Well getting seated next to the bathrooms wasn’t near as bad as I thought it would be. They were facing in towards each other and not out towards the isles for smells to waft. I had high hopes of sleeping most of the flight like I did on the one to Sydney in 2007. That was a fail. Granted there was an empty seat in between myself and the person by the window on that flight so there was a little more stretching out space. Although I’m not complaining as I was able to stretch my legs out on the flight. I started out watching Twilight: Eclipse. Of course I’m going to watch the movie that hasn’t even been released yet and that I can watch “for free.” I have to admit, they did an impeccable job with their food! No wonder they got voted the #1 airline last year. For dinner they had the “special eaters” options if you’re vegan or vegetarian, etc. Then they had either a light salad, beef casserole or chicken penne pasta. I chose the chicken penne pasta, figured you probably couldn’t mess that one up too badly. The food was warm, tasty, fresh, and the staff were extremely nice and polite. They were constantly walking around offering water through the night. For breakfast you could choose from a fruit assortment or a cheese omelet. The omelet was even served with fresh fruit, yogurt, orange juice, and they walked around with other assortments of juices, coffee, tea, etc. I was very impressed.
I was only able to sleep about 3 hours on the plane. And let me tell you the other 10 hours didn’t exactly fly by (yes…pun intended) but it wasn’t horrible until the end. After that 3 hour sleep I tried to get a movie put on as did the woman sitting next to me. We would select a movie but it wouldn’t play. It took us right back to the beginning. So I tried it for several different movies and same thing. She turned hers off first. (Does that mean I’m more stubborn?) Finally I took my headphones off and she said she couldn’t get hers to work which I had obviously observed. I put on the call light; we had way too much of that flight left to not have a functioning movie machine. So they restarted our TVs and all was well again. I ended up watching this movie called Cyrus after my sleep time and it was pretty dumb. I mean I get the point of it and everything but it was just not moving or enlightening. I tried to sleep again and that proved unsuccessful, so I put on Notes on a Scandal. After that I tried sleeping once again with no luck so I put on Letters to Juliet. I wasn’t in the mood to pay attention enough to watch something I’d never seen before. Plus the selection will be the same when I fly back I’m sure.
That pulled me through to morning breakfast, at which point I began to acutely feel like more crap. I’ve gone through 2 of those small “purse size” Kleenex packs so far. I felt bad for everyone who had to listen to me blow my nose. I don’t know if that’s better or worse than a screaming kid (who now that I think about it is the one who woke me up from my whole 3 hour blissful nap). I started to feel flushed and warm again so I downed some more Tylenol hoping to avoid further fever if I had one which I probably did. Boooooo. Not only that but I think the wear and tear of being on the plane for that long was also catching up with me. I felt like crap, couldn’t move, and my tummy was not feeling well. Of course the meds I brought (yay good friend Zofran) got checked in my carry on bag.
So anyways, the plane landed (finally!!) and I got off, went straight to the bathroom, and then went to the passport line. It wasn’t a super long line like it had been in Australia…that line was horribly long! I of course chose the lady who was like a drill sergeant when she asked you questions. I felt bad for the 2 girls in front of me who didn’t have some piece of information and looked a bit frazzled. All she asked me was what I wanted to do in Queenstown and where else I was going and I felt like I needed to salute and say “no ma’am, yes ma’am.” Next up was the getting of the luggage. That’s my favorite part. It’s always a coin toss (in my opinion) if my luggage is going to be there or not. I always plan on it not being there that way when it is I’m delightfully surprised! Thankfully my luggage was there, and they have luggage carts for FREE (so did Australia) but then I heard a little man (he seriously was a little man, like probably no more than 4 feet) call them “trollies,” so I had a “trolley” for my luggage. It was quite handy. I actually didn’t get lost at all, I’m terribly impressed!!
Next was the line where they get to look through all your crap if they want to. I had everything prepared in see through zip lock baggies to make the process easier but they asked me what was in my bags and took my word for it. So I didn’t have to wait or explain that I brought grape jelly all the way to New Zealand because I couldn’t find ANY when I was in Australia and that was just unfathomable to me. While I was in that line I was getting something out of my purse and these sneaky old people cut me in line! They didn’t even look around to see if they were imposing they just stepped right on in line. It’s not like my “trolley” and I were invisible. But whatever, let the old people get a 2 minute head start, I don’t care.
I found my domestic flight area all by myself reading the signs (go me!) and they took BOTH of my bags without any question! I didn’t have to explain to them that I came from an international flight and could have two bags, etc. It was so nice! So much smoother than last time! Last time everyone seemed like a jerk, this time they’re all nice. It’s just the getting cut in line twice that wasn’t so polite.
To get to the domestic terminal you could either take a bus or tram or you could walk about 10 minutes to get there. I decided to walk since I’d just spent the last 13 hours on a plane and it was nice outside. What I didn’t think about however was how crappy that cool wind was going to feel on my throat, fail! But it was a nice little jaunt. They have a blue line that you just follow and it takes you where you need to go! If EVERYWHERE could do that I would never get lost! Okay never is a bit extreme, however, it would definitely aide in my efforts.
I looked and found my gate and it didn’t look like there was much past security for lunch so I asked a woman in the book store if there was anywhere to grab a bite inside the gates and that was a big negative. Glad I asked! There was a pretty narrow selection, and if you know me you know that I hate McDonalds. Guess where I ended up eating? Yep…….unfortunately McD’s was the best choice. There was “Noodles” the sushi restaurant or a salad place that looked like it would give me the runs if I ate there. So I got some chicken nuggets (supposedly its real chicken) and picked off the fried top. It was okay, but they had coke icee’s and that made it okay. I had sat down and was eating and this girl at the next table over asked me if I would watch her luggage. I said sure, I guess I look trustworthy enough or she didn’t care about her belongings because she sure did just walk away and go get in line at McDonalds and was gone for like 10 minutes getting her food. Then I got through security, found my gate, and found a bathroom.
The men’s bathroom was being cleaned so I was like okay Jaime, you have enough time to go before that dude (pretty sure it was a dude) starts to clean the women’s bathroom. NOPE! I come out of the stall and there’s that dude refilling the soap dispenser which was just weird because I was the only other one in the bathroom. So I just left and called it good with some lots of hand sanitizer. I thought it would be awkward to have small talk at the sink with a dude in a girl’s bathroom. Hmmmmm……so anyways I’m just waiting on my plane to take me to Queenstown now! Super excited for that, and praying that I can sleep on the plane for a little bit.
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