Kia ora! Waiting at the Auckland airport for my flight to Sydney so I thought I'd drop a line. It's Monday morning at 5:45, and 12:45 p.m. on Sunday in Houston. It's still pitch black outside. The flight was decent enough. Nice to see that Air New Zealand has improved; LAX, on the other hand, was still as crappy as the last time I flew, so that was a sentimental moment.
I'd forgotten how cool the Kiwi accent sounds, and also how trustworthy Kiwis are. On the plane I sat next to a woman living in San Antonio who was visiting her sister in Christchurch. Told her I was going to travel all over NZ, including Christchurch, and she immediately gave me her name and number and her sister's name and number and told me to call if I needed anything. I seriously mean this in the nicest way - WTH?
Swine flu (or AN51 or whatever PC name they gave it) was taken somewhat seriously here. There were signs in the interational terminal cautioning people who had visited Mexico or North America if they displayed the symptoms. Everyone getting off the plane was asked if they felt any sickness... would people actually answer that truthfully? "Why yes, you'd better quarantine me for the rest of my vacation."
Next stop: Sydney YHA.
