We Made It!

So we left LAX 13 hours later than our original departure time, meaning that we flew in the daytime rather than at night.  The 12-hour flight seeme d much longer than the night flight had seemed back in May, as we slept through most of that flight.  Since we missed our connection to Wellington, we had to stay in yet another hotel in Auckland, but AIr New Zealand was again generous with the meal vouchers and the transportation. 

Next morning (Monday) was our connecting fight, but we had to wait a long time for the shuttle, and we barely made the flight.  Four of our bags didn't make it on that flight, so I spoke with an Air New Zealand agent about it.  She told me that they were on the next flight, due in about 15 to 20 minutes, so I said it was no problem; we'd have a cup of coffee while we waited.  So she offered us snack vouchers--even though it was our fault that we checked in so late!  The bags arrived before the girls had even finished their ice cream.

 

We'd made arrangements for the van we're buying to be delivered to the airport; that went smoothly, though we couldn't fit all our luggage in as we could in our van in Tulsa.  No problem: Matt from the car dealership (who brought down the car) took the extras in his car and delivered them to our house for us.

 

In Wellington, Glenn had an interview with the Health Board, so the girls and I spent some time at Te Papa, the national museum of New Zealand.  We thought we'd get a year-long membership, but it turns out that the museum is free.  It's a wonderful museum, and I'm sure we will spend lots of time there. 

 

When we arrived at our house in the early evening, Janine, administrative liaison at the Wairarapa Hospital, had stocked our fridge with a few items so that we could have dinner at home. 

 

We have only encountered helpful, cheerful people, and I can't say enough positive things about Air New Zealand.  The power outage wasn't in any way their fault, but they went out of their way to make passengers comfortable.  Can you imagine what some American airlines would have done in the same circumstances? 

 

When we arrived at our house, we found that Janine, the administrative liaison, had stocked up the refrigerator for us with enough goodies to last a couple of days, so we were able to eat at home and settle in--quite a treat after so many hotel meals.  Such a very thoughtful thing to do!