November 15-18, 2022

November 15-18, 2022

We are off on another adventure. Neither Aimee nor I are quite ready to go. Thirty days is too short to decompress from our last trip and get ready for another. Especially when our orange trees are starting to ripen and the local varmints are taking a special interest in them. One decided to make his home in our BBQ pit to shorten the dinner commute. Unfortunately desert pack rats are smarter than me and quickly learn to avoid any deterrence I put in their way. Desperate, I borrowed a live trap from a neighbor and offered a whole orange as inducement. Fortunately he couldn't resist and now I feel free to leave.

We are headed on a long journey to the other side of the globe to New Zealand for many reasons. This is an outdoor adventure delayed by Covid that we need to do before I get too old. New Zealand also just reopened fully to tourists and we got a great early deal on flights. Airfare just a month later was triple the price.

Some nice friends took us to the Tucson airport for our late afternoon flight. Our flight attendant this time was hands down the best ever. American Airlines may now be our go-to carrier if British Airways is not involved. Landing in the Dallas Airport we were amused to discover a number of mosaic floor tile designs. It immediately reminded us of our recent stop in the Mosaic City of Ravenna, Italy.

Unfortunately that is where the good times ended. Just before we were ready to board our non-stop to Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand, American announced a two-hour delay. That meant we were going to miss our connecting flight to Blenheim in the South Island, and our rental car pickup. We quickly got on the Internet and paid a stiff fee to take a later flight. Aimee and I both thought we probably should have planned for a delay better. But planning for disaster is balanced with long layovers and wasted days.

And then it got worse, when American later announced the flight would be scrubbed until noon the next day. A worst-case planning nightmare. American put the entire planeload up at local hotels. It was frustrating but probably a minor booking miracle on their part. At the hotel after midnight, we remade our schedule. But this time when I tried to delay the car pickup, the website said no vehicles were available! After a search of other cities, we found a car in Nelson and grabbed it. We paid another flight change fee and hoped there wouldn’t be any further delays. We also had to forfeit our first night hotel. Traveling these days is difficult without a fat credit limit. We fell fast asleep exhausted.

Up early the next morning, we had breakfast at the Business Lounge. It was worrisome that our flight was nowhere to be seen on the Departure board. I am just not up to making another round of changes. Since we are getting in very late now, we also needed a first night hotel at the Auckland Airport. We delayed that booking until the last minute.

Our Auckland flight left at noon on-time. The pilot related that the delay was caused by the recent launch of the Artemis moon-rocket interfering with our flight path. Since this is a fifteen hour flight, FAA regulations of crew member work times added to the problem. I wonder if I can get NASA to reimburse our considerable change fees.

Aimee and I spent the long flight watching movies and taking a few naps. We both watched Pretty Woman in tribute to our recent La Traviata opera attendance in Venice. Besides being based on this opera, Julia Roberts and Richard Gere attend a performance of it in the movie. In the middle of the flight we passed the International Date Line and jumped ahead a day. We will get it back on our return trip.

We arrived in Auckland after 10 PM. We get our luggage and through passport control quickly. Customs, though, wants to inspect our hiking gear for contamination. It is a joke as the inspector barely looks at them. With some difficulty we found the hotel shuttle bus. We have to buy a ticket. I am getting the feeling New Zealand charges for almost everything to fund their social system.

Up early again, we catch the shuttle back to the Auckland airport for our flight to Nelson in the South Island. The shuttle bus was a zoo with almost everyone manhandling humongous luggage. So glad Aimee and I pack light. Our puddle jumper was in clouds almost the whole way. The green landscape tells me that like Ireland and Scotland, New Zealand gets a lot of rain. Our nice Air New Zealand flight attendant is probably a Maori wearing a uniform inspired by native designs.

In the small Nelson airport we successfully get our rental car. We are back on track, just a day late and many dollars short. We stop at a local grocery store for supplies and then make our way north along the coastline. We are moving slowly until I get used to driving on the left again. In the town of Motueka we stop to view the Janie Seddon shipwreck, an old rusting hulk on a picturesque beach. In the ‘downtown’ area we find a Thai restaurant for lunch. The red curry was delicious.

We checked into our nearby accommodations just before it starts to rain. Rain is forecast for all week. Since we missed exploring the wine region of Marlborough, we bought a couple of local whites to test on our veranda. I am much happier now that we are finally here.