To make our transition out of vacation and our journey back home easier, we’ve spread it over 72 hours, spanning two calendar days. Before you say my maths is wrong, we’re crossing the date line on our return, so we get a free day somewhere in there.
In any case, on day 30, we flew back to Auckland, enjoyed walking at 30°C in the sun, and went to Mekong Baby for our last crispy pork belly—an easy, relaxed and slow day.
Day 31 is where time starts getting weird. The day began with good food and good wine on a terrace, in excellent weather, with some relaxation. Then, around 20:00, we boarded a plane to Vancouver. 14 hours and a good night's sleep later, we landed in Vancouver at noon the same day (yay date line). A lie-flat seat really allowed us to transition to the new timezone easily.
Now, depending on how you want to look at it, we’re either at day 32 or day 31 has gotten really long. In any case, we’re spending the rest of Saturday in Vancouver visiting my aunt and her wonderful family. An excellent family diner, some laughs later, and we’re back in our hotel getting our stuff ready for the last leg of our trip the following day.
This brings us to the last day! Flying back to Quebec City and the hard realization that flying in New Zealand is a dream, and doing the same in Canada is a pain. Long security lines, people who don’t know the (admittedly complex) process of going through security and all the rest of it.
Now we brace ourselves for a return to winter and regular life. As awesome as it is to live on the road as explorers, it’s good to get back home - although we may not admit it tomorrow.