On Leaving Ireland

So for my last days Galway confirmed my reason for leaving and would insist on bucketing down rain every time I tried to go outside. I will not miss the rain, or the big puddles, especially in the dark when you don't see them and then walk right through and get your feet wet. I will miss my friends of course, and some of my favourite shops, and being so close to so many interesting countries (not that I made enough of that). I won't miss my lab or my building or the university, or the messy drunken students that are everywhere. Or the insane crowds that make me not want to go into town in the weekend. I'll miss my nice little apartment a little, but at the same time I'm sick of the dampness so I'll look forward to being in a house again. And I miss our NZ food so I can't wait to be back for Christmas!

I'm now in Hong Kong airport and it is very foggy outside, and I feel pretty gross after a 12 hour flight and a long (stressful) day of packing before that. Not to mention the horrible stress at Heathrow where my flight from Dublin had been so delayed that I actually nearly missed my plane! I got to the check in counter in the nick of time, she checked me in but couldn't print a boarding pass because it had all been shut down. I had to power walk to the gate, I would have ran if not for my heavy carry-on bag, and the man at the gate said 'sorry, the flight is closed'. My immediate response was 'nononono', but then he said relax, just wait, he'll try his best, and luckily they managed to get me through. If they hadn't I would have been screwed because it's all controlled by someone in Auckland and once the flight is closed they can't do anything about it. What a nightmare, I have never cut it so fine before. And being so late meant there was not option to choose my seat and the flight was so crowded that I was stuck in a middle seat. I think I hardly slept at all. I just hope everything from now on goes smoothly. I have another 12 hour flight in about an hour, and then another day of connecting flights to get from Auckland to Invercargill!

So right now I'm in Hong Kong, I have nearly an hour before I need to be at my gate and I have a credit card. Luckily there are very few shops here that I would want to shop at - mostly fancy over-priced designer stuff. But maybe I can find something I like. At least walking around the shops will let me stretch my legs before the next flight, so I think it's time to go do that instead of sitting here at the computer.