We had an uneventful flight (which is fantastic) to Honolulu. We got our stuff and took a taxi to our Airbnb apartment. We like to stay in Airbnbs, rather than hotels because it's more interesting (and usually cheaper). This apartment was smaller than a hotel room, but who cares. It was two blocks from Waikiki Beach, so off we went to get in the water. My God. So warm and clear and beautiful. Lots of surfers and boogie boarders.
Mazie and I went out for dinner at The Sushi Spot. It was amazing, as you might guess.
It's interesting going on dates with your kid. She's old enough that I expect her to be like Katie (deciding what to get and sharing things we order), but young enough that she just wants a California roll. We ordered way too much food, but she tried almost everything.
We got to finish our sushi for breakfast in our little apartment, which was so Hawaii.
One observation about our brief time there. At first, it felt like we were in a foreign country. (sorry Obama) My brain was doing the foreign language work and I was wondering if the international plan on my phone had kicked in. Mazie was like, "Dad, we're still in the states." Oh, right.
But pretty soon it felt really normal and we could have been in California or Emerald Isle. Mazie didn't even seem that impressed. (She doesn't get all worked up very easily) I asked her something like, "can you believe you're in Hawaii?" Her response was, "when you've spent 5 months in Africa, this isn't that big of a deal." (I'm paraphrasing)
I don't know how to feel about that. I'm simultaneously annoyed by her privilege to be able to say that sentence and happy that she's traveled the world enough not to be shocked by an American island with volcanic mountains.
As a parent, I'm doing that thing we all do with a teenager. HEY, ISN'T THIS COOL? WANT TO HAVE A BIG REACTION, PLEASE? And as a teenager she's doing the... yeah, it's like whatever. That's fine, but I want her to understand how amazing it is to be here and see these things. I didn't see Hawaii until I was 39. Wait, 34? Yeah, our 10 year wedding anniversary. I think she gets it.
Off to the airport with plenty of time so that we didn't miss our international flight. 9 hours to Auckland, New Zealand. We got to sit together and had another uneventful flight. We crossed the time line, though so we moved 22 hours ahead. Left Tuesday morning and got in Wednesday evening. Crazy.
Honolulu Airport
Taking off from the airport
Looking back at Honolulu
Arrived in Auckland!!
We had a two hour layover, which made me happy because we didn't need to rush and we could grab some dinner.
And then....
We got through the passport check very quickly. It was all automated, which is kind of cool.
Then we waited for 30 minutes for our bags. Got em and got in line to declare fruits or farm equipment and waited. And waited. It took an hour to get through that process and we now only had 30 minutes to get to our gate. I figured that would be enough. Then we stepped out of that area and into the main terminal. Oh shit, we have to go through security?? Let's hustle. We followed the signs for domestic terminal and then Mazie spotted our biggest problem, "this way for free shuttle to the domestic terminal." No, no, no.
We went outside and found the bus stop. We're screwed. Then the bus didn't come for 12 minutes. We're screwed. Then we got to the domestic terminal security line 10 minutes before or flight takes off. We're screwed. Then we got through in 5 minutes and raced to our gate.
Closed.
So, we missed our 7:40 flight from Auckland to Wellington
We went out of security, back to ticketing and amazingly, we got put on the 8:40 flight. It's 7:47 now and it only took 5 minutes to go through security the first time, so we stopped to grab some dinner in the nearly empty airport. (I know... I'm in the future too[KD note: I don't know what this means]) After a quick bite we went back to the security line at 8:05 and it was quite long. Turns out they had just shut down all but one lane.
We tried the, "sorry can we cut ahead of you? We're about to miss out flight."
"We all are!"
"Oh."
It took 25 minutes to get through and then we RAN. We had to make this flight, so we were sprinting with our heavy backpacks while they were calling our names over the PA system. Mazie nearly fell and dropped her backpack in dramatic fashion to keep her balance. I heard the thud behind me and the gasps/giggles. When I turned around I saw her laughing and running back to her bag that was 20 feet behind her. Off we go again and I turned the corner to run up the escalator and misjudged the changing height of the stairs and ate it hard on the teeth of the escalator. No time to be embarrassed, let's go.
We were 30 feet from the gate when the airline attendant pumped his hands and said, "stop running, you're okay." We made it. Big high five.
Made it to Wellington an hour late.
We walked to the gas station to pick up our rental car keys. Yup. And then walked down the street to find the car.
I knew that New Zealand drives on the left, but hadn't thought a ton about the steering wheel being on the right. I drove on the wrong side of the road (which was correct) and turned my windshield wipers on every time I wanted to change lanes. This was way harder than driving in Kigali. Here I can't use my instincts, I have to go against them the whole time. It reminds me of Batman (Michael Keaton) driving full speed at a rock wall before it opens at the last second. Or Harry Potter at the train station. You just have to close your eyes, drive into oncoming traffic and trust that it's going to work out.
We got to our place and walked through an alley into a shopping mall and then up some stairs to a parking lot. The Airbnb host let us in the gate and walked us to our apartment. That's when we found out that we had only rented a room inside that apartment. We were greeted by a nice man in a bathrobe in the kitchen and shown to our room. After shutting the door Mazie and I made eye contact that said it all. I explained that this is actually how Airbnb used to be all the time...just a room in a house. She said, "It shouldn't have ever been that way."
Mazie has been an absolute delight to travel with. Her sense of humor is so good and she rolls with the punches like a pro. I'm so excited for our first day in New Zealand and our first World Cup game.
ADVENTURES!
Other Pictures!!!
Waikiki
Art above the clouds
Arriving in Auckland
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