Day 1: I Hate Flying, Grrrr!

December 13, 2009. This was the day that we left Washington, Matt Matt, and the cats, to return to Aotearoa, "Land of the Long White Cloud," New Zealand...or in other words, our home. I woke up this morning with a sense of comfort and adventure. Comfort that my land would once again hold me in her embrace; that my feet would touch her soil; that my lungs would be filled with her fresh air, and that my eyes would capture images that I have so long ago forgot. I was ready for the adventure ahead, so this begins my journey for two and a half weeks in beautiful New Zealand.

After mum and I had finished packing and repacking, Matt Matt helped us load up the car. We definitely brought enough stuff with us. I guess it is true when they say that "girls can never have enough stuff!" Mum said her goodbyes to the kitty cats...I think she will miss them more than they will miss her. Poor mummy, the cats are going to be just fine! After one final check of our bags to make sure we hadn't forgotten anything important like, I.D, passports, money, Advil (for the long flight), we were ready to hit the road to Sea-Tac Airport.

We got to the Airport fairly early. Matthew helped us unload the car and then went to find parking...which is never fun, especially at the Airport. Mum and I loaded our bags onto a couple of carts and waited patiently for Matthew to return. While waiting I did notice some of the passengers coming and going. This one woman in particular was wearing stiletto heels, too much jewelry, and carrying this enormous carry-on handbag. To make matters worse she struggled to light up her cigarette...I guess she needed that one last drag before boarding the plane. What a complete mess, I thought to myself. I was glad that I had worn comfy clothes. And especially glad to be wearing my new Roxy boots, which felt like I had slippers on my feet. Matthew soon returned and we made our way through the masses of people to check our baggage in. We grabbed a bite to eat at Starbucks...this would be our last meal with Matthew for the next couple of weeks. And this is when the realization hit...in between bites of chicken salad...I realized that this was finally going to happen. As I looked across the table at my mum, I wondered if she was thinking the same thing. I was glad to be with her, glad that we could share this journey together, glad that I was her daughter. After our bite to eat at Starbucks, we both said our goodbyes to Matthew. We would miss him, and we knew for sure that he would miss us...with only the cats to keep him company he would eventually get lonely.

Our first flight was from Seattle, WA to Vancouver, CA. A fairly short flight...just over an hour. Mum and I had seats in the back of the plane, and since the plane wasn't completely full we got to spread out and have some leg room for ourselves. I don't have much to say about the flight in particular. It was what was to be expected on a flight, I guess. Recycled air, rumbling of the engines, slight turbulence, and an occasional baby crying. The one thing I will comment on, though, is the unpleasant, unhelpful flight attendants. The woman flight attendant was rude. She never smiled, sat in the back of the plane and chatted up the other male flight attendant, and grabbed her bags from the overhead even before the plane landed. I could tell she hated her job. The male flight attendant was alright except he gave us all the wrong information. He handed us an immigration form to fill out before we landed. Mum told him that we wouldn't be entering the country, just transferring...and that our bags would be on a direct flight to New Zealand, so we didn't need to go through baggage claim. But the flight attendant proceeded to inform my mum that we would need to go through immigration and we would most definitely need to claim our bags at the baggage claim. My mum, still questioning him, added, "but we only have an hour to transfer from this flight to our international flight. And how were we expected to go through immigration, claim our bags, check our bags in again, and make it to our boarding gate in 1 HOUR?" He replied with all the same nonsense he had previously stated. This didn't make sense to us...and later realized that when it comes to Airports...only trust yourself!

After the plane lands in Vancouver, we hurry of the plane since we only have an hour to make it to our next flight. This next hour is complete chaos for us, as we are sent on a wild goose chase all over the Airport, and only just make it in time to our designated boarding gate. As we exit the plane with the rest of the travellers, we come to a crossroad. There is a sign pointing upstairs, which reads "International Connections." And a sign below it, pointing downstairs, which reads "Immigration and all other passengers." The majority of our fellow travelers are all heading downstairs to Immigration. But we are not visiting Canada we are connecting on an International flight. Mum and I both decide that we need to be going upstairs. When we reach the top landing we realize that it is completely empty...not a soul in sight. There are no boarding gates, nothing. Just a long, glassed corridor on the mezzanine floor. We continued to venture down this empty corridor, and got about half-way before turning around. We must have been in the wrong place. We could look down onto the lower floor and see boarding gates, shops, travellers, etc. We were somehow supposed to be down there, we believed.