From the beginning

Iain and I set out on a very windy and dark morning on January 18th. We made it to the airport with loads of extra time but just barely ahead of the trees falling across the roads in Stanley Park and power outages across the city. Our flight from Vancouver to Los Angeles was rough with wicked turbulence, Iain finally got to see my fear of flying as I was white knuckling and praying with the best of them. I felt somewhat vindicated when the senior flight attendant told us over the loudspeaker that it was the worst turbulence he had experienced in his career (and I SWEAR there was a tremor in his voice while he said it!). The Air New Zealand lounge in LAX more than made up for a rough flight, hot showers, free all you can drink and eat buffets, free wireless, free alcohol, free television and snacks, free booze...did I mention the drinks? I'll never be able to sit in a stodgy, grey lounge again, knowing what first class delights await me a short flight of stairs away. Anyways, we passed our 6 hours of waiting quite quietly, surfing the internet, pretending to work and meeting D-list movie producers who name dropped constantly.

When our flight was called for Auckland we were ushered through the "Executive Line" and moved ahead of screaming children, grandparents and a sea of tired looking backpackers and travellers whose backs were already aching from hours of sitting in plastic chairs or on the floor. I'm not looking forward to joining their ranks in the future! I was greeted warmly by the flight attendant at the front who was quick to offer Iain and I seat relocations since we had been separated in Vancouver. I poured myself into a pod/seat and was promptly offered a drink of my choice ("Why yes, I would LOVE a glass of champagne before takeoff!") and a chance to peruse the menu selection for the evening. Iain was removed from his extra special seat upstairs and a grumpy older man next to me was happily placed there instead, giving Iain and I a chance to giggle about how lucky we were to be in such posh settings!

The flight was uneventful, I was kept busy eating for the first few hours then the flight attendant came and set up the bed for me and I actually managed to sleep for most of the rest of the flight.

Even though we had a great flight, a bed and nice food, Iain and I were still exhausted when we landed in Auckland. We were lucky however to have a smooth, if long, trip through customs. It seems we passed through 12 different lineups at least, from one counter to the next. Considering it was 4:30am everyone was very pleasant and efficient and since we declared everything we had no problems. Although our tent and my shoes were taken away for an hour to be cleaned by the biosecurity department.

Having arrived in Auckland, we went outside to watch the sunrise over the airport parking lot and wait for news from Iain's friend Illaria on the whereabouts of the van. We ended up hanging out at the airport until the afternoon, napping, using the internet and staring into space. Finally we decided to head to a hotel for the night, a hot shower and some food and a soft, horizontal spot to sleep were desperately needed.

We ended up at the Travellers International Hotel...I'll spare you the details. It served it's purpose of soft horizontal surface, hot shower (thanks to Iain and his maintenance skills) and free internet. We spent one night and most of the next day recuperating and finally at about 3pm on January 23rd I got to meet the Blue Meenie (now the Green Machine). She was a beautiful sight to behold! A little battered and bruised on the outside, but the engine still purred! I was so excited to set off!