Kia Ora!

I learned a new phrase yesterday: "kia ora!" It can mean hello, thank you, blessings, or just about anything. "Kia ora" is a phrase that originated in the Maori tribe, a group of Polynesians that came to New Zealand generations ago. It literally means "be well."

As you might can tell, we spent most of yesterday in a museum - the Auckland Museum, to be exact. It was a perfect thing to do yesterday, since it allowed us to take things slowly and learn a little about this wonderful country we'll be visiting the next few days. We saw lots of great things there, such as:

a Maori cultural experience, which included native songs and dances. This is their big finale - a very intimidating war dance. I'd be scared if I was a new invader!


Lots of original (scary) tiki carvings







AND I got my picture made with a native (they have a thing for sticking their tongues out. It was an intimidation technique. I would've joined in the fun, but, according to the natives, "maidens" would NEVER stick out their tongues; instead, they would widen their eyes to help ward off enemies)

(P.S. the shirt I'm wearing actually belongs to Elaine, who so graciously allowed me to borrow it yesterday so that I could wear something besides the same green shirt I've been wearing for 3 days. It's from the Hard Rock Cafe, and it has Shakira's name on it! Awesome, right?)

We also saw some wildlife, like lizards and birds (LOTS of birds):



We'd had our fill of the museum, so Dave and I ventured out on the streets of Auckland, walking around and taking in the city.


This one is for Genay: Kentucky bourbon & coke in a can? A little piece of "home" here in Auckland. :)


We soon found a little place to eat on the water, that had excellent happy hour specials and a very nice waitstaff. The weather was perfect until it got a little chilly due to the wind coming off the water, but we certainly enjoyed the sunshine and warmth while we could. Dave even made some friends, taking pictures of other tourists:




We enjoyed a very tasty New Zealand beer, called Monteiths Original, as well as some tasty prawns and buttery garlic bread. It was a perfect afternoon!



I went to bed at 7 pm, almost immediately after we got home. Sleeping for 11 hours = priceless.

Other notes of interest from yesterday: getting in a car with the driver's side on the right, and driving on the opposite side of the road, is confusing, even if you're not the one driving. I promised not to name any names, but one of the people we are with rented a car to help us get around the city. On our way to the museum, the combination of the Tom Tom giving directions and being in a country where "left on red" is legal, provided several moments of "OHMIGODLOOKOUT!!!" and turning on the windshield wipers when one meant to switch on the turn signal. As I said, I won't name names, but the person driving did an excellent job getting us where we needed to go, safely, after only a few scary moments. :)

We also are in a city where it didn't really matter that we lost our luggage, because, to quote Elaine, people's fashion choices here in Auckland are "quite tragic." At least we fit right in, what with our rockstar t-shirts, running shoes, and borrowed hiking boots. You saw my awesome Shakira/Hard Rock Cafe shirt, but Dave wasn't immune to incredible fashion choices, as he picked up a spare shirt in LA that *could* pass for an off-brand Ed Hardy shirt (which, btw, were all over LAX).

However, an in the category of AWESOME news, our luggage has been found! It was all by itself in San Francisco, and it arrived at AKL this morning. It's currently on its way to our apartment! We cannot express how joyful we are to have flip flops, more clothes, and everything else we so carefully packed.

On deck for today is a ferry ride out to Waiheke Island for a day full of winery tours. We'll visit 4 different wineries and have lunch, then come back in time for dinner tonight at a Japanese restaurant with Mike, Elaine and one of their good friends. More pictures and stories are on the way!

We're Here!

We're officially in Auckland! I'm updating today from the apartment in which we'll be staying for the rest of the week. Mike and Elaine have already been gracious hosts; Mike made us a delicious breakfast upon arrival and we've been spending the morning catching up, cleaning up and gearing up for a fun several days.

Though we made it just fine, we have no idea where our luggage is. No one seems to be able to tell us, either. It could be in Atlanta, San Francisco, LA, or anywhere else really. We're "roughing it" just fine, though. Our clothes are being washed right now, and we'll probably venture out to get another outfit just to have incase our little garment bag never makes it.

The flight was amazingly easy. I heart Air New Zealand, and wish that they would acquire Delta, so we'd have a similar level of service on domestic flights. We had leg room in our seats, and since the flight wasn't full, our seat mate sitting on the aisle got up and moved around after takeoff, so we had plenty of room to stretch out, and didn't have to worry about bothering anyone when we needed to get up to walk around. I would rank the food as "stellar," considering it was for an airline. For dinner last night, we had a tasty pasta dish with a whole wheat roll, salad, wine (at no extra cost! it really is the little things like this that make me happy) and some sort of lemony cake thing with berries. We also ate a cheese and cracker snack, and breakfast this morning was a delicious fruit plate (what I had) or omelette (what Dave had) with yogurt.

