JBs' Sabbatical Stories

 Today is my 5th full day of freedom! We had our day 12 COVID tests on day 11 and after 3 attempts, I now have 3 "not detected" results to my name! I think I got a better deal than most A level students with tests, even if they did keep spelling my name wrong. After a total of 336 hours post landing on NZ soil, we were released at 10pm into Auckland City. This involved more temperature checks, form filling and a farewell committee of 2 from the Ministry of Health and Air Force. After a little confusion, we located our driver who looked astonished that we had 4 holdalls with us (after all, we have our entire belongings for the next 3 months in them!) Somehow, the luggage and bodies all fitted into the sedan and we were driven to our new abode - the Waldorf St Martins Apartment hotel. It's not quite as glam as it sounds, but a basic apartment was fine. We dumped our bags and then headed out into the night but not before the reception crew told us that we were accidentally i...

I gather it is Saturday today. Having finally worked out that my phone was saying the right time but still thought I was in England, it kept putting me back a day in my calendar! That means we have less than a week to go. It's really not that bad being in managed isolation. Yes, you are restricted to your room for most of the day but when you have had a crazy few months and jet lag, there are worse ways to regain your sanity.  Interactions with others is probably what you miss the most. Apart from Jonathan's company and the daily temperature checks by the nurses, you don't really get to talk to people much. You can tell that it affects some more than others as they make the most of any opportunity to start a conversation (e.g. when waiting to start our 45 minutes on the sun deck!) All in all, we feel quite sane - probably more now than recently. Pity this family though - a toddler and a baby stuck in a room for 2 weeks (they probably have a bigger room, but it must be tough...

Prologue About a year ago, we started seriously looking at options for a sabbatical, or at least a break from life in London. In November, after a few false starts, Jonathan got a job offer in Auckland and our destination (if not destiny) was decided. Months of form-filling and planning ensued, then Covid-19 happened. This delayed our plans but you will know that we were somewhat busy, particularly from March to June. Finally everything came together and we started making final preparations to leave at the beginning of August. Trying to get here Remember the good old days when you could find cheap flights, jump on a plane and fly off into the sunset? Well, that didn't happen. Firstly, you have to get special permission to enter the country (New Zealand) and then apply for visas for critical purposes only. We managed that hurdle. Finding flights was the next challenge and with such limited numbers being allowed into the country, flights became very expensive. Thus, my dreams of spla...