We missed out on Saturday. Left on Friday and arrived on Sunday. The long flight was long but we made it. I was able to get a few hours of sleep during all three flights so am feeling pretty good this afternoon.
I had pretty stinky feet though. I didn’t think to take my shoes off on the plane. I took them off once to see if my ankles were swelling – they were but not too bad. I put my shoe back on. About 10 minutes later I was smelling the stinky feet smell. The lady in the aisle across from me had her feet sticking out and I thought it was her feet. I finally smelled my hands and found the smell! I had to go wash my hands to get rid of it. Yuck!
The flight landed on time. It was nice to get out of that plane after being in it for over 13 hours. Immigrations was a breeze and no line. They didn’t even stamp my passport. My bag came right out but had to wait for Nicole’s bag for about 30 minutes. The customs line was long and slow. We finally made it through and met our tour director. We boarded a nice bus and got to our hotel about 30 minutes later.
Luckily our rooms were ready for us so I was able to take a shower and put on clean clothes. No more stinky feet! We went to a nearby food court and had Chinese food for lunch. I was craving veggies and the food was good. Came back to the hotel room to rest a bit and then we are going to the Sky Tower.
It was so nice to leave the airport and get some fresh air. We have either been in airplanes or airports since 1:00 Friday afternoon and needed some fresh air. It will be good to get out and walk around town in a bit. Both of us feel bloated and swollen and need to walk it off.
We have our first tour group meeting and dinner tonight. Tomorrow we are going to the Auckland Museum in the morning and to the rainforest and the Arataki Centre in the afternoon.
They had a big storm blow through last night. It is a touch windy still but beautiful blue skies and temperatures in the low 60’s. What we have seen of Auckland so far I have liked. Seems to be fairly clean and the people are friendly. Looking forward to seeing more of it.
Grateful we arrived safely, grateful our luggage arrived, and grateful we were able to get into our hotel room early. We are off to a great start on this adventure.