Wheels Down in Aotearoa New Zealand

The view from Takapuna Beach.

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Kia ora from Takapuna, Auckland!

Ted and I arrived just before 6:00 a.m. NZDT yesterday after a marathon travel day. We really haven't made it much further than our hotel as to rest and get organized, but our initial impression is the country is gorgeous and the people are kind and welcoming as we were expecting! It's also nice to switch from the Seattle winter to the New Zealand summer.

The Flight

Considering we're researching a potential move to country, we decided to fly its national flag carrier Air New Zealand. As the carrier doesn't fly direct from Seattle, Washington, USA we first took the shortest flight ever (~20 minutes) via Air Canada to Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada.

Sports Stuff

During our layover, we got to watch the Bad Bunny halftime show while grabbing a drink. Granted there was no sound, but that's what the internet is for, yeah?

Speaking of which, congratulations to my Seahawks-fan friends on another Super Bowl win! While on our flight to Auckland, our captain made an announcement to let everyone know who won. We're not football fans so have no dog in the fight, but I love this for y'all.

I am more excited about seeing how the Winter Olympics are covered in New Zealand.

Back to the Flight

It's been forever since I've been on a wide body/long haul, and it was awesome to see how far the plane designs and service have evolved over time. The food was delicious!

I was pretty nervous about comfort, getting enough sleep, and jetlag, but below are a few things that helped me.

• While I really wanted to try a lie-down seat, we couldn't accommodate that price point in our budget. Premium Economy to the rescue! Premium Economy is similar to US domestic First Class, so there was enough room for us tall folks to move around just enough to ward off some pain and stiffness.

• When researching how to ward off jetlag, I learned about the Timeshifter app. The jury is out on whether it helped me on this trip. I did a fairly good job following the transition plan, but this particular time difference isn't a particularly hard adjustment and there are a few other factors that likely contributed to the ease of change. But, I can see how the app's plans could be very helpful for more awkward time changes.

• One of Timeshifter's plan pieces is adjusting your circadian rhythm though by using different light levels at different times of the day. Going back to the plane design, I loved how the light on the plane emulated sunset and sunrise, which could only have helped with the time change.

• While I don't particularly enjoy carrying extra items onto the plane, there are two things I now find essential.

  • I've tried a couple seat cushions, and I my new Sodur Travel Cushion wins. It really helped alleviate that pain/pressure.

  • Same thing with neck pillows: I've tried a couple, and my MVLOC neck pillow wins. It does a great job of supporting my head and neck without heating me up.

I wasn't paying attention to the hours, but I feel like I got a full, undisturbed night of sleep during the flight. I still woke up a couple hours before the "sun rose" and got a bit stiff and uncomfortable, but - at this age - is it even possible to not? All those things listed above help me go several more hours before getting stiff.

The Scary Landing

As we were descending, the captain made an announcement about crosswinds and having to do something that was going to add a few minutes to the flight. I didn't think too much about it, as there wasn't any perceptible turbulence.

I didn't know how close we even were to landing, when it felt like we landed hard on only the portside main gear wheel and then it felt like the plane was listing from one side to another after landing. Being in the centre bank of seats without being able to see outside, it felt like we were on the edge of something bad happening until everything straightened out. Working in the aviation industry, I've seen plenty of videos of planes landing during an unfortunately timed crosswind, and it's no joke.

That being said, our captains handled the situation and we arrived safe.

The List of Firsts (For Me, Not Ted)

• Longest flight (by far, 14 hours)

• Crossed the Pacific

• Crossed the equator

• Crossed the International Date Line (sooooo...time traveled into the future?)

• Those last two mean that I’m now a Golden Seahorse (designation I made up, because Ted says I can’t be a Golden Shellback)

• Stepped foot in Australasia

• Drove on the left side (will probably write more about this in a future post)

Day Two

We woke up well-rested here at The Emerald this morning, which is just the perfect boutique hotel. We're still in "taking care of business mode," so probably won't get too much adventuring in today but we're grateful and happy to be here.

More later!

View of the courtyard from our room at The Emerald in Takapuna, Auckland.