leaving later in the day.
The flight was delayed so to kill a little time I bought a US$170 cup of coffee. Admittedly there were two huge taxi rides up into the Blue Mountains and a tour of Craigton Estate coffee plantation. Apparently the Blue Mountains provide perfect growing conditions for growing the temperamental arabica coffee plant and thus the best coffee in the world. 85% of the coffee from Craigton Estate is exported to the Japanese, who are prepared to pay a premium for it. The tour was well worth it but the guide lost me when he said the growing conditions were so perfect that BlueMountain has 65% less caffeine than regular coffee. What is the point then?
Got on flight. Hardly slept. Got off the red-eye at Gatwick wrecked from lack of sleep as per usual.
Bad packing
I took a number of things with me that I took/paid for and never used. These include:
- A flight from London to Antigua (lost passport and missed original flight)
- A flight from Antigua to St Lucia (lost passport and missed original flight)
- A flight from Jamaica to Barbados (got knocked out and didn’t go to the final)
- A flight from St Lucia to Antigua (got knocked out and came straight home from Jamaica)
- A flight from Antigua to London (got knocked out and came straight home from Jamaica)
- A sleeping bag (what was I thinking)
- Hiking shoes (wore jandals every day)
- Formal shoes in case we went somewhere nice (insanity)
- Long pants in case we went somewhere nice (further insanity)
All in all a lot of expensive or bulky unnecessary items.
May 27th, 2007 at 07:59
Your blog is looking fab darl! l’m loving the stories.
How many countries have you ticked off now? Maybe add a counter to the blog – just a suggestion.