We fly to NZ in 9 hours.

[jawnbc]

Exciting times!

[bostonian]

Well we made it. Mom, dad (me), the two toddlers, 6 checked bags, four carry ons, four personal items including a car seat, and a grandmother, and a sore back. We got to LAX (coming from Boston) around 10:30AM. We needed two of those baggage carts cartoonishly overloaded to haul all our stuff from one side of the airport to the other. Once through the security nightmare, we spent the afternoon loafing in the Air NZ gate area. There are a bunch of eateries in there including a Wolfgang Pucks restaurant we ate at. If you find yourself there, walk up the stairs, it's less crowded and there is plenty of space up there to spread out and relax. We boarded the 9:45PM NZ1, service to Auckland. By the time we boarded, the kids' internal clocks were at midnight, so they were beyond tired. My 3 yr old had already fallen asleep. Each seat in the Air New Zealand 777-300ER had a pillow and head phones waiting. The kids slept for about 6 hours. The service was fantastic as usual. Chicken or Beef for a late dinner. I woke in the wee hours to find them watching something on the screens. In the morning the cabin crew turned up the "mood lighting" a bit and we all ate breakfast, egg and cheese omelets. We landed in Auckland before daylight. It was a light rain. We took a shuttle to our hotel in the CBD. Here we rested for a while. The Sky City is wonderful. Seems so much to do and see right here in the hotel. Later in the afternoon, I picked up a 2 degrees mobile card. We walked to our favorite park in Auckland, Albert Park. On the way, the sun popped out for just enough. It started getting dark so we came back to our hotel. Once in our room, I tried to turn the desk light on and it blew out in a puff and took the whole room with it. I stood there in the dark wondering what happened. Stroke of luck it was, we were upgrade to a suite! And here we are. Tomorrow the work begins again; off to activate our bank account, and get ourselves down to Cambridge/Hamilton to start looking for a place to settle and a car.

After all the effort to get here, two weeks of pamperin' at this place would sure hit the spot.

Cheers,
Dave

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[breeze]

Nice. Welcome to New Zealand and best wishes ahead!

[Vic and Mark]

Happy new beginnings to you all. Enjoy the beautiful city of Auckland.

[JandM]

You made it! Love the picture. All the best for the busy time ahead.

[mikeandcaroline]

Lovely photo, looking forward to that view in a few weeks when we get there for our holiday

[janeyo]

Have a safe journey and happy landings.