So its begins, being 30 what could be my last reckless leave work for 5 weeks and spend an excessive amount of money holiday. I left Queenstown amidst the closing in of winter, squally showers lingered around the mountains leaving them with a sprinkling of winter goodness which undoubtedly would be exciting the ski bunnies passing me on the inbound lane at the airport.
The day had been a typically shambolic affair akin to my past travel attempts, leaving too much work to the last minute and rushing from the office home to pack with minimal time to spare giving the feeling of certainty that I would forget something semi essential for the trip. Wallet, Passport Check... everything else a bonus!
The Buffalo Club Hummer was my chariot to the airport via Maccas for a couple of M’cChickens to fuel the long journey ahead. The staff seemed confused as it was my second visit for the day after seeing off Georgie our lovely young Aussie promo gal for winter.
What had been forgotten was Air NZ Holidays giving my passport details to the USA customs service with my ticketing information as is apparently required due to their near constant state of security breach induced paranoia. Lucky Jenna my travel Agent is hot, cool and helpful and had the great excuse that my passport expired and I had to have a new one between booking and leaving so nothing she could do, fair enough I thought. To rectify this required several last minute phone calls and a few panicked texts from a lovely friend of mine at the Queenstown Airport who sorted me out and also did some seat shuffling to get me the exit row from QT to AKL.
Rumour had it she and the reservations team had rewarded my loyalty paid in flights and naked suitcase slides to Air NZ by arranging me a cheeky we sky couch on the New Air NZ Boeing 777-300ER. Having been a much talked after feature of the craft following its launch I was eager to experience this comfort and a good sleep first hand, however this dream dissipated faster than Warehouse furniture with the appearance of a nice old chap from Iowa who was heading home from NZ, who some how was booked into my row.
My departure and arrival rituals to NZ are very similar and involve a bar at the airport and a few Speight's Gold Medal Ales. Great for taking the edge off the start or the end of any journey and a reminder of what you have or are about to miss from home.
I may have been bitterly disappointed with missing out on a row to my self and sky couch but the new features of the 777-300 ER went a little way towards making up for this. A power socket looked promising but wouldn't charge my laptop, the seats were more comfy, the overhead lockers spacious and the in flight entertainment more user friendly despite the selection not suiting my tastes, honestly no Californication on TV and no Speight's in the drinks cart, Air NZ you need to sharpen up on a few small areas!
I love the USA, we stop for a an hour or two for fuel and some newbies and end up having to pay $20 bucks for an ESTA, clear customs and hang out in LAX's version of a south Auckland suburb called the international transfer lounge.
After giving up on sleep due to the eternal devastation of missing out on my sky couch I set into the Gin and movies hard on the LA to London route and was eventually cut off by the hostesses although one lovely lass was sneaking me a few cheeky stiff ones. Watching braveheart after quite a few gins at altitude is quite an emotional experience!
30 hours after leaving the house I was sitting in my mates Pattys silver BMW work car sliding back to Putney for a well earned nap. Long Haul... still far shorter than a 76 day boat trip to London, but a great advertisement for premium economy, business class or teleports.
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