...we land in Auckland and I complete the New Zealand immigration form. They're the first people in my experience who ask not only about my flight number but also my seat number (!)...wifi at the airport is still slow (to upload blog photos for example) but light years better than Shanghai's...I claim my bag and clear immigration at an impressive pace; but before I can shower my praises on them I get stuck in a mile long bio security check line...Aaargh.....

...I land in Shanghai and am confronted with a very slow immigration line. Seeing as things take so long here I decide to skip the sightseeing trip to the city and hang around the terminal instead...I appreciate that everything looks quite western and neat, is nicely signposted and squeaky clean....I notice wifi (even paid access) is terribly slow here. Nothing major loads at all. Facebook is of course blocked but so is Gmail I think because I can't even chec...

...I leave for Paris with ample time and do NOT miss my train. It's a perfectly boring and uneventful but very stress-free trip....my train to Paris stops a couple hundred meters past the expected boarding zone which involves me and a couple dozen others running frantically behind it with our bags. Surprise!...I unwittingly bypass some 200 Asian tourists dutifully waiting to clear passport control and use a "premium access" lane next to them. Nobody stops and...

...I land in Paris, survive a longish passport control line and find out my backpack hasn't made it to Europe...I go to the city, meet Hugh for an excellent early dinner and board the train back to Brussels half drunk. Hopefully my bag will turn up soon!

...I get up early, we do some laundry with Lucyna, buy some bubble wrap so my surviving tequilas can make it safely back to Europe...we go out to do some sightseeing - the weather is beautiful, sunny and in the higher teens, and the NYC marathon is underway - a beautiful sight...we visit the Guggenheim museum for its famed solid-gold toilet, which was just installed in September - turns out there's a line of people but thanks for the 5 minute limit it goes re...