The weekend prior to travelling to Spain I had a lot to fit in.

On Saturday morning Lotta arrived in Auckland to stay with me as we were going a wedding that evening in Titirangi. We scoffed our faces with baguette, pate and tuna dips and ham off the bone and made ourselves as pretty as we could, or could be bothered, for Louise's wedding. I still hadn't packed or packed up much of my house but was keen to spend some quality time with my gorgeous sister.

The wedding was cute and the food was great. It was mainly just great to hang with Lotta before leaving, and it was good for Lotta to make peace with her move to Wellington. Big changes for us both after over four years, for both of us, in Avondale/New Windsor.
On Sunday morning we had pastries and peppermint tea and Lotta helped me pack and get organised. Bless her heart!

At 5pm on Sunday evening I headed off to the Neighbourhood bar in Kingsland with Michelle and

Georgina to meet up with some friends for a farewell drinky poo. At the gathering I was blessed with the presence of Georgina, Michelle, Belinda, Karly, Alyssa, Iris, Lucy. A few vinos and "Hasta la vista!"

Sunday night I hardly slept a wink. I was afraid i wouldn't wake at 5am so I went to sleep at 1am and woke at 4am. Perfect - NOT! The taxi arrived at 6am and I was off to the airport for a 8.45am flight.

All was pretty smooth and ended up with two lovely ladies on the plan. We chatted almost the entire way to Seoul. Well, that's a lie because I managed to watch 2 movies; The Iron Lady - Great! Meryl Streep is phenomenal, and a Roman Polanski film which was slow but quite revealing of human nature.

Didn't sleep on the flight, as per bloody usual but I ate and drank everything I could get my hands on. Pleased to say that I didn't endulge in much alcohol and stayed nice and dehydrated. Good on me!

In Seoul I hung out with my new friend Zoe; we had a free luxury shower and a massage, checked the internet (because I was already suffering from complex polarised post traumatic withdrawal stress symptoms) and had a meal of japanese sushi and korean dumplings, in order to feel Asian. When in Seoul do as the Seoulians do. The ever so unpolite Korean cashier stuffed up our bill and possibly made me temporarily racist until another side of Korean culture presented itself and we had 10 Koreans trying to help us make sense of our receipts, all in Korean! Thanks God Maths is globally compatible!

This was followed up by many of an apology and then free Asaki beers to keep the good reputation of the Korean airline, airport and culture intact. I am always intrigued by cultures and what we love and find challenging about our own and others. Let's face it we are all the same, just have different ways of surviving in this paradoxical complex world we live in. After Zoe and I laughed and massaged our way back to sanity we were ready for the next leg of our adventure....................

Then back on the plane for four hours sleep, more food (Korean spicy octupus with kim chi, rice etc... omelette, croissant etc - love food!) and two more movies; a Spanish one and The Vows, which I loved to watch. I needed American cheese by then and again there were some nice references to the journey of life...

Finally we arrived in Madrid for more food! Croissant, freshly squeezed orange juice and coffee (that was better than in Italy, dare i say)...