For those of you who haven't flown Virgin America, I HIGHLY recommend it. Attractive attendants who would make movies from the 50s/60s proud, sexy pink and blue lighting, interior styling that would make Apple smile, and leg room like nobody's business. My VA flight from IAD (Dulles) arrived at incredibly confusing LAX at around 10:30 AM. Feeling very much like a mentally challenged rat in a maze with no exit and definitely no cheese, by the time I found the Air New Zealand counter I was more than ready to check my bag, but were they ready for me? In short, no. I arrived so far in advance of my flight that I had to wait in front of the counter until it opened at 1:30. So when the lady finally arrived I gave her my name, heaved my bag up on the scale... 20kg (around 44 lbs, meeting the weight requirements by a full 5kg), and assumed I would receive my boarding pass and be on my way to my gate... noohoho. She wanted to weigh my carry on too. So I tossed my bag up on the scale... 11kg. "Overweight," my bag woman declares, "put some in your checked. Get the weight down to 7kg." Well, that is not so easily said as done. So I toted my carry on and checker out of line (which extended for a very hearty 3 people behind me) to assess my options. In my backpack were only a few things, essential to my entertainment for my time in the airport and my upcoming 14 hour flight. My computer, charger, a couple books, sketch pad, camera, extra lens, and a few pens were all I was carrying, but my computer (which is more like a portable desktop) weighs itself around 11lbs. Well, I'm just going to have to outsmart this here bagwoman, I concluded. So i removed my computer from my backpack and placed it in my duffel. I then returned to the baglady where she weighed both bags again, and after confirming that they both met requirements, gave me my boarding pass and tagged the duffel. She then requested that I take my duffel over to the TSA screening station. So, heaving my duffel bag over my head and wearing my backpack, I headed in the direction of TSA. Note, I said "headed," not "stopped at." I moved down the way from the ANZ counter. Once well out of sight of miss Baggy I removed my computer from duffel and placed it in backpack, thus, outsmarting ANZ. HA! I then carried my bag to TSA, deposited it with the dude there, and stopped to reflect on my bad-assery.
[for those of you thinking, "God, I hope he's not this descriptive with the entire trip, this isn't a blog, its a War and Peace sized tome!" Have no fear, only a few stories require this much in the way of details (deets, as we youngens say)]
Moving on... I arrived at my gate at 2:04, don't ask why I remember this specific time. I don't know who first said that traveling by air was the fastest way to travel, but I have a 12 hour layover in LAX which says otherwise. Yeah, yeah, the question of, "hey Jono, why didn't you choose a later flight out of DC? Then your layover would have been shorter," has already been posed. Apparently when booking my flight, Mamajono and I didn't think of that. Anywho, one finds interesting ways of passing time when one knows they have HOURS in front of them with little excitement likely to ease the passing time. Among these: sleeping, eating, reading, jamming, coloring (not drawing, coloring... like in a child's coloring book), and aimless walking were all things that I observed others doing. I chose to move to the nearest power outlet, plug in my phone, and, starting at A, begin calling just about everyone in my directory. Soon (around the time I began to be able to feel the outline of my phone embedded in my skin) however, I grew tired of this. By 2:10 I needed something else to do. I took to the fine art of people watching. This is a delicate skill I have been perfecting for much of my life. To people watch well, one must be able to be unnoticed while more-or-less staring at someone for several minutes. Something not easily done. Not only must you elude the subject of gazing, but also those around you doing the same thing with less delicacy. Some people cut holes in their newspaper to stare through, some peek over a book, some less subtle watchers try to what I call the glance-away method. I prefer just to wear sunglasses. While I do draw attention to myself for wearing sunnies inside, whatever. People watching probably accounted for at least 78% of the time I spent waiting for my flight. Around 7:00, other people who looked to be about the age of one who might be about my age and bore an about-to-study-abroad timidity began to congregate at my gate. Naturally each chose a seat no where near any of the others. By 8:00 the awkwardness had grown unbearable and I stood up (drawing attention to myself) and said something along the lines of, we are all about to go to New Zealand and spend the semester together, I think we can sit near enough to talk. Looking relieved to have had someone break the ice, people moved over to where I and another kid were sitting. Gradually, as more and more people began to arrive and join our growing group, conversation was flowing. Here I met Football Jacob and Hatted Zack.
[authors note: in order to ease the remembering of the people I meet, I am going to give them all quasi-descriptive names based on first impressions/habits/characteristics.]
While the flight was long, I will be brief about it. I had a window. There was no one to my immediate left, but an elderly Welsh next to that seat. She covered herself with a blanket and that was all she wrote. I watched several movies, but since my screen was broken, I had to watch on the screen of the chair to my left. The food was mediocre, but the free beer and glass of red wine definitely helped me to fall asleep quickly.
Landing in Auckland, unlike LAX, feels very much like being at the top of a bobsled track. There is only one way to go and there are speedy moving walkways everywhere... it was awesome. I collected my bag, headed through customs, and was greeted by a "Hallo Jonathan!" from my program leader Jane. As everyone congregated we were ushered outside and split into two groups by which Uni we were ultimately destined for Auckland or Otago. The buses deposited us at the Kiwi International Hotel. While the hotel did not initially give all that bad of an impression, I was soon to discover a couple shortfalls. First off, my room was not yet ready, so I took my bags up to Football Jacob and Guitar Jamie's room where I got a quick shower and readied myself for a tour of Auckland. Returning downstairs to the lobby feeling somewhat refreshed, I soon noticed the bucket collecting water dripping from the ceiling right in front of the reception desk... shortfalls. We then began our tour of Auckland.
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| Our classy joint |
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| The place to the left of ours with the longest spiral stair case I've ever seen. |
[another Jono note: as I have been writing for a good two hours now, and the growl of my belly is beginning to be audible through my noise-canceling headphones, I am going to break this and the stories of orientation will continue in my next entry, coming soon!]
Sounds like some serious traveling. Hope your having fun.
ReplyDeleteP.S. the E30 should be running very very soon.