For here, Am I sitting in a tin can
Far, above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there’s nothing I can do
Thank you to Major Tom and David Bowie
36 hours from walking out the door of our apartment until walking into our hotel room.
23¼ hours sitting in a tin can and the remaining getting to and from airports and lay overs.
We hadn’t even reached Wellington Airport before we were receiving emails, txts and Facebook posts from each of Air NZ and the Flight Centre informing us that our flight to Auckland was delayed 20 minutes. In fact it was 35 minutes which was a bit of a worry as our lay over in Auckland was only 1 hr 55 mins. 1 hr 20 minutes is easy enough time for us to walk from domestic to international, do border control, security and get to the gate. But what about our bags? Twice before our bags have not made the connection due to delays and tight connections. When we kissed our bags goodbye at Wellington the next time we would see them is at Heathrow London.
As it happened our flight from Auckland to Vancouver was delayed 30 minutes. I wondered if they were waiting for our luggage. The 13 hour flight was full but a reasonably smooth comfortable flight. It departs in the evening and after an hour you get a meal and then it is lights out until an hour before landing when you get breakfast. So those times work well with your normal sleeping pattern. We both slept on and off through the night.
Vancouver International is a huge complex. There are basically three separate terminal areas. One for those entering Canada for domestic connections, buses, trains, hotels, meeting friends etc. A second for those connecting to the United States and a third for those connecting to the rest of the world – that’s us. The terminal is modern, multi-layered, and full of artwork and crafts. Our section had at least 50 gates and 50 stores and drinking and eating outlets. And it was almost empty and very quiet. Hardly anyone around and lots of comfy places to sit or lay down and it was very calm and relaxing. There was even an outdoor “serenity area” where you could get outside and breathe the fresh but cool Vancouver air. There were views to north and the snow-capped mountains and Vancouver down town in the distance. We had six hours to fill in here but it passed quite quickly.
Border control getting in was fast and easy with an e-passport and a Canada eTA. No security to go through.
The flight from Vancouver to Heathrow was delayed 25 minutes. I was thinking, a 35 minute delay, then a 30 minute delay, then a 25 minute delay. If we kept flying around the world and each flight was delayed 5 minutes less, in five flights we should get one that left on time. This 9 hour 10 minute flight also left in the evening and the same routine. A meal after an hour, lights out, breakfast an hour before landing. All the meals were pretty average. The best thing about them is they help to pass the time.
The flight path from Vancouver goes north east to Hudson Bay, then over the southern tip of Greenland, south of Iceland, across Ireland and Dublin and meets England at Liverpool, then south to London. This is hard to imagine on a flat map but is pretty much a straight arc when you see it on a globe.
Landing in Heathrow we had a couple of nagging doubts in the back of our heads.
Would our bags make it with us? If they were two or three days behind us and we were down in Minehead starting 63 days of one night stops would they ever find us? But they did arrive and we were mighty relieved when they flopped out of the chute and onto the carousel. It is so easy entering the UK these days. Show your e-passport to the machine, look at the face recognition camera, the little glass gates fly open and you are in. Collect your baggage and walk out the exit.
The other doubt was entry into the UK. In February the UK Government brought in new rules so that people who had UK passports (even if expired long ago) or were UK citizens, had to enter the UK with a current UK passport. They were no longer allowed to enter with say a NZ passport (being dual citizens) and a UK eTA (electronic travel authority). This caused an outcry as it took considerable time and money to renew a UK Passport, especially if you lived outside the UK. Their government then relented a bit and if you were a dual citizen you could use say a NZ passport , with UK Eta and an endorsement embedded in the e-passport to say you were a dual citizen and could enter that way. However this also took time and for reasons only a bureaucrat could fathom cost even more.
There was a further complication in determining just who is a UK citizen. What about children born outside the UK but had a parent born in the UK? This is the case for Kevin, Owen and I. Our mother was born in Glasgow in 1922 and emigrated to NZ in 1924 with her parents and siblings. She was a UK citizen but never had a UK passport (probably came to NZ as a two year old on her parents passport, if they had one). She never used her UK citizenship and travelled to say Australia as a NZ Citizen on a NZ passport.
If our father had been born in the UK we would automatically have UK citizenship. But back in the day men and women did not have equal status. As our mother was the parent born in the UK we are only eligible to apply for citizenship. Only eligible because it depends on her birth date and various UK Acts of Parliament passed at different times in relation to women.
Don’t take this as gospel it is just what I picked up from the media, reading the relevant UK Govt Websites, and a very good question and answer article by the UK High Commissioner in Wellington. She made it clear there is an important distinction between “automatic” and “eligible” citizenship. If “automatic” you have to use the new system. If “eligible” you can use your existing NZ passport and a UK eTA. Apparently it is the airlines responsibility to not allow anyone to fly into the UK without the correct documents.
No one said boo as I passed through border control at Vancouver and Heathrow so I am all oaky.
We have made it to our hotel, with baggage, not too shattered, happy and healthy.
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- Leaving our gift wrapped apartment
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- The Airport Express Courtenay Place
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- Paul is on this trip also
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- Check in Wellington Airport
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- Wellington Airport
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- Boarding our flight Wellinton to Auckland
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- Air New Zealand arrived Vancouver from Auckland
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- Kia Ora Barbara from Air New Zealand
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- A chicken pasta something
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- Breakfast, something green, something yellow, something orange
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- Sitting in a tin acn
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- Sitting in a tin can
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- Another pasta something
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- Our Air Canada flight at Vancouver
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- An empty Vancouver International
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- Vancouver International
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- Vancouver International
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- You know you are in Canada when ……
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- Vancouver International
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- The serenity area Vancouver international
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- The serenity area Vancouver Internationa
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- Waiting, waiting, waiting
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- illy espresso cups
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- Coffee time Vancouver International
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- Fish and net, Vancouver International
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- Still some snow on the mountains to the north, Vancouver
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- Downtown Vancouver
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- Snow on the mountains, Vancouver
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- Waiting for boarding call, Vancouver International
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- Thank goodness our bags arrived
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- Leaving T2 The Queen’s Terminal Heathrow
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- ibis London Heathrow Airport Hotel
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- ibis London Heathrow Airpoet Hotel
