On the plane from Los Angeles to Auckland.

Today was a really hard day for travel. It was tough to say goodbye to everything I know and am familiar with. All comforts gone, I waited with my mother at the Duluth airport for the first flight. I had said goodbye to the pets, friends, family without a single tear. The flight was fine, but the plane was late.
Unfortunately, this made us late for the next flight and we didn’t end up making it. We then had to try and get on the next airplane from Chicago to LA. We were told that it was full and that we could get on the wait-list. We were numbers 4&5 on the initial initial wait-list, and was a little scary to just sit and wait to see if we had to spend the night in Chicago or LA. Fortunately, we were able to get on the flight and literally RAN through LA to get to our New Zealand Air flight.
We only had 20 minutes to be able to get through the entire airport from our arrival gate to the departure gate. They had taken us off the list for the flight, but since we had made it, they told us that they would try to get us back on with the last two seats left. It was really nice of them, and we were able to FINALLY get back on schedule. We hadn’t eaten all day, except for the food that Peg gave us for our daypacks. I was becoming hypoglycemic with a small headache, so when they told us food was being served on the flight not once, but twice, my mom and I were exhilarated. So, my mom has currently watched 2+ movies, I have been trying to sleep. We are sitting next to this wonderful lady who told us all the best places to go on the island because she is a native. So we know where to go and what to do.
I still have six hours left on my flight, but I don’t know what to do other than try and sleep. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can anymore, even though I’m super tired. My mom has no trouble sleeping on the plane. She just puts on another movie and falls asleep within 5 minutes of it turning on. I”m a little jealous. Oh well. Hopefully when we get to our destination, we have a good time making it. Well, thats all for now.

Grace
2:19AM NZ time.

In the wonderful Fraurisenhaus (or however you spell it) hostel after fighting our way through Auckland Airport.

So, after a super tight connection in LA (only 20 minutes to get to our flight before it took off) where our only savior was a REALLY nice Avis bus driver who volunteered to take us from terminal 7 to terminal 2 at LAX. It was a 20+ minute walk or a 10 minute bus ride if it left immediately. So this guy single handedly got us onto our New Zealand flight. The connection was so tight that the flight attendants had cancelled our seat reservations because they knew we were on the later LAX flight. They were SO surprised when we got there and were panting at their desk! HA! Grace and Lucy work another small miracle! So, that was pretty awesome. :)
Unfortunately, because we made our tight connection we left our luggage behind. It will be coming later this week to Nelson Airport where we will pick it up before we go to Abel Tasman Park. Hopefully it will get there and we will be able to swiftly pick it up. Another bit of good news: my cell phone works over here. It IS on roaming charges, but it works! So, if the airport have a cell number to call when the luggage gets here. If all goes well we’ll get the luggage as we roll through Nelson.
In Christchurch we checked into our hostel after taking a shuttle, no driving yet! We got gyros from Dimitri’s, got some shampoo and face-wash from a pharmacy, and cleaned up! We have our only clothes in the wash so we’re wearing rain gear...super hot look. <3 Oh well, we are never fashionable anyways. Thats all for now TTFN!



Peg,
You can’t imagine the excitement your mojo bar brought to our first leg of the journey… Our first flight to Chicago was a small commuter flight where we were jammed in like spam in a can. I was seated next to a young very professional female optometrist dressed in a business suit and only inches away from the watchful eye of Keith, our intense air steward. I was feeling a little bit peckish. I remembered that you had given me the care package with the mojo bar. I ravenously dove into it. We were experiencing some significant turbulence at the time and Keith, our polite but firm steward had instructed us to remain SEATED with SEAT BELTS fastened. Out of the corner of my eye, sans glasses, I thought I had dribbled some bit of bar onto my seat. However, I was not allowed the luxury of standing at the time so I cast my hand surreptitiously under my bottom in a vain effort to retrieve the nasty bit. It was very hot in the cabin. Once we were out of the turbulence, I made a better effort to assess the damage. Well of course the bit that dropped down under my ass was chocolate(even though the majority of the bar was nuts) and now it was smeared all over it. My seat mate was clearly appalled at the situation and readily offered up her napkin. Keith caught wind of the whole situation and wondered if he could help. I handed him the brown smeared napkin and suggested that it was best not to ask. He brought over mass quantities of disinfectant, papertowels,napkins, etc. I stood up with my ass tilted toward my seatmate, the optometrist, and she kindly obliged wiping off my bottom while the entire forward compartment roared in laughter. Grace seated directly behind me stated ‘That is not my mother.‘ I am so glad that I am 50 something so that I could laugh just as heartily as everyone else.

01.30.11

Our luggage is now in Christchurch, while we are in Nelson. This sucks because we booked a tour of Abel Tasman without all of our gear. I have only 2 changes of clothing and mom only has one. bummer. Oh well, we'll pick up a few essential items and borrow a few from a friend here and all will be well. Cheers.