It all started early in the morning after about 1 hour and 40 minutes sleep. I was certainly not ready to wake up! But wake up I did and gathered my things together and headed off to Sydney with Mum and Dad and Julia in tow.
We got down to the airport with no hassles or delays after treating my eyes to one last look of Sydney harbour from the bridge.
After checking into my Air NewZealand flight and a final hot chocolate with my family, I passed the gates of no return... Only to return and hand Julia my mobile phone as it was pointless to take it with me as it won't work in the USA and Canada.
So after passing the point of no return for the second time, I finally headed through customs with no fuss and into the edparture lounge for my flight. We boarded out small airoplane and set off for Auckland, NZ.
It was a very uneventful flight - I slept most of the way!
Arriving in Aucland was cool. My first look of the land of the long white cloud since I was about 18 months old... It was great to hear all the Kiwi accents! A very uneventful layover. I ate burger king and read the paper - how to lose weight and never put it back on. The Aitkens Diet all over again...
Anyhoo, when it came time to board the flight to San Francisco, the gate number didn;t appear for ages! About 5 mins before our departure time it came up and so there was a mass exodus for the gate lounge. (Gate 3 for those of you who were wondering!) I met a lovely young American girl, Flo, who was heading home to Phili after visiting her sister who has been studying in NZ this year. She plans to study abroad next year. I think that sounds like fun!
Anyhoo, after getting on the plane, I realized that I had a full row of seats to myself - how lucky am I!?!?!?!? I got to stretch out and sleep undisturbed all night long. Ahh. Blessed sleep! But stupidly I took off my shoes. Anyone who's ever flown long distance knows that this is a No-no. I knew this, yet I still went ahead and removed my shoes. Ooops! My feet swelled to about 3 times their normal size!
I must say though, Air NewZealand rOcks! AWESOME roast lamb for dinner and cheesey scrambled eggs for breakfast. The BEST plane food I've eaten ever! Certainly will be flying with them again!
Spent 3 hours of my 6 hour layover in San Fran playing cards with Flo, then spent about half an hour going through security for my next flight.
American airport security for domestic flights is even more strick than security for international in australia! You have to take off your shoes and jackets and rings and watched and have all your liquids in a clear plastic bag. And none of the security officers smile... Oh, and EVERY officer you pass rechecks your boarding pass and I.D. Still no smiles and don't try and joke, thay'll pull you aside and strip search you. Thank goodness that it wasn't me who tried to make the security officer smile!
Another uneventful flight and I arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah without further ado to the cheering voices of 6 grade school delegates, their parents, 2 high school delegates and Sydel! Complete with signs and Balloons! And john williamson's Home among the gumtrees...
Here's the photo!
More words to follow!
Love to all, Wally.
