On July 27th, Billy and I set out on the trip we’ve dreamed of for years. We drove to Cincinnati and flew to Denver. Because of a weather issue, our landing was delayed and, though we ran our hardest, we missed our connection. Three hours later, we were flying to LA. Because of the previous delay we had less than 45 minutes to make our international flight to Auckland. Again we ran, exited the airport, hopped in a taxi and sped to the international terminal. They rushed us through security and we ran to our gate with actually time to spare. We settled into our seats amazed we made the flight.
The flight to Auckland was uneventful, though looong! Finally, we stepped off the plane and into New Zealand! Passing through immigration was a breeze. Unfortunately our baggage had not run as fast as we had and were not on our flight. They would be delivered to our hotel the following morning. We bought a prepaid phone with $50 worth of international minutes and called home. While wrapping up the call with Mikaylie, we headed out to board the shuttle to our hotel. The shuttle was nearly full with only two seats available. The driver asked Billy and me who would like to sit in the front seat and I quickly said I would. Still chatting with Mikaylie, I rounded the front of the shuttle to get into the front seat. To my embarrassment I had forgotten that in NZ the driver’s seat is on the right! The driver, fully anticipating my error, asked if I would like to drive. The entire shuttle-full of passengers, including Billy found this quite amusing. I, too, was laughing so hard I could barely explain to Mikaylie what was going on.
Our driver was extremely informative and gave us tons of information about the city and New Zealand in general. We arrived at our hotel late in the morning, too early to check in. We checked our carryon bags with the concierge and headed out to purchase some clothing to tied us over until our bags arrived. We grabbed a quick lunch in a bakery shop. I had a delicious curry chicken salad sandwich with walnuts and Billy had a veggie sandwich. We found a mall and a clothing store that also carried toiletries. Prices were quiet reasonable, with tax included in the price. We returned to the hotel where they allowed us to use the gym facilities to shower and freshen up. We then, utterly and completely exhausted, waited in the lobby for our room to become available.
To be continued…
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