From Auckland
Hi everybody! Greetings from the future!
I'm in New Zealand, writing from one of the many internet cafes around Auckland. I've got 10 minutes to kill after using Skype to talk with K and E, so I figured I'd just type stream of consciousness and see how far I get.
The flights here were ridiculously long. First I had to get to LA domestically, which was actually easier than usual because it was a direct flight on Southwest where I didn't have to change planes in Midway. That meant I snagged the exit row for the long Chicago-LA trip, which is the closest thing Southwest gets to first class. :)
Then six hours of layover in LA, which I spent walking around Westchester (the only person ever to walk off the airport premises, I suspect) and getting myself some food.
I flew V Australia, Virgin's newest entry, and it was good but not the totally awesome experience so many people rave about international flying. The meals were definitely better - got some special vegetarian stuff that was a decent mix of pasta and veggies - but the seats were just as cramped and for a 15-hour flight, that's not what you want to deal with.
Nevertheless, I did manage to catch a few hours of sleep here and there, and at least they had on-demand movies that let me catch up on a few things like Inglorious Bastards (I know that's incorrectly not misspelled but I can't remember the correct misspelling) and Up in the Air. Had nice seatmates too, a married couple from Sydney who had visited Cincinnati of all places.
Then a couple hours layover in Sydney before the Emirates flight to Auckland. Emirates wins my award for best airline ever, but really only because they gave me an entire 3-seat row to myself which let me catch up on sleep. They also served an excellent breakfast, hot towels, the works. It was awesome.
So at the airport, through customs, had to get my tent disinfected or some such because NZ is pretty hard-core about contamination. Then the big challenge - the rental car.
Kiwis drive on the left side of the road, which I've never done. It had me fairly anxious, really, because how do you know what it's going to be like until you actually do it? I'd tried to find simulators on the net with no success - maybe I just didn't look hard enough. In any event, the trying is in the doing, so I started driving downtown.
It wasn't that bad. Really, driving in the unfamiliar city was harder than driving on the left. I just had to keep telling myself to stay on the left, to turn into the left lanes, and to look the way I was supposed to look rather than the way I was used to looking.
Auckland is a nice city - reminds me of Halifax in that it's on the water and fairly cosmopolitan yet not that big. The hostel is, well, a hostel - perfectly servicable, and I even got good sleep which is a rarity on the first night for me.
From here, I travel north. May not reach the tip of the country, but we'll see how far I get. I promise I'll have pictures at some point!
I'm in New Zealand, writing from one of the many internet cafes around Auckland. I've got 10 minutes to kill after using Skype to talk with K and E, so I figured I'd just type stream of consciousness and see how far I get.
The flights here were ridiculously long. First I had to get to LA domestically, which was actually easier than usual because it was a direct flight on Southwest where I didn't have to change planes in Midway. That meant I snagged the exit row for the long Chicago-LA trip, which is the closest thing Southwest gets to first class. :)
Then six hours of layover in LA, which I spent walking around Westchester (the only person ever to walk off the airport premises, I suspect) and getting myself some food.
I flew V Australia, Virgin's newest entry, and it was good but not the totally awesome experience so many people rave about international flying. The meals were definitely better - got some special vegetarian stuff that was a decent mix of pasta and veggies - but the seats were just as cramped and for a 15-hour flight, that's not what you want to deal with.
Nevertheless, I did manage to catch a few hours of sleep here and there, and at least they had on-demand movies that let me catch up on a few things like Inglorious Bastards (I know that's incorrectly not misspelled but I can't remember the correct misspelling) and Up in the Air. Had nice seatmates too, a married couple from Sydney who had visited Cincinnati of all places.
Then a couple hours layover in Sydney before the Emirates flight to Auckland. Emirates wins my award for best airline ever, but really only because they gave me an entire 3-seat row to myself which let me catch up on sleep. They also served an excellent breakfast, hot towels, the works. It was awesome.
So at the airport, through customs, had to get my tent disinfected or some such because NZ is pretty hard-core about contamination. Then the big challenge - the rental car.
Kiwis drive on the left side of the road, which I've never done. It had me fairly anxious, really, because how do you know what it's going to be like until you actually do it? I'd tried to find simulators on the net with no success - maybe I just didn't look hard enough. In any event, the trying is in the doing, so I started driving downtown.
It wasn't that bad. Really, driving in the unfamiliar city was harder than driving on the left. I just had to keep telling myself to stay on the left, to turn into the left lanes, and to look the way I was supposed to look rather than the way I was used to looking.
Auckland is a nice city - reminds me of Halifax in that it's on the water and fairly cosmopolitan yet not that big. The hostel is, well, a hostel - perfectly servicable, and I even got good sleep which is a rarity on the first night for me.
From here, I travel north. May not reach the tip of the country, but we'll see how far I get. I promise I'll have pictures at some point!