Flights and Cucumbers!

Packing began a week before the flights. While thanks to Stiina and Krisi's (our ultralight gurus) persistent nagging we've managed to free ourselves from all large hiking bags over the years, we now discovered that heading into nature with Pauline means we need a massive one in addition to the baby carrier to fit everything else (tent, hiking gear, clothes). So I bought the largest hiking pack I dared from the outdoor store (85L - over the years, I've become more modest about my capabilities) and started methodically stuffing things in during evenings. Triin had her own strategy - packing lists, to-do lists, calendar reminders, and thorough research in FB groups, YouTube channels for traveling with kids, and blogs. I love her very much, naturally. Fortunately, we'd decided to take as little as humanly possible, and fitting everything into bags wasn't an issue - babies, considering their carrying capacity, are allowed a surprising amount of luggage.

Flights

Triin's birthday morning was a bit drowsier than usual - flight anxiety had gotten the better of my nerves of steel (or was it Pauline's all-night crying?) and sleep was elusive. At the airport, Pauline started practicing her new skill of waving at anything remotely resembling a human. This turned us into instant friends with a busload of Portuguese travelers in the check-in queue, then with all the kids at Tallinn airport's Lotte(character of Estonian animated movie) gate, followed by passengers a row behind us on the Frankfurt flight (we only know because they all said goodbye to Pauline when deplaning), and so on during every flight and stopover. On the Hong Kong flight, for instance, there was an Indian woman sitting behind us, whom Pauline kept making faces at until she eventually came over and offered to babysit. Adorable! All these smiling and waving people certainly made our experience of flying with a baby much brighter.

The flights themselves went quite smoothly. Pauline spent most of the time either sleeping or attempting to (unfortunately, the flights were quite noisy, making it challenging). But all's well that ends well. We managed to get her to sleep using the bassinet, carrier, and breast.

Biosecurity Threats to NZ

You can't bring anything biological into New Zealand. They take it very seriously. You can get fined for importing honey, food items, anything animal-related, or not declaring used hiking equipment. It's left out of the list, but it turns out 40 hours without sleep can also get you into trouble. Past customs, there's a thorough inspection and questioning about all these aspects (except sleeplessness) - I had to recall several times when I last used my running shoes on natural ground and assure them that the tent in my bag hadn't been defiled by Estonian soil.

"When was the last time you used it?"

Me: "It's never been used."

"So you've never even taken it out of the bag?"

Me: "Well, actually I have, but only inside."

/ very confused face /

Me: "It barely fit in my living room."

Seeing the tags still attached (which I'd forgotten about), they believed me. We finally put our bags on the conveyor, knowing that if anything else came up now, it'd mean jail time and deportation.

10 minutes later:

"So you had cucumber..."

The X-ray machine operator made a very suspicious face while drilling into my bag on the screen. Seeing that the larger bags containing my sleeping bag and mattress (which I later remembered were also undeclared) were safely at the end of the belt, I felt confident - scan away! First, he pulled out a pack of gum - also undeclared, but surely not cause for such reaction?! This didn't seem to convince him, and he dug deeper. Next came out a ziplock bag with fresh cucumber - Pauline's snacks, which Triin had thrown away at Hong Kong airport. How they teleported from that trash bin back into my bag remains a mystery, but it's probably due to a mix of circumstances, like our discussion about needing them on the next flight and the scarcity of trash bins at the Hong Kong airport. We were then directed to the criminals' area to await our fate. I remember seeing worried people sitting on that same bench last time I was here 5 years ago - now it was my turn.

However, one of the agents who had dealt with us earlier came over - a very friendly young woman who had verified our tent tags and gone through our bags with us. She asked us a few questions to which she already knew the answers and went to the large-windowed room separating the criminals from their judges. We watched her discuss things with the team there.

Moments later, one of the ladies came from behind the glass to talk to us and noted that while they would normally write up a list of fines in such cases, they couldn't do it this time because that agent had come and admitted she specifically forgot to ask us about fresh fruits and vegetables. I'm pretty sure she did ask, but we didn't know those cucumbers had snuck into our bag. She knew this very well, but no one else on her team did.

Anyway, thanks to her self-sacrifice, we escaped the fine but still got a note in our file. Next time we come to New Zealand, we'll be scanned from head to toe, inside and out...