At 10 am, we departed Birmingham for our drive to Atlanta and board Delta ** for our 5 hr flight to Los Angeles where we boarded Air New Zealand for our 13 hr. flight to Auckland, NZ. The morning was very rainy morning and the drive to Atlanta went quickly, because all road work had ceased due to the weather. Not a stormy day, but a constant rain. We parked in the Park-n-Fly lot and took the shuttle to the main terminal. The 5 hr flight to Los Angeles went well, I got my Christmas letters written, and we arrived on time. Unfortunately we had to go to terminal 2, which required leaving the security area, catching a shuttle bus, and then checking in at the New Zealand desk. The check-in was quite time consuming, because they were enforcing the 15 lb limit on carry-ons. Thus, everyone was repacking at the check-in counter. We had to do the same thing. Finally, we got our approved carry-on green tags, repacked, and headed to security.
While we were waiting in the check-in line, Louis and Roxanna arrived and started through the same procedure. Security took so long and the New Zealand counter doubled their staff after we finished, so that Louis and Roxanna caught up with us at the end of security. Although we had 2-1/2 hrs between flights, all of that was used up with the procedures. We boarded NZ 0001 and departed on time.
Although it was a 13 hr flight, after having dinner and sleeping for about 5 hrs, the time seemed to pass quickly. My iPod Nano played constantly throughout all the flights and only a little more than half the power was consumed. The flight was smooth, food and service were very good, and we arrived on time in Auckland. Because we crossed the International Date Line, we lost a day and arrived on December 12, 2012.
After arrival in Auckland and clearing customs, we boarded Air New Zealand for our flight to Christchurch on the south island of NZ. From the airport we had Super Shuttle service to our hotel, Chateau on the Park, which is across the street from the very large and beautiful Hagley Park. After lunch, I walked to the central city where I saw beyond the fenced off areas all the destruction from the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. Many historic places were severely damaged and a lot of demolition and reconstruction work is underway. Tomorrow we have a free morning until meeting up with the other people on the tour and our leaders. The entire tour has 10 people and that is counting the 4 of us.
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