INTO THE WEST

My flight left Toronto at 6:10 PM on the 30 August 2014 and arrived in Wellington at 9:05 on the 1 September 2014. Five hours to Los Angeles + thirteen hours to Auckland + one hour to Wellington = a grand total of 19 hours of me wishing I owned a TARDIS. Now, I don't want to start this story with negativity, but there really wasn't a whole lot about this experience to be positive about. You wake up in the morning, panicking because this is the day you leave and there's still so much you need/want to do, but you're legitimately excited, because in your mind this is the day you are going to New Zealand (NZ). Until you sit down on the plane and realize that this is not the day you are going to New Zealand. This is the day you are leaving; tomorrow is the day you are arriving. This seat is going to be your life for the next 23 hours. I was sitting there thinking, "This is the craziest thing you've ever done; what have you gotten yourself into?" I don't know why people ask you how your flight was, when you've just told them you flew in from Canada, but part of you wants to ask them if sitting cramped and relatively motionless in the same seat on a metal tube speeding through the air at 30,000 feet for 13+ hours sounds like their idea of a good time. After your first 5 hour flight your body starts to feel cramped and after 2 hours into the next flight I knew the only means of survival and sanity was to force myself to sleep, no matter how uncomfortably, for as long as possible. 

Once I arrived in Auckland, I had to clear immigration, claim my bags, clear customs, wait for and then take a shuttle bus to a separate airport/terminal, re-check my bags, go through airport security and find my gate.... in 1 hour and 20 minutes carrying over 60lbs of baggage between my 2 checked bags and carry-on. I was drenched in sweat by the time I sat down on the next plane, but I suppose it was a good way to wake-up my cramped limbs. By this point you begin to get really excited again, because now you're actually going to your destination. 

The view from my window waiting for take-off in Auckland

Landing in Wellington was pretty cool. As you descend and approach the airport, you see mountain ranges that meet the sea, islands climbing out of the sea and snow capped mountains. As you continue your descent, the plane does a 180° turn and you begin to descend rapidly. All you can see is water hitting jagged rocks on the beach and houses that are in line with your vantage point, but you cannot see the airstrip until the wheels of your plane have pretty much hit the pavement. It was a really cool experience and it almost made the previous 22 hours worthwhile. 

Landing in Wellington

 The cool thing about Wellington is that it is situated on a bay and between mountain ranges on the south end of the North Island. This means that unlike many of the capitol cities I've seen, which are located on relatively flat locations, Wellington is built on a more hilly terrain, which makes it so beautiful. While I've been hesitant when people joke about me going to Middle Earth, because it's fictional, I came to the conclusion that if the tales of Middle Earth had been directed, produced and filmed anywhere other than New Zealand, they would look vastly different and be much less loved. I cannot wait to travel back to this city to explore what it has to offer. 

Cheers!