The longest trip of my life

Well, I'm finally here. To tell you the truth, these past few days have been a bit of a blur for me. I stayed with my parents in a hotel near Philadelphia on Saturday night, and bright and early on Sunday morning, we made our way to the airport. Surprisingly, I wasn't very nervous- and I should have been considering this would be my first airplane voyage ever. Somehow, after saying goodbye to my parents and making my way through security, I mananged to find my terminal. Then began the waiting game which I would become all too familiar with by the end of my journey. My first flight was a short one - a "puddle jumper" in my father's words: Philley to Dulles Int. Airport in D.C, 35 minutes in length. The plane was cramped, but comfortable enough for me- which means that it must have been particular uncomfortable for all the other adults on my plane.

After landing in D.C., I bought myself lunch and some water, which I would later spill accidentally. Luckily airport carpets are very absorbent. Soon after finishing my meal, I boarded my plane to LAX.

After arriving in LAX at 2:20 pm local time (which was really 5:20 pm to me), I needed to find my terminal. This is easier said than done when you are a jet lagged, inexperienced flier in less than perfect physical condition. After asking many different employees where to go, I found the correct shuttle outside of the airport which transferred me from terminal 7 to 2. terminal At this point, I had to go through security again because I had exited the airport. After I cleared, the difficult part was basically over. Now I just had to wait 7 hours for my final flight from LA to Auckland (It took me approximately 1 hour to find my terminal). After a few hours of sitting by myself, I met up with some AustraLearn students, which made time go by much faster. At some point I bought myself some dinner. Half of the AustraLearn students caught a flight at 9:30, and the rest of us took off an hour later. Unfortunately, my seat was in a particularly awkward position for this 13 hour flight- right next to the flight attendants' quarters. Luckily, with a melatonin, I was able to sleep for at least 7 hours. The flight was packed. Next to me were a brother and sister who were returning home to Brisbane, Australia. This flight, which was an Air New Zealand flight as opposed to a United flight, offered complimentary pillows, blankets, headphones and a selection of movies, games and TV shows. They even served us a "balanced breakfast"- the kind you would see on the front of a cereal box. During my flight to LA we had to pay to get audio to the one film they played. Air New Zealand: 1, United: 0.
Touching down in New Zealand was very surreal. Maybe it's because I'm not used to flying or because I slept most of the way (or a little of both), but I don't feel like I'm actually here yet. It will definitely take some time for it to sink in.