Share a story about the furthest you’ve ever traveled from home.
It’s a long way to New Zealand
A long, long way to go
But we were so excited
To set off there from home.
So destination Auckland
Change planes at Dubai
At least that’s how it should have been
They changed it on the way.
The plan to cruise New Zealand,
Tasmania, on to Oz
Terrific destinations
But the flight out? Not so much.
The flight is long and arduous
Over 24 hours
You can stop over
at Dubai or Hong Kong.
But our plan
Right or wrong
Was to just change planes
And press on from Dubai.
We left Heathrow round lunchtime
A 13:40 flight
First leg on an Airbus
Seven hours to Dubai.
The Airbus is luxurious
The nicest plane they fly
Excellent in flight movies
And comfort all the way.
We reached Dubai
the early hours
Twenty to one a.m.
They’re messing with the clocks
of course
So already it’s next day.
Dubai airport‘s hectic
A really scarey place.
Modern and efficient
But confusing all the same.
An hour and twenty minutes
Was all the time we had
To get our transfer sorted out
And get back on a plane.
And there was some confusion
It seemed the plane would stop
Nothing on our tickets
They said we’d go straight through
But it seemed there’d be an extra stop
At Bali on the way.
We flew from Dubai airport
At two o‘clock am
On our way to Auckland
Still eighteen hours away.
Not such a modern aircraft
Or so easy to relax
Your legs get cramped
You have to move
On such a long, long flight.
The flight dropped in at Bali
It sounds an exciting place
But we only saw the airport
And not too much of that.
They made us all get off the plane
We‘re really tired by now
We scarcely know what day it is
Or if it’s day or night.
We line up for security
Goodness knows quite why?
We‘re all lined up
We shuffle through
Then straight back on the plane.
We do our best to get some sleep
And get our bodies right
New Zealand’s thirteen hours ahead
Our messed up body clocks!
Our bodies aren’t for sitting
It screws your stomach up
To sit scrunched up for
Twenty four hours
And scarcely get to move.
We hit the coast of Aussie land
But are we nearly there?
Eight hours across Australia
New Zealand further still.
We left home on Monday
13:40 Hours
Arrived In Auckland Wednesday
05:20 am
That’s a lot of travelling
A long, long way from home.
New Zealand was just wonderful
Tasmania, Sydney too
I’d really love to go again
But what a trek to do!
Everyone should do it
At least once in their life.
I wouldn’t want to put you off
But the journey needs a break.
Andrew Green's Poems 