The thing about flying for one million hours, is you get off the plane and then you're somewhere amazing. Whenever I would tell people where I was going, the first thing they would say was "whew, long plane ride." If there isn't a honeymoon and a New Zealand at the end of the plane ride, I may have shared their attitude, I had such a busy week leading up to our Friday night flights to L.A. and then to Auckland was about the most relaxing thing that has ever happened. I just tore open that plastic bag, and snuggled into my blanket. We were even one row from a baby, who just smiled and slept in a little bassinet that attached to the wall of the plane for 13 hours, as if to say "you all judged me when you saw me come on the plane---well, HA!" Also, have you seen the Air New Zealand safety video? Pretty hilarious.We hopped off the plane and into a car. I drove around the parking lot roughly forty seven times to try to convince my brain that driving on the left was totally an ok thing to do. I never quite mastered the signal (kept turning on the windshield wipers) so I just rolled down the window and yelled when I was making a move. Poor New Zealanders. We made it into Auckland with time to change into shorts and do some small jumps for joy.
See I even parked. Whew.
The Auckland Tower didn't look too impressive from the ground. But the view coming out of the elevator was pretty amazing and I liked the glass sections of the floor. Two steps up from the Seattle Spaceneedle, if you ask me.
Michael is standing on the glass section of the floor, very carefully not looking down.
Look at that color!
We spent the rest of the day walking around Auckland, hugging big trees and meeting small penguins.
We also walked for three or four miles around the harbor, which was mostly filled with local runners. How would you like to run along the ocean like that? Although, I wouldn't recommend more than one or two days in Auckland, it was a very pretty city to wander around.
Did I mention this? Now that's what I call a cheese plate.
