January 2026 – Where is Phil now?

Vancouver, Canada
December 2025.

Visiting family in New Zealand for Christmas was decided fairly last minute and flying halfway around the world from London to New Zealand at Christmas is a very expensive affair. I spent quite some time trying to find a route that wasn’t going to break the bank, force us to spend nine hours lurking in a Chinese airport* or have us make more than one layover stop on the way there and back. We normally fly via an Asian city, but for a change the cheaper option was to transit Vancouver in Canada. There was a slightly cheaper option to take a 9-hour layover, which we elected to do with a plan to leave the airport and briefly visit the city as neither of us have been to Canada.

13 hours after leaving Auckland we arrived at Vancouver Airport. With visa waivers already procured and our suitcase theoretically being loaded onto the flight to London (it was) we whisked through Canada immigration and out of the airport. We had planned on taking five hours in the city, not wanting to put pressure on getting back into the airport for the onward journey, and had sort of looked up a couple of things to do.

The timing wasn’t perfect as it’s winter and the sun sets quite early, so we didn’t have a huge amount of daylight hours to wander about, it wasn’t exactly warm either, not compared to those balmy 25 degree days in Auckland. Luckily, we had planned and dressed for the cold. To be fair it wasn’t a lot colder than London.

Once we’d negotiated the ticket machine (We’d been awake for 24 hours by that time) we took the 25-minute train journey to Waterfront on the edge of Gastown. Gastown is the oldest part of Vancouver, originating in the 1870s and the main area we wanted to walk around. It’s a kinda funky, hipster area, loads of bars and cafes, and a big record shop that I managed to ignore.

It also had the Steam Clock, a seemingly Victorian era relic. However, it was actually built in 1997 to resemble something from the old days. It is powered from steam pipes that run under the Gastown streets to provide heating to the buildings. It’s not huge but is quite cool and there were a lot of people taking photos.

I was surprised to find quite a few good examples of brutalist architecture, I’d not done any research before we left home, so this was a bonus find and a good reason to come back on some future New Zealand trip; and stay a bit longer than a few hours.

We walked down to the waterfront and took some photos of the snow-capped mountains on the far side of the harbour. As darkness was approaching and the city was lighting up it was a pretty sight; albeit one with large ships and portside infrastructure in the foreground.

With daylight running down and exhaustion setting in we decided to take time out and sit in a bar and drink a cocktail or two. This was a good choice, and the final thing we did before heading back to the airport for the final nine hours back home.

Canada is the 65th country I’ve visited, by my rules at least. leaving the airport and spending a minimum four hours counts as a visit. I’m keen to explore much more of this vast nation and had plans when I was touring the world in 2012 to train-trip from one side to the other. Maybe I will save that for retirement now.

*I have no issue with China or Chinese airports, not that I’ve been to either, I wanted to book tickets as fast as possible as the price was rising daily and just didn’t have time to spend applying for a Chinese visa. If we had an 11-hour layover in Beijing like my son did last time he visited, then I would be wanting to leave the airport for a walk around.

Auckland, New Zealand
December 2025.

Even without the benefit of hindsight, travelling to New Zealand from London for four days for Christmas was a crazy idea. It was super expensive and three days after our return, as I start to write this, I’m still falling asleep on the sofa in front of the telly way too early in the evening.

For all that, and the reason for going, it was a great trip. Weirdly, I think it was my favourite trip back home since I left almost to the day in 2011.

Not long before Eleanor and I went back to New Zealand for a longer holiday in March, I had a call from my sister to say that Olivia, her daughter and my niece, who is now 29, had just been diagnosed with lung cancer, and the prognosis wasn’t great. Things have progressed over these last few months, and the prognosis never improved. Liv does not have much time left, and this was most likely going to be her last Christmas. Going back for a family Christmas was one of the easiest decisions I’ve had to make.

For the first time in many years, we decided to fly Air New Zealand and go west from London via Vancouver, rather than passing through the Asian cities we usually transit through. I was kinda hoping that the short visit and the change of direction would mean we were not so badly impacted by jet lag and the 13-hour time difference between the two countries. That was a misplaced hope.

We arrived in Auckland at 5:30am and my sister whisked us off to the downtown hotel we had booked. We’d decided that even though we only had four days on the ground in Auckland we would spend some time doing what we wanted rather than thrusting ourselves into family. It was the right choice. We have a few favourite places in Auckland and were keen to make sure we visited some of them as we are here. It’s summer after all, and we really would like some warmth after a couple of miserable months in London. Our hotel is very close to the apartment we stayed in when we lived here during covid and also near the Viaduct; a harbourside marina surrounded by bars. hotels and restaurants. I have a love / hate relationship with this part of Auckland. I mean it is very pretty but I dislike the conspicuous wealth and some of the people who hang out in the bars here are not my type.

