Flying to New Zealand

Is it September 3rd, the 4th, or the 5th? We left on the 3rd. Flew five plus hours from Newark, NJ to Los Angeles, CA. As we were about to land Sandy, the chatty woman in the window seat, offered to switch seats with me so I could look out the window. I felt like a little kid so excited to watch the ground below us get closer. It was an experience I rarely had as a child because we flew with Dad's flight benefits, which meant we were nearly always separated (often ending up in middle seat in the smoking section of the airplane, as if that statement does not date me). A window seat was not in our cards. As we did not have in flight entertainment on the Alaskan Air flight, Sandy kept us entertained by name dropping all the "famous" people she knew, none of whom we knew. Domestic flying has long lost its appeal or glamour. Pretzels and tea on a six hour flight are not enough.

Prior to leaving, Aunt Joanie advised us at LAX we could walk through the underground tunnels (a nice trick to avoid leaving the secured zone of the airport to have to go through TSA again) from Terminal 2 to the International Terminal. Don and I had a relaxing, yet stressful, meal at the airport PF Chang's, where the portions were enormous and there was no possible way to take leftovers with us. 

Our server's name was Hiroko, which I only remembered because ten years ago we met our first Hiroko when we crossed the International Dateline on our trip to Japan. I took it as a good omen. As this was the only flight with a short turn around on two different airlines, I was glad we landed a little early and made it from point A to B with time to spare.

In the airport I saw someone carrying a bright yellow LEGO bag. As you read about the adventures, LEGO will come up as a common thread. In Barcelona eleven months ago Don learned about the LEGO passport -- each store you visit will stamp your passport for free. Don tried to find the newly opened store, but was unsuccessful, optioning to catch the next leg of the flight rather than get a stamp. We later learned the airport locations are owned by someone else and do not stamp the passports.

There is no way around it, the flight from LAX to Auckland, New Zealand is long. Fourteen hours long. With only two hours between the flights (and a long walk) to stretch our legs, we weren't ready to fly again, but we did. This leg was on Air New Zealand, an airline we fell in love with. If they flew between states, they would become our new regular airline. 

We learned on our flight there is an option to buy three seats together that convert into a bed for a fare that is not that much more than one economy seat, but looks worlds more comfortable. Don is already dreaming about our next trip where we can take advantage of that. We had a second dinner. Watching a movie. Took a Benadryl. Fell asleep. It helped that the flight attendants spread the passengers out and upgraded the two people in our section to Economy Plus. I think we may have ended up with more space than they did, but we were all more comfortable.

Upon landing, we made it through customs super quickly. 

As noted in another post, I did not spend a lot of time planning this trip. One of my failings was researching how to get from the airport to the hotel in each city. We went to seven different cities. Each with their own mode of transportation. It felt overwhelming to figure out from New Jersey. I gave Don the task of figuring out all transportation. He turned to Google Maps.

(Earlier this year we switched our cell phone plan to T-Mobile, which means we can use our phones in 250 different countries without roaming charges. It has proven to be a game changer when traveling.)

Google Maps pointed us in the direction of Super Shuttle. For a flat fee, they took us from the airport to the hotel (the per person rate is cheaper based on the number of people in your party). The driver gave us a card with instructions on how to book a return trip. We learned the service is available in every single city in New Zealand. We wished Australia had a similar service as we became quite comfortable using them.

This ride was the only time we had a super chatty passenger who wanted to share his views on American politics. Fortunately we were able to avoid the topic for most of the rest of our trip. That helped to make it relaxing.

We arrived at The President Hotel in Auckland's CBD (Central Business District) a
few hours before we could check in. I specifically chose this hotel for its location, and because it offered the option of early check-in at 50% rate (if there was availability). Long story short, we could only check in an hour early. They were able to hold onto our luggage while we walked around Auckland.

We felt like Zombies walking around the city. Keep left. Keep left. Keep left. Our mantra for the next month. Keep left. Good thing we were not driving!

After a bit of walking around, we had brunch at a café. We enjoyed it so much we planned to return, but never did. There were just so many good food options we kept trying new places instead of falling into ruts.

Our goals for that first (second? third?) day were basic: get some sleep and get a sense of the lay of the land. As soon as we checked in we took a two hour nap, woke refreshed and explored Auckland in earnest.

At 1:30 (90 minutes early) they let us check into our room. I think they felt us dozing in the lobby was not a good advertisement for a hotel. The room was basic, but good. Don still refers to this as the "fancy room" because it had a separate galley kitchen between the room and the hallway. A quick note, all of our rooms included an electric kettle, which is a godsend for us tea drinkers. We used to pack an electric kettle on our trips, but wanted to travel with smaller suitcases for this trip, so the kettle stayed home.

For the most part it was a wonderful hotel -- conveniently located to everything, including a future subway stop. Ours was one of a couple of floors with a washer and dryer on it -- which came in handy when we got soaked on our first night walking around Auckland. It also had an amazing breakfast spread in the bar (included in our reservation). The downside was we could hear construction starting very early each morning, and one night we heard booming "music" late into the night. I think we wore ourselves out enough that we found a way to sleep through the noise six floors below us. We never heard a noise from the other hotel rooms.

This hotel set a high bar for our future stays.