16.12.18 from Beijing to Auckland

Sunday, 16.12.18

The flight from Beijing to Auckland departs at 1:10 am. My body clock has no sense of time anymore. The flight is calm and I doze/sleep for almost 7 hours. Unbelievable. The flight lands in Auckland after around 12 hours. As a business passenger, I am always the first one out, but since other planes have also landed, the line at biosecurity is quite long. In the immigration form, you have to declare any food items (which I don't have) and any used hiking clothes, tents, etc., as New Zealanders do not want any spores in their nature that could harm the sensitive native plants and animals. So it's better to also declare if you have hiking shoes/boots and you have to show the soles. My inspector looks at the profile of my boots, waves it off, and I am through. After that, passport control and baggage claim. My bag comes as the 5th piece and I am out in the arrivals hall after about 1 hour. At Spark, I buy two SIM cards and I am outside at the bus at 7:30 PM local time. I had already bought a ticket online for the Yellow Bus. The bus stops right in front of Ibis Budget, which is the first stop after the airport, so I should be at the hotel around 8:00 PM. Falling asleep is a bit difficult at first. Now I am 12 hours ahead of Germany, plus the messed up nights from yesterday and the day before. But eventually, I fall asleep and wake up again at 3 am.