After dinner last night, I watched The Blind Side (there were 78 movies to choose from - again, all included - *ahem* another reason Delta sucks, charging $2 per movie), and then we both passed out. We slept about 7 hours, which amazed us both. When we woke up to the smell of breakfast heating up, we were almost scared to look at our flight map, worried we'd be at least 4 or 5 hours away. Imagine our elation when we saw there were only 2 hours left on our journey! Those 2 hours flew by quickly, and we were in Auckland before we knew it.

On the taxi ride over to the apartment, the driver went on and on about how much he loved our accents. Looks like we are in for a fun few days here in the AKL.

SO CLOSE

We are one hour away from boarding our flight to New Zealand! Even though it's 24 hours later than we'd have wanted, we are pumped. Ready to go. Bring it on, 13 hour flight, screaming babies, lack of sleep and possibly horrible airplane meals! We are ready to see Auckland.

Today, we got to the airport at 1:30 for a 7:30 flight- just to make sure we got everything worked out wth seating, ticketing, and anything else. We've spent the past 5 hours going through security, eating and sitting at the bar. We made friends with a man who has a PhD in Organic Chemistry and works for the Pasteur Institute, watching soccer. We're currently at Gate 28 waiting to board.

We did enjoy the beautiful LA sun a little earlier, as we hung out on the outside deck at the hotel and tried not to get sunburned. I loved the sunshine and warmth today. I can't wait for more of it next week!

If all goes well, in 14 short hours we'll be in Auckland!

LAX

LAX is possibly the worst airport in the world.

Last night, we finally got off the plane at LAX at 8:42. At any other airport, there might be a slight chance one could still make a tight connection. But, at LAX, to get from one terminal to the next, you must go outside, across the parking lot, and back through security. What a load of crap. There wasn't appropriate signage to help us get to where we needed to go, it was dark, we were tired, and did I mention we had to go across a parking lot to get to the Air New Zealand terminal?

When we got there, after several minutes of walking around lost, we saw no one at the Air New Zealand counter. A native kiwi was close behind us, and he started mumbling obscenities about the "good for nothig piece of shit United Airlines," apparently the cause of his delay; I couldn't help but laugh because his accent was so cute.

Our night ended with about a 2 hour wait in the Delta "special services" line with all the other poor folks who'd gone through Atlanta yesterday and missed connections, most of which seemed to be to Hawaii. Frustrated and tired, I entertained myself by looking at a cute little puppy belonging to another traveller, overhearing conversations, and making "friends" with a couple from Indiana standing in front of us. We were rebooked on the 7:30 pm flight for tonight, and given meal and hotel vouchers. At least we got to stay in a really nice hotel, the airport Hilton. I tore into their breakfast buffet a little bit ago, waking up and realizing that dinner for me last night was almonds, craisins and pretzels.

I'd love to take today and sightsee, but something tells me I need to conserve energy. So, I'll probably go wander around he hotel, hope to find a hairbrush (knew I should've thrown that in my carryon) and try one more time to get to Auckland.

Oh, and let's pray that our luggage gets there, too. We don't exactly know where it is... :)

At least we're in the air...

According to the interactive map, we're over Oklahoma. We should finally land in LA at 8:30- which gives us *plenty* of time to make that 9 pm flight to Auckland.

Ever the planners, we have backup scenarios ready to go. A) unlikely, but we miraculously make our flight and end up in Auckland almost as scheduled. B) we re-route through Sydney. This would mean we either get an unexpected stay in Australia, too (bonus!) or just connect right on through to Auckland. C) stay in LA tonight, see the city tomorrow, and try to get to Auckland tomorrow night. Neither of us loves this idea; we're pretty ready to be over in the southern hemisphere.

But. This in-flight Internet is cool. I'm blogging from 34,000 feet! We are all the way in the back of the plane, too. So far, so good on keeping ourselves entertained, though I'm getting pretty worn out. Saving nap time for whatever transoceanic flight we hop on next!

Time for pretzels! See y'all at LAX.

We'll Get There Eventually...

Well, the weather is just not cooperating with us today. Our flight toSan Francisco got majorly delayed. Like, 4 hours delayed. We've spent all our time at the airport this afternoon talking on the phone with customer service agents for both Delta and Air New Zealand. We like ANZ slightly better because of their accents.

We are now flying through LAX (insert gratuitous LOST reference here). Our new plane was supposed to leave at 3:45; now we'll be in the air hopefully at 5:45. As long as we make it to LA in time to catch the 9:15 Auckland flight, which we just confirmed has "several empty seats," we're in good shape! At worst, we'll have an unexpected overnight stay in LA. Let's hope we packed our carry-ons appropriately!

The best thing about today so far, though? There is a Chick-fil-A located on our concourse. God bless you, A Concourse, and your fried chicken sandwiches.

Ahhh...

Today's weather in Atlanta is this:



(i.e. BLAH.)

Weather for Auckland next week?


(i.e. YAYYYYYY!!!!)