Departure Day

Josh took me to the airport. It was bitter sweet to say goodbye. I planned on checking my day pack and carrying on my weekend pack. I was glad to see no line at the counter, although I would be cursing this fact in an hour. When I get to the counter, the lady asks me how much my carry on weighs. It turns out to be 11 kg, 4 kg too many. I had to transfer half of my stuff from the weekend pack to the day pack and put all of the stuff in the day pack in the weekend pack. It took me ten minutes to do this, while the lady just waited and stared at me. I then proceed to the security line which takes a half hour to go through. The worst part of this is the sun beating down through the sun roof in the room making the temperatures soar into the 90s in the room. Fortunately, nothing had to be searched. As I leave the security area, I immediately run into a group of GT peeps in line at the currency exchange station. I decide to exchange $50 US which reaps me $60 NZ. I follow the crew to the gate where about half of the group is already waiting, biding the time. Feeling a bit hungry, a turkey avocado sandwich sets me back ten bucks. I notice that many of the students have bags twice the size of the one I was forced to check, but they all end up being allowed to carry their bags on board. I got the bad end of the stick on that one. The Air New Zealand flight is supposed to leave at 7:15 PM from LAX. We actually liftoff at 8:00 PM. I'm seated in a window seat in the exit row which is the first row of seats in coach. The middle seat next to me is empty. At the last minute, two guys who are supposed to leave the next day, get permission to board our flight. One takes the aisle seat in my row and the other takes the aisle seat behind him. I'm feeling pretty good since I'm going to have an empty seat next to me on this 13.5 hour flight. Right before take off, a flight attendant tells the guy in the aisle seat behind me, he can sit with his friend in my row. So I get screwed, the unassigned middle seat is taken, and the dude behind me gets to enjoy the luxury of having an open middle seat. This flight only has three or four empty seats and there are 350 or so passengers on board.

I've travelled on several international flights, but I don't recall the topic of alcohol ever coming up. Apparently, alcohol is free on international flights as long as you don't request name brands. The students were quite pumped about this as many planned on using their newly found under-21 freedom right away. For me, I could care less, having been over 21 for several years now. The two guys next to me, who I am beginning to have a growing dislike for, did manage to broker some business class deal, where we were the only ones in coach who got to have a pre-flight glass of champagne. This would be the last positive thing they would contribute to my experience.

Dinner was chicken and mushrooms or lasagna. I figured lasagna is more difficult to mess up than chicken. It was at least edible. Then came an eight hour break where the lights were turned off. Fortunately, when we boarded the airplane, everyone had a blanket and pillow in their seat. I got up to go see how the students in the back of the plane were doing as well as to get my ipod. I got settled into my four square feet of airplane space, when I started to look for my pillow. I looked down and to my chagrin, the guy in the middle seat, who wasn't supposed to be sitting there, was using my pillow as a footrest, putting his feet all over it. He was wearing an eye mask and earplugs, so instead of disturbing him, I asked the flight attendant for another pillow. After some scrounging around she was able to find one. Ahhh yes, some shut eye at last. I awoke two hours later freezing cold. Someone mentioned later that they turn down the oxygen levels on the plane to make you sleep better. I don't know if this is true, but if they did, I wonder if it also makes you colder, because it became quite chilly. I reached down for my blanket, which I had left at my feet. It wasn't there. After getting out of my seat and looking around, I looked at the guy next to me in the middle seat. He had a blanket around his legs, and a blanket around this chest. Now this was getting ridiculous. I thought about confronting him, but instead, stuck my arms inside my shirt, and just froze as I slept. I slept another three or four hours, when light started to creep in through the window. It was breakfast time, we were about two hours from Christchurch, New Zealand. Breakfast was egg and tater tots. Not too bad. As I finished, the sun was rising on my side of the plane. It was quite gorgeous. Unfortunately, half of the plane agreed as the open space of the exit row soon became a haven for camera goers and a constant stream of passengers. At this point, reading and sleeping were not going to be possible.

Right before landing, I got a picture with the flight attendant, a native New Zealander, who helped me find a pillow. She was cute. Our itinerary had an hour and fifteen minute layover before our transfer flight left. We arrived 45 minutes late. In 30 minutes, 43 of us had to get our bags, clear customs, re-check our bags domestically, pass through security again, and board our plane. This seemed like a ripe time for chaos. Fortunately, I was in the first row of coach passengers let off the plane. As I was leaving the gate area, searching for baggage claim, I noticed signs saying "Way Out". This seemed to be an interesting way to describe the word 'Exit'. Sort of reminded me of a surfer's mentality. I would again have this thought later in New Zealand. Due to the rush though, no picture.

I follow the 'Way-Out' signs which lead me to customs and baggage claim. One of the real advantages of being in the front of the plane is realized right now. I get in line at customs behind only 10 or 15 people and there are another 300 who haven't yet gotten to this point. In less than ten minutes, I have cleared customs without much of a problem. Now, on to baggage claim...

I enter at conveyor belt one which only has a few bags on it. Conveyor belt two was loaded with bags. Thinking we just got off the plane, I illogically decide that my bags are most likely on conveyor belt two. As I am waiting for my bags, I see other students arriving at baggage claim and finding their bags right away on conveyor belt two. I wait longer. Then I start noticing that I have seen the same bag go by 5 or 6 times and I haven't seen my bags yet. Now I start wondering... I take a harder look over at conveyor belt one and see that there are actually some students picking up their bags over there. Huh? This leads me to believe the conveyor belts must be connected and the bags go all the way around, it just takes awhile. Finally, after 20 minutes of waiting for my bags, I decide to walk over to conveyor belt one. I don't see many students left in the baggage claim area. My transfer flight is supposed to be leaving in 5 minutes. Then I hear over the loudspeaker, "Passengers on Flight 19 (the flight I took), please check both conveyor belts 1 and 2 for your baggage. Ah hah! I see my bag at last. Will I make the flight though? I grab my stuff and rush through the last customs inspection point. As I am about to enter the line, a customs official calls me out and tells me to step aside. Oh no..... She proceeds to ask me all sorts of questions, like why I am here, what am I studying, who am I with... After this interrogation which lasts about 5 minutes, I finally clear customs. Fortunately, they didn't open my bags and rummage through my stuff which apparently happened to some students.

I leave the customs area and rush to recheck my bags at the domestic check-in. As I am walking up, the lady says leave your bags here and run to the flight. In a panic, I oblige without thought. The next security checkpoint only has one screening area. I wait in line behind 10 people. Fortunately, I clear this checkpoint without incident. My boarding pass says gate 19. At the fork for the different gates, I go right to get to gate 19. I run there as fast as I can given that I have a backpack and a laptop bag. I get to the gate and there is no plane. Even worse, there are no workers or passengers. A GT student spots me from a distance at the fork and yells that I have to go to gate 15. I rush back to the fork and take the left path to get to gate 15. Yessss!!!! They're still taking boarding passes for the flight. In fact, there are 5 people in line. When I get on board, I realize it's a small plane, only about 60 passengers. We have 43 of the seats booked. There are still about 10 students yet to board. They end up holding the flight until every student boards. The biology professor, also the director of the Pacific Study Abroad Program, does not board the plane though because his baggage is lost. Instead, the graduate TA takes the transfer flight with us. Only lasting 45 minutes, the flight is quite short. We arrive in Wellington, New Zealand at 8:15 AM.