Take Off

After enjoying my last breakfast with grandparents for the foreseeable future, mom and I headed to New Haven railroad station to catch my shuttle.

I do not think I have ever driven around JFK before. I was always brought right to my terminal. This time, the driver took me around to almost every other terminal to drop other folks off before me.  What a crazy maze of roads crisscrossing everywhere. Driving round and round in circles as we go up this loop to this terminal and down these two loops to get to this terminal.  JFK is like a city in itself.

All my stuff and I

Despite being a massive airport however, turns out JFK is still rather quiet midday on Saturdays. I didn’t have to wait in any lines to get my ticket or to get through security. The few people who were there gave me some backward glances when they saw a petite woman carrying a large backpack on her back, a midsized one on her front, a small one in her right hand, and dragging along a large ski bag in her left. The guard had a smirk on his face as he redirected me to the Virgin America desks that were tucked in the corner.

***Heads up warning, Air New Zealand allows you one free check bag and charges $150 for the second one.  Later that evening I found out from an Ozzie girl, that if you call Air New Zealand ahead of time they only charge you $90 for the second check bag. I was foolish, looking at just Virgin America’s baggage fees ahead of time, so I thought I would only be charged $60 and didn't know about calling ahead. And I thought I had worked out all the loopholes in the system.

With 2 hours to kill at the airport and restless leg syndrome kicking in, I went for a walk outside my A gate zone, which turned out to be like the ghetto of the airport. Here the chairs are stacked almost on top of each other, no cushion on the armrests, low ceilings, and the restaurants of choice are McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts, or an Irish Pub. Travel through a buffer zone of shops, turn to the B gates hallway and you'll first see the Delta signs, and Swiss and KLM airplanes. Then you’ll notice the high ceilings, neatly spaced chairs with small tables in-between, cushioned armrests, and stores like the “Cake Tin.”  Resisting the temptation to buy a fancy cupcake, I meandered back to my ghetto to board my flight.

My layover was in LA airport for about three hours. As I walked out of the gate from the plane, frustration quickly began to boil in my stomach and anxious thoughts began to flick through my mind. Where is the board for all flight departures? Why do I only see three different airlines here and no signs to direct you to find the others? My ticket had no gate number, not that I would know where to find it. I asked a man at a desk and he just said go all the way outside and go to the next terminal over. I followed his directions and assumed it was the international terminal to my right. "Is this where Air New Zealand flights leave from?" I asked a lady checking tickets before security.

"The sign says To all gates. Yes" she snipped as though I couldn't see the sign just to my left. I then waited in line for security for 20-30 minutes, not doing any further investigation of my location. On the other side there was no Air New Zealand to be found. The frustration began bubbling over and I started becoming panicky. The fact I hadn't eaten a real meal in twelve hours finally hit me, and I tried to calm myself, knowing it was more from hunger than my situation. I found out from a long term airport worker that **Air New Zealand was actually in terminal 2. I booked it back out to the road and went through security once again (luckily there was no line for this one) and promptly went in search of food. I made sure I enjoyed my two glasses of complimentary wine on the plane a few hours later.

First glimpse of NZ

My home for the next week in
 Auckland

At about 6:00 in the morning on July 28th, I was enjoying a greasy omelette and looking out the oval window over New Zealand which was slowly illuminated by the red glow of the rising sun. At 7:10, I walked briskly off the plane with a lightness to my step and friendly chat with customs security guards. I flew through customs and came out on the other side to find Wilma, my ride and hostess for the next week. Everything was going so smooth, I can finally relax.

Wilma is mother of Helen who I had just met climbing in Indian Creek 2.5 months earlier. Upon arriving to Wilma's home we had second breakfast and coffee before we went up the road to get those chores done. Wilma embodies the Kiwi’s generous hospitality for strangers and friends very well with her buying food to feed me, taking me to the bank so I can open my account, and directing me to lovely areas to run. However, the smoothness of the morning came to an abrupt halt when I tried to cash my bank check. I then realized I had made a huge mistake.

**Don’t bring a bank check to a foreign country for depositing. Westpac was going to charge me $50 dollars and said it would take 4-6 weeks to process. Cancelling the check would cost $25 (and then I couldn’t access that money from my account for almost 2 months). I would then have to wire money which was going to cost more than $50. I actually didn’t figure out what to do about my financial situation until Wilma and I spent 2.5 hours at her bank the next morning. I ended up opening 2 new accounts. Long story short, due to new regulations, the only way to avoid enormous fees (potentially up to $100) and weeks of waiting to access my money, Wilma and I had to open a joint account. She had the finances and good credit history with the bank to back up my check. Don’t ask me how that works, because I’m not actually sure. Next time though, I'm just going to wire the money.

Oh and I'm sure some of you think I am absolutely crazy for opening a joint account with basically a stranger to deposit a large sum of my money in. Not as bad as you think though. We set it up that any money to be withdrawn from that account would require both of our signatures. It was also not her idea, but the 2 bankers working with us who understand that we are doing this only so I can access my money sooner and upon completion of the process, we will be moving that money into my personal account and closing the joint. ***Oh, and on a side note: NZ saving accounts make about 4.5% interest. Sounds like I need to move all my money into a NZ bank account and leave it there for a few years to collect interest. 

On my run in Auckland

Since I arrived 48 hours ago, I also have managed to correct my sleep schedule, run, look for cars online, test a car in person (much thanks to Wilma for driving me to see the car and test driving it for me), and scheduled to see another car, Ugg, I hate looking for cars, because it consumes me and I'm so indecisive. I do like the fact though there are tons of Honda and Toyota station wagons in New Zealand. And I need to start squeezing in some exploration time in between looking for cars. I’m getting a little fixated and not taking my time to enjoy where I am. I may not have many exciting things to report until I finally purchase my car.