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Published: February 28th 2012
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The limo arrived a bit early and we were able to get going ahead of schedule. Our driver got us to JFK without any muss or fuss although the person who designed the roadways there must have had a unique design vision. However the signs were good and we got to Terminal 7 and checked in with the Qantas folks. We planned to check Pat’s bag (with all the heavy stuff) and carry on Connie’s; it’s good we planned things out as they asked what we were carrying on, and then weighted Connie’s bag to make sure it was under the 15 pound limit. We were able to watch our flight arrive from LAX and be turned around for our outbound leg. At the check-in counter we had been told the same aircraft would continue on to Auckland, but we would have to get off while they serviced the plane. The JFK-LAX flight was pleasant, pretty clear weather most of the way so we could see the lights of Milwaukee, Denver and of course LA. As instructed we deplaned and did a number of laps around Terminal 4 at LAX before getting back on. When we lived in LA in the
80’s Pat flew on AA a good many times out of Terminal 4. He was surprised how much it had changed it the last 20 years.
We were off for Auckland just before midnight. Qantas did a great job of minimizing the pain of the flight, a second dinner just after departure and a large selections of movies and TV shows on the on demand entertainment. I think Connie watched all or part of 3 movies, and Pat a couple, but mostly what we tried to do was sleep. We managed to get in two or three two hour stretches and then move around some in between. Overall it wasn’t as unpleasant as we expected and after breakfast we arrived to a cool and breezy Auckland at about 10am. As we left the plane in Auckland, we were able to see its name in the Qantas fleet; “Barossa Valley” where we’ll be in a few weeks. In Auckland the International flights arrive in one building and the domestic flights in another, with about a 10 minute walk in between. Actually, the walk felt pretty good after being cooped up for so long. At the gate for the Queenstown flight we had our only travel adventure so far. As we were boarding the flight, the gate agent came on-board and told everybody to get off for rescreening. It turned out the NZ TSA had not turned on the scanner you walk through. Fortunately that particular checkpoint only served the one gate so only a hundred or so folks had to go back through. We left about 20 minutes late, so overall not as bad as it could have been. We arrived at the hotel in Queenstown about 3pm feeling surprisingly alert so after a quick shower and some unpacking were off to check out Queenstown.
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