My baby's back! (13th July 2010)

Yippee! Jono's finally back in NZ!! It has been 3 weeks since my baby flew across the world for his trip in Canada & Alaska and he comes home today - I've missed him dearly and can't wait to see him in person :) This was the first time we were apart for such a long period since we started going out and I reckon we did an amazing job staying in touch through email, phone and Skype despite the distance and time difference.

Headed to Wellington Airport around 7.45am to pick up Jono who arrived at 8am from Auckland. He arrived in Auckland this morning around 6am, having flown all the way from Vancouver and I bet must be feeling quite shattered after the long-haul flight (the poor thing *hugs*). I'm SO excited to him!!!! I wonder if other people saw my enthusiasm, eyes constantly searching for that familiar face walking out the arrival gate...

Look, it's Jono! I was all smiles when I saw him and literally ran into his arms for a long-awaited hug and missed kisses. I'm sorry if I sound like a broken record - I'm just SO happy to see him :) Oh, how I have missed you!! Lots of hugging, kissing and catching up all the way home, and plenty more to come as he recovers from his jetlag and get back to the swing of things. I'm just glad he's home (yes, I'm doing my own happy celebration dance in my head :P)!

And he came home bearing gifts from Alaska for me :) One of them was a Wild Alaska Salmon can he brought back from Icy Strait Point in Hoonah. No, that couldn't be a can of salmon...hmm, a bit too light for a can of salmon and it sounded like there was something inside...shake, shake, shake...I sure hope it's not a jack-in-the-box and something pops out at me...

"Go on, open it," urged Jono, passing me the can opener. Huh??? "You've got to be kidding me, right? You actually want me to 'destroy' the can with the can opener??" I exclaimed, and he nodded. Really?? Well, there was no other way to open the can...ok, I suppose I have to, even though it pains me to damage my present...oh, what's this? A sweet personal note and a cute little bear! Aww, just look at it:

Isn't it adorable? :) Jono was visiting the Hoonah Packing Company that once was the largest cannery in Alaska and they had a service of canning your gift using the same machines that canned millions of salmon in the early 20th century. Jono witnessed the whole process of how my gift was canned and even took photos of it. How cool is that!

The other gift was a Baltic amber pendant (amber is made from petrified tree resin that is at least 1 million years old) and each amber piece is unique as it has its own inclusion of air bubbles, plant matter, or fossilised insects. Here's the one Jono selected specially for me:

Thank you for the lovely gifts, babe - they are AWESOME!! :)

I would have loved to join him on the trip but I promised myself that I needed to first clear off my previous travel expenses; I've a keen passion for travel (obviously!) but going on the trip would just set me back financially again - I'll just never get out of debt! Hard as it may be to decline a once in a lifetime trip, I had to be strong and say no, even though it feels painful as if I'm missing out on a great opportunity. Hopefully I'll have the chance to visit those countries in the near future but for now, I'll have live vicariously through the many magnificent photos taken by Jono and interesting stories from his travels.

I'M SO HAPPY HE'S BACK! :)