I have to start off by saying that I'm a bit impressed by myself for this trip. I planned way in advance, had lists, made several trips to the store and tried to narrow it down to what I would really need. I ended up (hopefully) not packing a lot of excess and leaving enough room to bring back all the goodies I'll find! As nature would have it I ended up getting sick before hand so that's been a bit of a downer but I will not let it defeat me! Oh no! Not this stubborn girl. I had most of my things packed last week since I knew I'd be working the weekend and into the week which turned out to be a very wise decision on my part.
I had a wonderful departure dinner with my parents at Chili's (yum yum!!) and off to the airport we went. Both of my bags were under 50lbs and I wasn't holding my breath while they were being weighed either which is also new for me. I then proceeded to ask the United gentleman if I would need a visa for New Zealand (NZ) becuase the last time I went to Australia (yes I realize they're two different countries) I held up a plane in Denver waiting on a man to slowly type me out one. It was an anxiety driving disaster!! He then proceeds to freak out ( and become a total jerk, thank goodness I don't feel well otherwise I might have retaliated a bit) and explain that I absolutely need a visa and that I shouldn't have been able to check in without one, and that I would have to pay $50 for an electronic one but that this should've been done before hand. I continued to explain to him, rather calmly for me I might add, that no where in my buying or checking in process did it say anything about a visa AND I "googled the crap out of it" (yes I actually said that) and found that I don't need one for NZ. He then paused and said in a calm tone "Oh no, you don't need one for NZ." I said well that's where I'm going......he proceeds to explain that you only need one in Australia, China and like Brazil or something like that. He thought I had a layover in Australia. I reiterated to him that the visa was an issue WHEN I went to Australia last time. He then became a nice calm United employee and wished me well and on my way. Grrrrrrr, at least we parted on good terms I suppose.
Going through security was harmless, I was about to have to walk through that stupid xray machine that can see EVERYTHING on you for the third time in a row and I was almost in when the lady stopped me and let me go through the regular one. God bless you lady for not letting someone else look at me via x-ray vision. I mean not that ted-hose stockings to prevent blood clots aren't sexy and all......haha.
Bording the plane to Denver they wanted to check all of our carry-on luggage once all the 1,2,3 groups had borded (I was in 4 of course). So when he asked my destination I told him "Queestown, NZ." And as soon as international went through his head they made room on the plane for my carry-on which made me very happy. Not too keen on leaving my lappy and camera. That's why I carry them on with me - duh. The flight there was uneventful, I rested but was unable to actually sleep which was a little annoying but tis life I suppose.
Of course as soon as the tires hit the runway in Denver I turned my phone on, had to get texting and facebooking as soon as possible you know. I checked my facebook and saw that one of our family friends Dave Fincher had updated his status and that he too was in Denver's airport. What are the odds!?!!? We played facebook tag and in the meantime I got off the plane, was walking to find my gate and saw a store (ding ding #1) and then I saw a black long sleeve breast cancer shirt (ding ding #2) AND some of the proceeds went for breast cancer (ding ding #3!). So naturally I had to stop and buy it. But of course since my layover wasn't 3 hours like it usually is there I had ......will update more later!!
Well, turns out I got delayed, so the story continues......so the shirt was originally $14.99 but was crossed out and said $9.50. SCORE! You know I love a good sale! So I take it up to the register and she rings it up and gives me the price of $16. I politely showed her the $9.50 and then showed her my credit card and she called someone on the phone and said they were on there way to put the sale price in the computer (apparently you have to be special to do that). So I waited....and watied....in the meantime Dave came down to the store and we got to say hi and that was about all we had time for unfortunately but it was good to see him regardless of how long! Finally the manager comes (apparently she walks the speed of a snail) and rings the shirt up, I relay to her that I'm in a bit of a hurry at this point since buying a shirt doesn't usually take 20 minutes. She then proceeds to take time to scratch the sticker off.....really?? Apparently this sale is not supposed to happen because she then goes and grabs the entire stack of shirts and tries to go through them finding which one will scan "correctly." THEN she tells me she'll have to call someone to get the sale approved and will I wait? Okay, first of all if you're the manager aren't you deamed worthy to ring in the clearly marked (on every shirt btw) sale price? And secondly, I already told you I'm in a bit of a hurry, I mean it's not like it's an airport and people literally have places to go. So I told her to forget it I'd just pay the full price. Now while you may be thinking I'm a moron for paying the full price I would like to back myself up by saying that I am a hard core supporter of breast cancer, I love black shirts, and I HAD TO GO. So the decision was simple really.
