Traveling

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Sitting in the Airport in New Zealand.
This has been a very long few days. I can easily say that my flight from Boston to San Francisco reminded me just how much I hate flying. Turbulence, small seats, crying babies, you name it - it happened. The San Fran airport was pretty neat. I was tempted with the prospect of visiting the in Airport Aquarium, but it turned out to just be a fish tank with an over exaggerated name. For 9 hours I wandered, surfed the web and read my book. When I eventually found my departure gate I saw the largest passenger plane I think I have ever seen with my own eyes. A 777, one step down from the 747. Before we boarded the plane, a man came on the speaker saying he was the concierge. He then said he wanted to lighten the mood so he raffled off free seat upgrades and a bottle of champagne. USA airlines, take note. Air New Zealand kicks ass.
Once on the plane, I was pretty stoked. Seating was 9 across, yet the seats were nice, big and comfy with plenty of leg room, video screen in the headrest in front of me and no person in the middle seat ( I was in the aisle seat). Needless to say the girl in the window seat and I soon filled the area up with our stuff, but pretty sweet. We boarded at 9 PM, which was 12 PM Boston time I think. At that point I was pretty hungry but figured I would just pass out soon and forget about it. 5 minutes into my name the flight attendants walked by with the most amazing smelling plane food I have ever smelled. Chicken with pasta and some amazing maranara sauce, a bread roll, and some cherry dessert thing. needless to say I stuffed my face and then PASSED out. I slept for a good amount of time, because when I finally woke up they were serving breakfast. Fresh fruit, yogurt, OJ and a muffin, good stuff!
Upon arrival in Auckland, I had to go through customs, and had to give up my toothpaste and sunblock because they were apparently too big, oh well. I wandered the shops for a while, as I had plenty of spare time. Lots of gorgeous things, jewelry, artwork, knick-knacks and what not. I bought myself a necklace. Of course as I bought it in an airport, you can never know if it is real or but the description said it was a stone found on a beach and then carved by an artist. For now I am sitting in the airport, waiting for them to announce what gate I fly out of. It’s 7:28 and still pretty dark out. Guess because it is winter season down here that makes sense. It is real pretty though, very mountainous and green (I’m hoping for a window seat when I fly over to Brisbane). The airport is right on the harbor and I can see across the harbor to the main city. Looks like a storm is coming though, hope that doesn’t effect my flight.

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