What’s an exercise in patience?

After a bit of excitement with our daughter’s passport, including a trip to New Zealand House the day we were leaving and 30 minutes waiting for the passport to be approved at check-in, we finally managed to take off from the U.K. to New Zealand recently.

People asked whether we were worried about the flight. Luckily the kids think up to 28 hours of movies is their idea of a good time. And once you are in the plane, there is no where to run so you just have to push on knowing that each minute is 60 seconds closer to your destination.

Other than the odd grumpy moment, we managed to hold it together through 12 hours to Singapore and 7 hours to Melbourne. To get off the plane to find that the flight to Queenstown was cancelled. No other information.

We also discovered there was no information desk in Melbourne terminal. With no number to contact, the only option was to traipse to the lounge and ensure the kids made lots of noise to encourage some speedy service. To those trying to read the paper, I am sorry.

It meant a flight to Auckland and then on to Queenstown.

My son pointed out that there was a direct flight from Singapore to Auckland and we could have gone on an A380. Helpful.

We discovered in Auckland that while we had made it, our bags, including our son’s favourite toy, hadn’t.

It was like standing on a precipice with a strong wind behind you.

However, we managed to talk my son down. No point being angry over what you can’t control. Helped by some frenetic running around and a trolley ride to the next terminal.

Sleep walking through the next flight and the two hour drive, there wasn’t a lot of energy for anything other than bed.

However, I was reminded of my own words two days later when I was trying to get clear information from the airline about the whereabouts of our bags.

My daughter said “I thought you only got cross with us!”