Heathrow to Auckland, how to spend a day or two.

Well having left my house at 10 am on Tuesday I have now arrived in Auckland 33 hours later and the journey wasn’t actually too bad. I flew from Heathrow with Air New Zealand and travelled out via the States. Heathrow was a pleasant enough experience, lunch wasn’t too overly priced and the queues to get through departures were minimal. The plane itself looked well cool with black and grey livery, reminding me of the All Blacks rugby kit and getting me more excited than I already was.

The first sector, Heathrow to LA was 10 hours 30 mins and the plane was half empty meaning I was able to spread out across two seats. It is 8 years since I last flew long haul and things have certainly moved on. Air New Zealand provide a full inflight entertainment system with a choice of 225 films, a similar number of TV shows, hundreds of music CD’s of all genres, audio books, games and a dedicated kids channel. There is certainly no need to be bored. Although I must admit most of the films were fairly old. There was also a USB phone charger which came in very useful.

The standard safety demonstration at the start of the flights was amusing as they used a video of bikini clad models to get the message across, my fellow male passengers enjoyed watching the girls demonstrate jumping into Cook Islands seas to show the use of a life jacket and seductive blowing off tubes to top up the air. Personally I’d have preferred a few more men in skimpy shorts but it did make a change from the normal make up encrusted cabin crew pointing to the exits.

The transit at LAX was painless, they provide a choice of soft drinks to make me feel slightly better about paying $14 for an ESTA visa for my 2 hour stay in the States. Then it was back on the same plane for the 12 hour stint to Auckland. This journey seemed quicker as it was through the night all the way, although unfortunately sleep evaded me. The flight was more full and I was back to one seat, sitting next to a modern day Bill and Ted on their excellent adventure. The conversation was all ‘seriously dude’ and did make me feel like I was a watching a film. After calling the cabin crew every 20 minutes or so and consuming 6 cans of lager and 6 whiskey chasers Bill was finally refused more alcohol. Full credit to the crew as they did handle the situation well and kept bringing him water to help reduce the effects of the alcohol.

Clearing immigration at Auckland was also quick and easy and that’s it I am now here. It’s 7 am and forecast to be 18 degrees I have a few hours to look about and then a sightseeing tour at 2, followed by dinner with my fellow agents this evening. It’s hard to believe that I have travelled to the other side of the world and I look forward to the tour ahead.