donal's blog

So after 3 or so weeks on the road we're back sitting in LHR waiting for our Aer Lingus flight to Dublin. It's amazing how much you can cram into 3 weeks as well as clocking up ~ 40000km of air travel and ~ 3000km of driving (new Zealand is deceivingly large). Thoughts right now: - flying east for 24hrs is grand if you have two naps en-route (no jet lag at all) - LHR must be warmest airport ever - it always seems to be ~ 30 degrees inside - can someone please come up with a air security standard that makes sense. - it is Monday. my body says it's Tuesday. - did the clocks change yesterday? i think we missed it. - Boots do excellent meal deals if you're ever going through LHR (£3.30 for any sandwich, drink and snack). - airports need showers. - new zealand is so cheap to live in. - wifi hot spots are good right - time to go and board the flight. photos will follow as soon as i'm home... :)

So we've been here for just over a week and having loads of fun... so far we've walked a fair bit, snowboarded, skied, bathed in thermal pools and gone swimming/snorkeling with seals. So since I last wrote, we spent 1 more day in Christchurch before heading to the mountains to get some late season snowboarding in. sinéad gave up on the snowboarding after the first day and found she was much better on skis! The last day we were up the mountains, the weather closed in and it snowed like crazy... was amazing and slightly scary trying to get down the mountain on a 30 seater bus (think the worst irish dirt road covered in snow with a 30 degree incline). fun! Yesterday saw us drop Oisín's 4x4 back to Christchurch and pick up our rental car. We drove up to Hanmer Springs and tried out the thermal springs - they were wonderful. pools of 38-41 degree pools filled with various minerals (we didn't particularly like the smell of the sulphur pools). Today, we drove up to Kaikoura an...

Arrived just over 24hrs ago and loving it already... The flight over was long and tiring but the kindness of the crew and the inflight entertainment kept us going. Sinead was feeling pretty sick after the first leg but the crew were really nice (thanks Andy!) and did everything they could to make her more confortable (gave us exit row seats with extra leg room & bottled water). Yesterday, we met up with Sinead's brother at the airport and went for some coffee to pass the time until our room at the YMCA was ready. Our room at the YMCA is really nice - ensuite bathroom, double bed, {tea,coffee,hot chocolate} making facilties and a balcony with great views of the botanic park and the mountains. After that we went for a stroll into the city centre to get our bearings. Headed back to the YMCA for a nap (we both konked out for 2hours!) before going for dinner with Oisín and his girlfriend Justine - great food and lovely drinks at the restaurant. Then it was back to the hostel to watc...

So am about to embark on a 3week trip to New Zealand. Less than 12 hours until my flight leaves Dublin. Can't wait... Our flights takes us via LHR, LAX and AKL and we will eventually arrive in Christchurch late Sunday evening Irish time (about 9am monday new zealand time). We're flying Aer Lingus (sans Ryanair-styling) to London and then Air New Zealand the rest of the way. Hopefully Ryanair haven't taken over by thr time we get back!! I fly Aer Lingus a lot so I'm used to the no thrills but respectful service at this stage (perfect for short trips). I haven't flown with Air New Zealand before but by all accounts they seem to fairly ok. They have an on-demand entertainment system which will hopefully keep me entertained for the longhaul flights (2 x 12hrs i believe). I have my laptop filled to the brim of CD music if it doesn't work out though... :) I'm going to miss every bit of this weekend's sports action including the international football and the ...