Day 69 and 70 - Sportodimondo returns home and practices waiting

20/21.01.17

After jumping forward three time zones, we sleep until 10:00 AM LA time. At 12 o'clock we take the hotel shuttle to the airport in pouring rain and head to the Air New Zealand counter. We would like to check our luggage for both flights to London and Zurich. This way, we don't have to go through the whole carousel with passport control, picking up luggage, checking in, and going through security checks again in London... Unfortunately, we cannot check our luggage for both flights at either the self check-in or the counter because the second flight is with British Airways and is not in Air New Zealand's system.

After check-in, we go through security control, where Yves (for the first time) has to empty his entire backpack, among other things because he forgot to empty his water from the PET bottle.

Now it's time to wait, wait and wait again until we can board the Boeing 777-300 (built in 2011). The plane is only about 2/3 full, but our row of seats is fully occupied, while other people have 3 to 4 seats to themselves. Therefore, Yves gives up his window seat in favor of two seats in the middle row. The plane is not the newest, but it still has a good onboard entertainment system. So Marco enjoys the latest seasons of 'Big Bang Theory' and 'The 100', and Yves watches some current movies.

The food is good and the service is excellent. You can order snacks and drinks on the touch screen, which will be served within 1-2 minutes with a friendly smile. During the flight, we meet for a beer in the back of the plane and chat with the flight service manager. Air New Zealand is an absolute top airline and highly recommended. Our flight route takes us over Canada and Greenland. As an unexpected highlight, we spot the beautiful green northern lights in the night sky.

Day 70

21.01.2017

After a 10h 3min flight and 9,021km, we land at 9:40 AM in London Heathrow. Fortunately, the E-passport control (everything automatic) goes quickly and we continue to the baggage claim. There we have to wait a bit for our suitcases before we make our way through the underground labyrinth with escalators and subway to Terminal 5 at the other end of the airport... The check-in at British Airways is surprisingly quick because they have a well thought-out system. The security check is also quick, if we didn't have to show both our backpacks. However, the security officer is very friendly.

Now we're waiting for boarding for our final flight to Zurich. While waiting, we watch the planes take off, and here again it's waiting because on average there are 8-12 planes in the queue 'ready to fly'.

Our plane (Airbus 319) is a bit smaller again, and we cover the 865km to Zurich in 1h 25min. During the flight, we sleep and write this report. Over Zurich, the pilot does another lap of honor so that we can enjoy the sun again. Perhaps for the last time in the next few weeks...

The attentive readers have noticed that we are on Day 70, but the title only says 'around the world in 69 days'... Yes, exactly, we were on the road for 70 days because we flew across the date line and experienced December 10, 2016 twice (more about that in the blog on Day 28). Just like in the book and movie 'Around the World in 80 Days' by author Jules Verne.

We thank you readers for your loyalty and hope that we have been able to send you a little sunshine, beach, and sea as well as a smile to Switzerland every day.

Take a look at our blog again in a week, there will certainly be an ending or something similar;-)

PS: in the last 66 hours, we have only slept 8 hours in a normal bed...