A Wizard Is Never Late, Frodo Baggins. Nor Is He Early. He Arrives Precisely When He Means To

     It’s so surreal to think that I have finally landed in New Zealand. A place that I have been dreaming of visiting for years. I arrived at YYZ 9am local time. An hour and a half later I was through US Customs and security. I got to my gate and made some calls to say everything was going well and off I went. Boarding my plane I got a window seat (24F), which usually I am a fan of because that way I can lean and sleep against the wall. I didn't really think of bathroom breaks and how much of an inconvenience I would be to the people sitting on my left. OOPS. I managed to hold my bladder for 3.5 hours then I finally asked them to move. They didn’t seem to upset because it gave them a chance to stretch and move around before our descent into Los Angeles. 

     It was a pretty uneventful flight. I managed to watch an episode of Departures and the latest Walking Dead. Rest is what I needed most because I knew the next day or two were going to be long and exhausting. Every so often I looked out the window to see the geography change. I looked on the map and saw we were over Las Vegas. It was really cool to see it from 10,000 feet in the air. Very flat  desert all around then one “small” area of tall building with large mountains far in the background. It was an awesome view and I loved how the scenery changed so quickly from flat desert to tall mountains.

     We arrived in LA at 2:45pm local time (5:45pm EST). Terminal 2 is where we arrived and coincidentally it is where my next flight departs from. I walked around a bit and after finding out that there is no free wifi in terminal 2 I got a little disappointed. Out of curiosity I asked a young lady at the gift shop store if there were any computers anywhere. She leaned over the counter and said, “take the elevators up 1 level and sit outside the Air France VIP Lounge. There is free wifi there.”  And so I did and it worked. I got to send some emails and watch the Apple Keynote on “The New iPad”.

     10pm LA time we boarded NZ05. Our plane was unique because it was built 6 weeks before this flight. The plane was painted al black to honor the New Zealand All Blacks on winning the Rugby World Cup on home soil.  The flight was a lot better than I expected. No one sat beside me so I had room to stretch. Somehow I managed to sleep for most of the ride, which was good. When I woke up breakfast was being served and the sun was rising behind us. 

     The captain then came on the speaker and told us we were beginning our descent into Auckland. I got my first glimpse of New Zealand and instantly became a gitty little school girl. At the same time I was so mesmerized by the landscape and scenery. Perfect blue waters, rolling green hills. The land was untouched which made it look almost fake. The dark green forests were like nothing I have ever seen, and right across a bay were bright green fields that flowed down to white sandy beaches. The scenery and colours and sun rising just behind made it a sight I will never forget.

      After landing in Auckland airport I cleared customs, got my bags and asked the easiest and best way to get to Whitianga. Outside at 8:30am it was sunny and hot with not a cloud in the sky. I waited about 15 minutes and got on my first bus to Manukau City. From there I had to catch a bus to Hamilton, then from Hamilton to Thames. And finally from Thames To Whitianga. During those bus rides the scenery changed beautifully. It’s hard to describe just how amazing the trip from Auckland to Whitianga was. It is truly something you must experience for yourself. I arrived in Whitianga 5pm Friday March 9th local time. That would make it 11pm Thursday in Ontario. 2 planes, 4 Buses, and 38 hours later I made it.