After that little debacle I of course speed walk to my gate and wait. But who was to know that? Bording the flight to LAX from Denver I ran into the same carry on space issue. I tried to make my roller bag fit in the overhead bin in the center isle (yes the plane was that big) but it wouldn't work either way I tried. And the part that I liked the best was that since my bag is so heavy it was falling on my face and not one person got up and tried to help my face out. JERKS. So then the flight attendants told me and this other guy who couldn't find room to go all the way down to the end and look for space...fail. So then they were going to check it, again until I told them my "international destination." So they magically made space for it in a closet on the plane. Good grief people. That was way harder than it needed to be. That flight was uneventful, couldn't really sleep which was annoying. Played some scrabble on the ipod, listened to some in flight music, it was grand.
Upon arrival to LAX I of course looked to see where my next gate would be and everything was listed in the 70's EXCEPT the flight to Aukland, it was "TERM2." And of course there wasn't a map I could find that told me where "TERM2" was located. So I walked around looking for a bit, ran across a Starbucks and made a little stop... :D I finally asked someone and they told me where to go. But me being me got lost after the first turn and asked someone else who helped me out. So I proceeded in the direction I was pointed, past the baggage claim, outside, asked someone else where I could look for the "A" bus and was again pointed to walk more. I came to my waiting area and waited....waited..... When the "A" bus finally came I looked around at my surrounding peers (some of whom had been on the same flight as me) and they all had big luggage and I just had small carry-on luggage. So I go "CRAP! Was I supposed to get my luggage!?!?!" I'm sure I looked like a genuine genius at that point. So I go booking it to the baggage claims. Not only have I doodled around getting starbucks and looking for maps (I'm thinking to myself) but it didn't even cross my pea-brain to check and see if I had to pick up my stupid luggage! What a MORON!!!! So I get to the baggage carousels and of course no luggage for Jaime.....so I ask the luggage lady and she's like "I've not looked on there yet, you go look." Thanks a lot lady. I still see no luggage. So I go to a United kiosk where apparently you can check the status of your baggage - GENIUS! So I enter all 3 numbers I had and they all said that my luggage was forwarded (or whatever) to my final destination. WHEW! I wasn't as big of an idiot as I thought! (I'm sure I'll redeem myself later) So I take a picture of that message as evidence in case I am luggage-less in NZ.
I then made my way back out (with no directions necessary thank you very much) to wait for my "A" bus. I got on my bus, got off on the correct terminal, and proceeded to get in line to go through more security. Finally through I found a place to eat. I got a panini and a drink for the low low airport price of $14.03. It was food though. Then I just walked around, got a passion fruit lemonade for the throat and shopped a bit. Then decided to find a plug and charge the computer, phone, and ipod. I had no more plugged everything in and they call overhead "If you're flying Air New Zealand and you purchased your ticket through anyone other than Air New Zealand please come to the desk and get a new ticket." Really? So I had to pack everything back up to go get one of their tickets. AND a lady cut me in line. Oh well, didn't crap my pants about it. Wouldn't do me any good. I then went back to my hold and plug to facebook and blog. That's been my evening so far.
They then announced that if your carry-on is more than 14 lbs you have to check it, which of course mine is. 14 lbs is the size of a 6 mo. Give me a break! So I got some stuff out of my carry-on that I had packed to just take out during the flight to have handy. But I didn't put my computer plug in there b/c you can't charge computers on a plane. Well I didn't anticipate being delayed so I sure could use that stupid computer plug right now! Oh well. Crap happens. Before realizing that I sat down next to a plug that was also by a trash can, BAD idea. Mega fail. It smells really bad. And now it's boarding time. Talk to ya'll from New Zealand!!
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