After a short nap we met Mum in Auckland Art Gallery for lunch and a brief wander about the gallery, Eleanor and I also took the opportunity to visit the Pop Art exhibition while we there. I loved this, Virgil Ortiz’s Astronauts: Stedu and Cuda.

We wandered around downtown Auckland for a bit, there was some shopping we wanted to do and a couple of favourite shops to visit, though I avoided record shops. Downtown looks sadder each time I visit. There are more closed shops and homeless people than I can remember. There is a big public transport construction project going on to build a small underground rail service, I think it opens late 2026. Once this is finished, I hope it gives the centre the boost it needs.

After a second (and deeper) nap we met friends at Sun Ray, a deservedly popular Ponsonby restaurant for dinner and a drink, before meeting my sister and my son to go and see the Franklin Road Christmas lights.

The Franklin Road lights are a long-established Auckland ‘must-do’ if you’re in the city in December, we took the kids to see them. Sadly, when Eleanor and I were living in Auckland in 2021, covid restrictions meant the event was cancelled so Eleanor was particularly keen to see them this year. They didn’t disappoint (my photos do) and I could see why the health authorities were concerned during Covid, it was very busy! A huge amount of effort is put into the lights, by both the council and (most of ) the residents, it is a lot of fun and the street was packed with families and groups of all ages enjoying themselves on a warm early summer evening. There is nothing quite like this in London.

The following day and still a bit discombobulated (I love that word) from the time difference and little sleep, we caught a ferry over to Waiheke Island, which is probably our favourite place in greater Auckland. Surprisingly, the sky was clear and looked like it was going to defy the cloud and drizzle that had been forecast. There was still a bit of wind about, so I was expecting a mildly bumpy journey once we were in the Hauraki Gulf; that also proved to be wrong, it was a lovely journey.

We passed Rangitoto Island on the way. It’s my favourite dormant volcano, and while I’ve walked up it a few times I’ve yet to do it with Eleanor. On the to-do list for next time.

If you’ve read this blog for a while you would have already seen me wax lyrical about Waiheke and various vineyards, which, frankly, is the main reason we go. We had booked a table at Mudbrick, somewhere we have been before. It’s close to the ferry terminal and the food has always been good, it didn’t disappoint this time and neither did the wine. Disappointingly I got a little sunburned as we sat outside after lunch and had a final glass.

My old friend David, who we visited in Christchurch, was on the island for family Christmas, and picked us up and we went back to his place, ‘the shack’, where we stayed a few years ago and had a brief but enjoyable catch with him and his wife, Kim, before getting the ferry back to the city.

Off the ferry we walked to nearby De Brett’s Hotel for a cocktail. This became a favourite spot for coffee or an evening drink once covid restrictions were over when we were living here in 2021/2022. We brought our London friend, Paula here back in March, but bloody hell they’ve changed the bar around and made the nice bit into a restaurant, removing the comfy chairs and side tables. Travesty. We left and had a cocktail on the rooftop bar in our hotel instead, which was ruined for me by another customer who was a bit of a dick.

The next day, Christmas Day was also unexpectedly sunny. We had arranged a late checkout so after breakfast in the hotel we walked up to Auckland’s harbour bridge, something we did quite a lot during covid. It’s a nice walk along the side of the marina and the vast number of yachts and motorboats; like London there is massive wealth disparity in Auckland.

I was looking for a pohutukawa tree in bloom. Known as New Zealand’s Christmas tree, they’re normally red with flowers at the time of year, though most were still only in the bud stage, so it was nice to find one or two examples in flower.

The rest of the day was spent with family. We took a taxi to another hotel near where my mum lives then the mum, Eleanor and I drive to my sister Sarah’s house. All her family were there as my son and grandson. It was a lovely day, especially so considering the circumstances.

On Boxing day we checked out of the hotel and went to Mum’s, then the three of us drove up to Muriwai Beach where we met the rest of the family, along with my other sister, Alison, and her son Chris, who were both up from Dunedin for a couple of days. It was the first time since who knows when that both my sisters and I have been together with Mum, and we were all together to visit the spot where we scattered Dad’s ashes in 2007.

I always come here with Mum when I’m in New Zealand. We were blessed again by the weather, though a storm a couple of years ago damaged the area and the place we scattered Dad is no longer accessible, blocked off by a fence, but at least we can see it in the foreground, and the backdrop is lovely. The clouds were looming and as we left to walk back to the cars the first spots of rain of the whole trip started to fall.

We did go and look at the gannet colony though, part of the same ritual.

After a drink and brief chat back at my sister’s we were whisked off to the airport. Our four tremendously busy days in Auckland were over.

I’m glad we went; it was the biggest family gathering in years and it was a joy seeing everyone together and spending just a little bit more time with my niece. The trip could have been maudlin, but Liv was in great spirits, which allowed us all to enjoy the time we had together.