Leaving On a Jet Plane

Well ok, let’s start from the beginning. After a painless trip to the airport and check in (albeit one woman checking in the entire plane) I was off to LAX with a stopover in Auckland. After all, it was a Air New Zealand plane! I was feeling a mix of nervousness and worry. I’m always worried about forgetting something. In this instance, it may have to do with the fact that I was re-packing my case 15 minutes before I left for the airport. I just couldn’t get the weight down. A girl has gotta have her shoes, evening wear, and handbags!

Lucky for me the plane to NZ was only about one third full and very comfortable. I guess I got myself into a false sense of security, thinking, ‘hell yeah, I can do these long distance trips’. I regret this comment later on. So I’m wearing mum’s super hot flight stockings, in ‘skin colour’, with trackie daks and my Dunlops. You know those celebrities that come off flights looking fabulous…well that isn’t me.

I got to NZ right on time only to be told that the flight has been delayed indefinitely. This was followed by a super helpful comment by the chick at the newsagent, telling me it hadn’t left the previous night till 1am. Ick.

I ended up on the plane one hour behind schedule with thoughts running through my head like, ‘goodbye airport shuttle, good bye bus ride to San Diego’. The hours on the plane very slowly ticked over and I had about 30 minutes of sleep all up. Regretting earlier comment on how easy flying is. But on the plus side I did get a chance to go through my bundle of magazines, a feat for anyone that knows me, and I got some decent food. I struck up a conversation with my plane neighbour, a Brisvegas resident called Scott who is doing Camp Counseling in the US. So luckily that filled up a bit of time!

I landed in Los Angeles feeling absolutely retched. Very dehydrated, very tired and thoroughly looking forward to a bed tonight. Due to the plane delay and shocking customs lines in LAX I had missed my shuttle. To ensure I’d make it to the Greyhound bus station on time, I got a taxi from the airport downtime. Anyone ever taken a LA taxi? INSANE. And I’m not just talking about the conversation, which was focused on the fact that I sound upper class like the queen (WTF?). His driving, 100 km plus, on the large LA freeways freaked me out just a little too. Luckily, I did get to the bus in time to get on it….