Across the Globe [COMPLETE]

Finally, Hello New Zealand!

13TH OF JULY

Samantha

I wake up with a sudden jolt, my body jumping into full consciousness in a second. My neck is stiff, and as my eyes open I need to blink a few times to adapt to the dim light.

I turn to the left, and see that Em is asleep, a cute eye mask in the shape of a panda bear now over her eyes. I slowly open the blind to peak out, and a jolt shakes the plane a little: a thunder rumbling in the distance.

“That explains why I woke up,” I say to myself in a tiny murmur.

Peeking through the window, I see that it’s still dark outside. Another lightning illuminates the sky, and I can barely see the shape and shadows of land underneath us. I check the screen quickly as the thunder makes the plane rumble again. We’re slowly entering into New Zealand, the local clock showing it’s 5:07am. We will probably start descending soon.

I look out the window again as another lightning cuts through the air, lines of light drawing a picture in the sky. My heart races. I hear the thunder and it makes my insides shake. My fingers are fidgeting with the end of the blanket, my pulse suddenly raising. I’m staring wide-eyed out the window, waiting. When the next lightning strikes, I’m so sure I can see the same shape again, as if the bolts were drawing a picture in the sky over and over again... A huge human form among the clouds.

Maybe I imagined it, maybe I’m losing my mind a little. I wait, hoping that if I see it once more, then I’ll be able to tell if I’m crazy or if I’m really seeing a shape there.

But as the seconds turn into minutes, the grey sky stays still. The clouds slowly part and dissolve. And then the sun shows in the horizon, a big firey orange ball that takes all of my attention and seems to make the remaining storm clouds recede. As the light sips in, I can see the green land below, the mountains and plains, rivers and lakes. I shake my head, almost laughing to myself. What an oddball, I probably just imagined it all.

“Em,” I say, shaking her arm lightly. “Wake up Em, we’re here.”

An hour passes before we’re finally off the plane, through the security checks and waiting for our luggage.

“We actually made it,” says Em as she grabs her bag from the luggage belt and sets it on a trolley. Then she slumps over the handlebar and rocks back and forth, covering her mouth as she yawns.

I yawn too at the time I finally spot my suitcase. I run over to grab it, balance it on top of Em’s on the trolley, and then join her by the handlebar so we can push together.
We make our way outside, and a cold morning greets us with a purple sky. I take a deep breath, and fresh air fills up my lungs.

We’re here.

We walk a few steps until we get to the shuttle stop, and I approach the gentleman standing there.

“Good morning, we reserved a shuttle to go into the city center,” I say.

“Kia Ora, do you have your tickets?” He asks. His accent is nothing like the english I’m used to from movies and songs, but after talking with a few clerks at the airport, I’m almost used to it, and I realise I actually really like it.

When we stepped into the airport and I heard the first person greeting me by saying ‘Kia Ora’, I realised I never really thought much about the Maori language. I didn’t realise people would still be using it on the daily, and now I’m feeling super curious.
I show the guy the ticket, and he points to a van. We jump on board, and he tells us we need to wait 5 minutes for some other passengers before we go.