With an evening departure I managed to fit in a whole day’s work and a shower at home before leaving for the airport, picking up Mark on the way. He lives only a few metres off the road to the airport. We are bound for Apia, Samoa to escape the miserable Auckland weather.
Today I’m travelling on a subload (standby) industry ticket. The flight was somewhat full and I wasn’t able to check-in immediately and had to wait till closing at 45 mins prior to departure. Hence I lost out on my last opportunity to enjoy the Air New Zealand lounge as I will no longer be a Star Alliance Gold member shortly; I had flown a lot with work in previous years but not anymore.
We arrived into Apia around 1230 in the morning and took an hour-long shuttle ride in to the Outrigger Hotel in town. In a slightly dazed state, I made a mistake in my cash withdrawals and took out 10 times more money than I had intended. Ooops!