Unexpected returns

August 17, 2019August 17, 2019 Tigerotor77W#thatwanakatree, Air New Zealand, Auckland International Airport, Blue Pools, Boeing 777, Cape Jackson, Cardrona Distillery, Grandview Mountain, Hapuka estuary, Isthmus Peak, Lake Wanaka, Makarora River, Matukituki River, Milky Way, Mount Aspiring National Park, Mount Cook National Park, Mt. Iron, Polaris Business, Roaring Billy Waterfall, Rob Roy Glacier, Roys Peak, South Island, Sunrise, Sunset, United Airlines, Wanaka, waterfall1 Comment

On the second of my two trysts with New Zealand, one enclave in particular attracted my attention, despite the weather being uncooperative both days of my stay. This year, when I should be galavanting around Europe to take in all I can before I commit myself to the insane asylum of localizing a manufacturing line to Charleston, I admitted defeat to there being too many unvisited places in Europe and booked a flight to New Zealand instead. I landed scrutinizing a rain shower and double rainbows to the north, but Auckland airport — and my luggage — remained, incredibly, dry.

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Splashes of color

May 1, 2019 Tigerotor77W#thatwanakatree, Air New Zealand, Airbus A350, Airbus A380, Aoraki, Arrowtown, Camp Stream trail, Hooker Lake, Hooker Valley Track, iceberg, Isthmus Peak, Lake Pukaki, Lake Tekapo, Lake Wanaka, Mount Cook, Mount Cook National Park, Mt. Sibbald, Sealy Tarns, Singapore Airlines, Snow, South Island, Southern Alps, Sunrise, Sunset, Tasman Glacier, Tasman Lake, Te Araroa Trail, Tekapo, WanakaLeave a comment

If my first post about New Zealand gave the impression that the entire two weeks was colorless, I have some contrasting news: they were not. When I flew toward my layover airport of Singapore en route to Auckland, we floated among azure skies. Even if grey marshmallows occasionally interrupted my view once on the ground, the peacefulness of streaking above the clouds didn’t end with the bump of landing in New Zealand.

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Assessing Privilege

May 14, 2017 Tigerotor77W777-300ER, 787-9, A340, Air New Zealand, Auckland International Airport, Fullers Ferries, Mount Maunganui, Onetangi Beach, Stonyridge Vineyard, Sunrise, Sunset, Swiss International Airlines, Swiss Lounge Zurich, Tauranga, Waiheke Island, Whisky Club 28/10, Zurich International Airport2 Comments

Being behind on blog posts affords the benefit of having more time to contemplate my experiences but adds the risk of forgetting nuances. Blowing the dust off a three-month old trip and the thousand photos that accompanied it is a bit of an endeavor, but this post starts another month and a half before that. In January, I had a business trip to China that began with me watching the sun rise from business class, a perk of work travel while on a German contract.

The trip was short and didn’t leave much free time to ponder. The last time we saw blue skies was just before we descended into the industrious smog, but on our last day rains the previous evening washed away enough particulate to allow the sun to poke through just after sunrise.

Less than two months afterward, I would watch a sunrise coming into the same airport (albeit from “poky” economy class), this time, though, en route to a destination where the forecast predicted no smog but rather enveloping fog.

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