Pucadinga’s Blog

The flight was always going to be a long one, going from New Zealand to our final destination; Cardiff, Wales. This would be my first time going to Wales, so I was mildly excited, but the amount of flight time kind of killed all the excitement…

On the way there, we are flying via San Francisco, then going from there to Amsterdam (Netherlands), and finally a short trip from there to Cardiff, Wales.

Outside San Francisco Airport

The first flight went well and on schedule, it was a long 12 hour flight to The States, and we were all pretty stuffed after getting there. It was an absolutely beautiful day in S.F., me and Olli had a casual stroll just outside the airport as we had a 4.5 hour wait for our connecting flight to Amsterdam.

Outside San Francisco Airport

Soon after, we checked our bags in, and was getting something to eat, more ready than ever for our next long flight of 10.5 hours, only to find that our connecting flight hasn’t even arrived yet! The flight ended up delaying for nearly 2 hours, and after about a 6 hour wait, we eventually headed towards Netherlands.

Amsterdam had a pretty nice airport, quite a few restaurants and shops around. Again we had a 4 hour wait until our next flight to Cardiff, so we had plenty of time to kill. The thing that shocked me the most was the expensive prices for everything in the shops! The prices were effectively the same to New Zealand (some were more), in numbers, but off course the currency being Euros, we had to x2 to the price. I had a nice bowl of Kimchi Chicken Ramen for a very nice price-tag of 14 Euros (approx. $28)! It was very nice though, as it seems both me and Ji Hyun thoroughly enjoyed it.

By the time we finished snacking, everyone was very tired, the body had absolutely no idea what time zone we are in and was crying for sleep time. I had a brief nap before getting up to do some work on the computer, whilst most people slept for a little longer. The bad news had to come though, and this time it wasn’t a plane delay, but it seems that our flight to Cardiff from Amsterdam (only a 1 hour flight) has been completely cancelled due to bad weather conditions! Tjitte went to sort things out straight away, and we ended up getting a flight later on in the evening, luckily on the same day. The bad news? We now have ~7 hours of time to kill! It was a long wait, most people were sleeping for nearly whole time whilst I was again hammering away on my computer for the majority of the duration.

We eventually arrived in Cardiff, pretty late at night. The drive from the airport to the hotel was also a long one, as we couldn’t get somewhere to stay for the first night because of All Blacks v.s. Wales!

Wales Hotel Room

Everyone pretty much crashed after getting to the hotel, but off course not without a long awaited shower after travelling for nearly 48 hours straight.

The next day we went for a nice run in the morning before moving into Cardiff, where we will reside for a week. Unfortunately for us, there will be no transport for most of the time until the tournament starts, so we have to walk back and forth between the hotel and the hall for training. Our first walk back from the hall wasn’t very successful, as it took us over 35min and we effectively walked in a S shape. We eventually found a shorter way and the walk now takes no longer than 25min. Cardiff is pretty cool, the scenery is a lot different from New Zealand, it has an ancient European taste to it. Again the cost of food was overwhelming, as a descent meal in a restaurant in Cardiff will cost a good 7 to 10 pounds, so between ~$20 – $30 for normal restaurants….

Buildings in Wales

We have a tie against the Welsh team today (remember the time difference though!), hopefully that will go well.

Watch out for the next update!