I’m off to New Zealand! I did warn y’all. It's a trip several years in the making with my roommate from college, Sarah H. But of course…. my previous blog post was like….a pre-*pre* trip post. This is the proper pre-trip post
That’s the thing about some trips – the first day is really just you getting to your gate in time. Despite the pre-trip anxiety (which there was PLENT of, to be sure) and the several rounds of packing, unpacking, packing, should I really bring this? I SHOULD bring that…or should I? Back and forths (picking SHOES was a GD nightmare for some reason. I spent actual hours debating with myself this past week,) I got my bags packed and my passport in hand, and made it to my flight! The first one. I flew to LAX first. And BOY HOWDY was that a…frickin….man I don’t even know. I spent some extra money to get a good seat – after all, ATL to LAX is kinda a long flight, and the start of my trip, etc etc, whatever justifications you need to let me have my luxury, etc etc, …. and the woman who ended up sitting next to me was a nervous flier. I can’t relate, but I totally get it. It’s a common thing…. What is less common is whatever pill she took and the 4 alcoholic beverages she downed before we had even made it halfway there. She was so far gone. And I feel terrible because I wonder – could I have said anything to calm her down? Minimize the drinking? Make her forego the pill? Instead, I kinda let myself be trapped into my windowseat as she started screaming about getting onto the wifi and how it was imperative she call her daughter “Right. NOW.” The poor flight attendants. I was not a good citizen, but those people were saints. She was able to move from….flailing drunk to….semi-happy loopy drunk? She straight up cheered when we landed. And like, same, but mine was internal. I’m sorry to gossip out of turn (sort of….) But it made for….well a very interesting first leg of our trip… Well my trip. Sarah never had to meet her. But anyways, long story short, if there’s anyone who reads this who is a nervous flier, is there anything that helps your anxiety about flying? Is there anything that helps that doesn’t involve getting drunk? Please and thank you – I need to add whatever to my arsenal for next time I pray there *isn’t* a next time, but if I want to hit 40 countries by 40, the odds increase substantially that something similar will occur again. Oh damn. I wonder if quoting Airplane would have helped. “First time?” “No, I’ve been nervous lots of times.” AUGH WHY can’t I know these things ahead of time?? Stupid hindsight. Alas. After….well that flight (which, 4ish hours was not taken up that much by her shenanigans….well her shenanigans were rarely directed at me at least) Made it to LAX! Had a little bit of a kerfuffle with Sarah’s boarding pass – she had to recheck in, but after several people telling her and then us (I landed after one of her attempts at getting herself checked in) that we had to go to the gate….and then that gate…well…not *not* existing, but it being unassigned for several hours, and then when it finally was assigned, no one from Air New Zealand would man it because British Airways was using it first, etc etc…well we traipsed all over the airport trying to find the answers for how to check in. My bad contribution was insisting we just walked through the airport to a United Help Desk (since that’s their partner and they don’t have one) instead of just…going to the Air NZ kiosk outside….yes we would have had to go through security again, but we did so much walking it probably would have been worth it… Ultimately, we went to an international lounge where they said they’d print her boarding pass at like, 6 pm….and you know what? That did work. Also, an even smaller extension to an ongoing kerfuffle with me. I initially had one seat, next to Sarah for our flight together. But they then did some rearranging with the booking – it changed our departure by an hour and I was told “no worries, you don’t need to change anything, we did it for you”….well turns out my seat was unassigned to me, and automatically given to some other guy. So few days back, get told to pick my seat, “M’scuse me?” get told the situation, pick my new seat…only for today I have to pick a NEW new seat. I’m still in a great seat, so the kerfuffle is more like….a….. “fle”. Seriously though, we got some lay down seats . DIVINE. 100/10 would spend all my money again. And since Sarah and I will be spending the next 25 days together, figured it’s not a big deal if we’re several rows apart. Don’t worry though, I send her the occasional seat chat from our little screens! I suspect she’s asleep now – I gotta get some shut eye myself, but I just watched a few movies and I was feelin Jazzed. And I want to just get into the flow again. I know it was a nothing post, but thank you for indulging me. We still got another flight after this long haul – we’re boots on ground in Christchurch actually – we end in Auckland. That flight is super short though, and then, we’re truly off. Looking forward to judging both airports though – I am 1000% biased. ATL is hard to beat for airports.
Anyways, that’s it for now.
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Intermission
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We've landed!
Made it to Auckland, and I even got like 6 solid hours of sleep.
I did wake up at one point, as is to be expected, and looked out the window to see so many stars. I mean, of course, we're flying over mostly nothing, but it was beautiful. I saw the milky way pretty clearly. (It wasn't as cool as seeing the Aurora Borealis on my plane to Iceland, but still lovely.)
But then I went and got more sleep, and when I woke up next, it was time for breakfast.
We still had 2 hours to go of course, so I watched a movie, and that made the time fly by. (Pun not intended.)
The sunrise was pretty nice from the plane.
But what was really nice was the sleep. Had a full on dream (I had super-speed! .....I had watched the Flash before bed though...)
And I didn't wake up sore.
honestly I've woken up in my own bed more uncomfortable on occasion.
But now we're through.
Freshened up a little, through customs, and now waiting for our last flight to Christchurch.
Once we land I won't be able to update until tonight, and then from there it won't be quite so many posts.
I'll hit my rhythm, don't worry. And it won't be as fast paced as this prelim stuff is.
until tonight then!
(Enjoy these pics of first class bby....and a fly who came with me from ATL to LAX)
