Alfa Bravo Yankee November

After a wonderful couple of days in Tokyo (posts to follow, I'll be writing them while I fly!), it's off to Frankfurt. Here's today's ride (photographed from Haneda's fantastic outdoor observation deck): D-ABYN, a Boeing 747-8 (serial number 37838, line number 1497, first flight 14 March 2014, delivered 31 March 2014, Lufthansa's 12th Boeing 747-8). Along with Thursday's flight on a 787, this aircraft type is a major aviation highlight of this trip. Looking forward to it, even though I wasn't able to score a window seat this time. Still, no window means a greater chance of 1) writing blog posts, and 2) sleeping (I've been up since about midnight Frankfurt time, so I probably will benefit from a few hours of that!)

Here's a couple of closer photographs (although the window layout here isn't photo friendly)

November Zulu Foxtrot

Here's my ride to Tokyo: ZK-NZF, a Boeing 787-9 (serial number 34335, line number 213, first flight 14 September 2014, delivered  27 September 2014, Air New Zealand's second Boeing 787-9)

Haerenga - The Journey

I'm sitting at Auckland Airport, waiting for the Boeing 787-9 which has just pulled into gate 16 to take me on the first leg of my journey to Tokyo. A thirty minute delay has just been announced, so hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come over the next 57 days. Thankfully there is no tight connection to worry about in Tokyo, where I will be staying for the next two days.

While I wait, I would like to share with you a song from the album "Aonua" that I first heard sitting on board an Air New Zealand Airbus A320 flying from Auckland to the Gold Coast back in 2008. The album was really the perfect choice for the in flight entertainment programme, and it brought tears to my eyes then as it underscored for me the new found spiritual connection I felt with the country of my birth as it disappeared into the distance behind me, while at the same time I was just starting to get a glimpse of the revelation of Bahá'u'lláh. Much as it was then, this song "Haerenga - The Journey" is really the perfect statement of my feelings at this moment. Enjoy!

Here are the lyrics, which I transcribed because I couldn't find them online. If someone can transcribe the Te Reo Māori and post it in the comments, I would appreciate that!

Take the journey, like an albatross, soaring through the sky. 

The time has come to leave now
For lands far away;
To fly across the ocean,
To return another day 

There's a force that pulls me
Out to the unknown,
On a brave new journey
Far away from home. 

It's a new beginning:
A truth that I must learn;
A path that I must travel,
One day I will return. 

Like an albatross I'm soaring
Up into the sky!
Off into the distance,
I'll spread my wings and fly! 

Take the journey, like an albatross, soaring through the sky.

Welcome to the Blog!

Welcome to my blog! I've tried blogging in the past, and never quite succeeded. Now I think I have a good reason to make this one happen: over the next 57 days, I will be travelling around the world on a journey that combines the two great loves of my life - The Bahá'í Faith and Aviation. In less than two weeks, I will be in Israel, to start a nine-day pilgrimage to the Bahá'í holy places in Haifa and Akká. More on that in another post soon. Before and after Israel, I will be travelling through Europe, seeking out places where the beloved Master, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, set foot on his epoch-making journey to the West a little over a century ago. I will then be continuing on that theme to North America, my first time to that continent. Along the way, I'll be trying to see friends who have winged their way to various parts of the world, as well as (#avgeek alert) trying to get a few new aeroplane types into my travel history (yes Nisy, you picked that one exactly right!). I'll do my best to share all these experiences with you as internet access allows.

I would like to dedicate this blog, and indeed my travels, in two directions. First, I would like to dedicate this to the youth around the world who are arising to serve their communities, making many personal sacrifices so that through the healing words of Bahá'u'lláh a new civilisation can begin to emerge. Your efforts, which so invigorated last weekend's New Zealand Bahá'í National Convention, are an inspiration to all humanity. On a more personal level, I would like to dedicate this blog and my trip to the person who did so much to nurture both these great loves of my life and set me soaring on wings of aluminium and carbon, love and spirt; my beautiful mother. How much she would have loved to join me on this trip (crazy itinerary and consequent risk of missing flights notwithstanding!), had she not winged her own flight to the Immortal Realm. And yet I know that every step along this journey, she will be alongside me. I love you mum.