I'm Here!

Months of waiting are over, and the flight's behind me, I'm on an Island between the Tasmanian and the Pacific, God Bless Aotearoa, God Defend New Zealand.

This will be a long entry, haha, so...

On February 17th, I boarded a plane in New York City at 8:30 AM and on February 19th, at about 5:30 AM, I breathed kiwi air before the sun rose.

Before that, however, there was a journey all it's own. Airports are surprisingly empty at 4:30 in the morning, except for kids, there are lots of kids. The woman who checked me in was absolutly wonderful, he was so excited and exclaimed "Before I die......(awkwardly long pause).....i want to go to New Zealand" and then she proceeded to not weight my bags and give me the wrong luggage tags, but all was rectified. Luckily I knew the name, another Greyhound Jedediah Adams. I stood around with Mom and Dad, pacing, chatting, wondering why no one else was here and hoping that the plane didn't leave oh the 16th instead, and then Ed strolled in. Now assuming we wouldn't both have shown up a day late, we went through security and went on our way. The wait for the plane was filled with that anxious excitement, that thrill you get on an old wooden roller coaster when you notice that a screw is missing or there's a rouge termite colony rearing it's destructive head. It could have been not everyone knew each other and we were all feeling that mutual "anxitement", or it could be that we were there at 5-6 in the morning, but it's was kinda quiet for a while.
We touched down in San Francisco around 12. Great city, we had a 7 hour layover, so Brian and Moria drove over to the airport and Melis came in on the BART. We went to Brian's apartment and played the most thrilling "Make a railroad across the country to obscure cities in the Midwest" themed board game I've ever played, and I really want one. Also sampled some of Brian's brewings, including the cider and the deceptively strong "Make it easier for Kevin to sleep on the plane" 10.5% Ale (Brian, correct me if I'm wrong!). Then we had a scotch, took a walk down to the Tour de California bike race, and went back and had a glass of port. There was a funny running theme that I couldn't place my finger on. It was a lovely visit and the perfect way to see off America for a while, and I'm extremely excited for Brian, and Mom and Dad to hop the Pacific.
So went back to the airport and Melis stayed with me until security. Again, the woman checking me in was uncommonly nice, asked me where I wanted to sit and why I was going, very nice experience. Said goodbye to Melis and then I headed back to meet up with the Hound. After another rousing round of waiting, we boarded our chariot.
I ended up getting a window seat (I like having that extra wall to rest on) sitting next to two women who were going to one of the Polynesian Islands. We chatted a bit, but the main attraction was the bloke in front of us. Very friendly and very audible, he was going fishing in Oz then coming back to hang in NZ before the return flight. A couple of months of adventure, as he called it. I watched the Simpson's Movie, which was wonderful, and then went back and forth with Flight of the Conchords and Simpson's episodes. I ate, which was nice, got the chicken for dinner and the fruit for breakfast, and evidently the woman next to me disliked my elbows and knees, then proceeded to comment to me about it. She also tucked my coat into the seat cause it was disturbing her...fair enough. But all in all it was a lovely flight and much more manageable than the Cali flight to be honest. Granted part of that might be attributed to Brian, I did sleep for about 6 hours.
As we landed we went through the battery of customs without much delay. And got on out shuttles. Ed, TK, Tim and I were on the last one and actually in there with bloke who told us a few tips, phrases, and basically said that Auckland is a lot like a game of Frogger, but you have to look right first.


Well I got us to the city, hopefully the next entry can talk a little bit about this lovely little island. Sweet as, Cheers!