Funny things happen on the road, and although it's not always about the destination, it helps if you get somewhere in the end.
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These thoughts come into focus when you're on a family road trip round, say, the South Island of New Zealand.
Weaving you're way down the rugged West Coast and over the spectacular Haast Pass to Lake Wanaka.
We arrived that evening coming off the disappointment of having our heli-hike on Franz Josef Glacier cancelled the day before due to bad weather.
Certain members of the travelling foursome were itching to compensate with a suitable bell-ringing "replacement activity".
You get that in New Zealand when you're on a tight schedule, and once aggregated by the tourism authorities you feel a certain obligation to to do something really freaking awesome.
So next morning it was up bright and early with the intent to "get into it".
Members of the touring party were indeed up for something. But it wasn't scoping out flights across the world heritage mountain wilderness to legendary Milford Sound.
No. After four days on the road, some people needed fresh undies. So we did the laundry.
Now this seemed to fall short of adrenaline junkie status but you learn to suck that up travelling in the family way. And eventually, the laundry was done.
So the question went out again, 'are we ready' and the answer was again, a resounding yes. This time to have a look at the shops.
Not quite the pioneer spirit some individuals were focused on, but you get that too.
So the girls browsed the boutiques while I went and found the nearest adventure hut and, boom, found a flight over the mountains leaving for Milford in the next hour.
It would be tight, but we should be right. If I could just find the ladies.
Now here's another fascinating phenomenon you sometimes encounter on the road and time is of the essence. The disappearing family trick.
There one minute popping in and out of shops, vanished the next, ignoring all previous protocols about never abandoning dad in a retail area.
I was left to fall back on that old chestnut if we ever get separated, just wait in the one spot. For forty-five minutes as it turned out. Me and the not-for-profit spruiker, who eventually blew me off too when he realised there'd be no donation.
So I sweated it out amongst the latte set of the Wanaka cafe precinct wondering if this was to be a lowlight of what could have been a highlight.
And just like that, the family reappeared, out of a vortex, or a time portal, or it might have been a second hand shop.
And we belted out to the airport just in time to make the flight for one of the most memorable experiences of our lives.
Why we had to have the lead-up drama I'll never know, but funny things happen on the road and journeys occur on many levels.
Thankfully we we got to our destination in the end.