With decent sleep inflight, even though upright, I felt very good upon arrival in Auckland at 0600, only 15 mins late.
Disembarking some 20 mins later, I promptly made my way to the immigration hall. Today, the automated kiosks were turning many people away to the manual counters. After a while, there were no queues for the kiosks with everyone waiting for manual processing.
I got through passport control 50 mins after disembarking and it took a further 30 mins to get through biosecurity. It wasn’t a very welcoming experience for tourists or citizens.
Kim’s sister Jo picked me up and the drive home wasn’t too bad for peak hour, taking about 45 mins. My first trip since New Zealand and Asia’s reopening has now come to an end. It was very successful apart from Kim’s niggly illnesses in Colombia. But with the pandemic still in the background, things could have been a lot worse.