Auckland. Again.

There are only coincidences.

“No, there are big coincidences!”

Sometimes things just happen at the same time, that’s what a coincidence is.

“Then we are in a simulation because there are just too many to believe.”

You mean Ling.

“Yes! Are you going to pretend this isn’t mind boggling?”

The mind wobbles.

“Better start at the beginning.”

After a week in Sydney, it was time to board the Norwegian Spirit for a trip Around New Zealand. That’s the ship we had to look for. Once we found out it wasn’t at the Circular Quay, we used the Opal travel app to find our way. We caught the bus from Central to get there. Central is on the L2 light rail that goes between our hotel in Chinatown and Circular Quay. It goes by QVB and the Hilton we stayed at. This area has been our home since February.

“That seems so long ago. So much has happened since then I don’t feel like a tourist anymore. I feel like we moved here and are remembering what the first few weeks were like.”

We are remembering this, if that’s what you mean. More than a month has gone by since then. We’ve done a lot since then.

“I remember that day. We just got onto the bus when Ling got on it with us. She had that giant luggage bag that was bigger than she is!”

We moved over so she could sit next to us with her luggage. We immediately started chatting but I can’t remember about what. Maybe about the cruise we were about to take. Several people had bags and that bus went near the cruise port. She knew all about the cruise port and knew we were going to be walking because the bus didn’t take us all the way. When the bus stopped, we got off and a half dozen of us started walking toward the terminal that was another mile away. I’m pretty slow so they all got ahead of me pretty quickly. I’m walking along looking at birds and flowers, just taking my time because I know I’ve got another hour before I’m supposed to be at the terminal. There’s Ling, standing there by herself with her giant luggage bag.

‘Hello, fancy seeing you again’, I said to her. There are so many people I see now, on the ships and on land, seeing anyone again makes me take notice. It’s possible for me to notice someone or even talk to them and never see them again. You wouldn’t think a ship could be so big that someone might disappear for a week or two and never see them again but it is like that. I’ve met someone and expect to see them again but never do. Where in the world did they go?

“Not Ling. We are going to see her again and again and again.”

The next night I’m sitting in a hallway pecking away at my iPhone, jotting down my ‘observations’, and along comes Ling! ‘Oh, hello again! You know this is getting to be quite a coincidence, running into you again. Sometimes I never see the same person twice.’ It won’t be the last time either. I’m going to see her at dinner, at the show, on shore excursions, and around the ship. One night we even have dinner together and before the show I say I’ve got to go back to my room first and she says the same. We get on the elevator and I ask her what floor are you on?

“Same floor right?”

Yes! Same floor. We start walking.

“Same direction right?”

Yes! And I stop at my door.

“And hers is next door isn’t it?”

Yes! Isn’t that a coincidence.

“A big one.”

We have a lot in common besides that. She’s been to all the places I’ve been. She knows every story, she gets all the jokes. She’s even been to the place where I woke up in the frozen river. After a couple weeks I’m convinced this is a simulation. How can this be?

“Wait, what? Did you just see that?”

What?

“How can this be? Her name is Thisbe!”

It just happened again!!! Ok, this is a simulation. I’m convinced. These are just variations on a pattern that keeps repeating, we are on a loop.

“And the book, she found a book in Wellington with you, the polar bear, and the boat.”

“She thinks you look like Bill Murray from Caddyshack because of the hat, thinks of the story you told her about dead polar bears, and the fact you are all on the boat together. She comes across this book on a shore excursion and puts it all together and gives you this book. That’s quite a series of coincidences and pattern recognition.”

I look like Bill Murray, because of my hat?

There’s more. On the last couple days, we are missing each other by a few minutes so she leaves a note under my door and I left something for her too, thinking that would be the last time we were going to see each other.

“But no… I’m guessing that’s not how this would end.”

No! On the final morning, I am one of the last people to get off the ship. I open my door and start down the hall. There she is, talking to one of the room stewards! The disembarkation procedure is 3 hours long and people are slotted to leave at certain times. What are the odds we decide to leave at the same time? We have breakfast together and we are both heading to the airport, flights just a few minutes apart, so we ride together.

“Well, that sounds about right then. One coincidence after another, along with some like minded thinking, all rolled up into a package.”

When we get to the airport, I’m ready to say goodbye and ask which terminal is she going to and which airline. Different airlines so I expect this is it. Nope, Same terminal so we start walking. Hers is right next to mine.

“What are the odds all these things would happen? I see what you mean about the simulation.”

And the last topper would be the email we exchange after the plane rides. I send her this picture as I am landing in Brisbane.

And she sends me this one as she is landing in Melbourne.

“That’s a whole lot of big coincidences.”

There are only coincidences.

“I’m going to call her Travel Ling.”

“I think we should start saying Aloha to people. The Hawaiians say that to mean hello and goodbye and also to say ‘until next time’ so that makes a lot of sense.”

That’s a good idea.

You know what else happened that last night on the Norwegian Spirit? When we left Tauranga, I wasn’t interested in a show, I just wanted to enjoy another sunset on the ocean. I wasn’t disappointed! I was very excited to see this one because I’d never seen anything like it. She had gone to the theater while I was all by myself on the aft deck, nobody around but me, and that’s when I saw something I’ve never seen before and don’t expect to see ever again. A double sunset; it set once, then it set again.

And there it is. A double sunset!

When I told her she missed it because she was at the theater and I showed her the pictures she wasn’t surprised at all. In fact, she had seen a double sunset before. In the same place.

“That’s because the simulation runs whether you are in it or not. It’s the same for everyone. We’ve been over this.”

Well, Aloha sunset then!

“These pictures are terrible by the way.”

They really are awful. But we’ve been over that too.

“Where is Ling Ling? Has she seen this too?”

Ling Ling is like the magician’s assistant. She dissapears from the stage and I have no idea where she went. Sometimes I wonder if she was real.

“She is.”

Many times we arrive in port before the sun comes up. This is Auckland again. Home of a Hilton.

Aloha Lobsters on the ferry going to work.

It’s pretty awesome to be standing here and have it all to yourself.

“It’s all for you.”

Aloha Norwegian Spirit.

Aloha Travel Ling.

“That suitcase is bigger than she is.”

To the airport.