New Zealand days 1, 2, and 3 (or is it days 1 and 2?)

          When you leave on Wednesday and arrive at your destination on Friday, have you traveled on three separate days, or two? What if you crossed the international date line during your flight?  What if you were sound asleep in a lie flat seat on the upper deck of a Boeing 747 when you crossed the line--did you sleep for more than a day?

         In our case, we are calling it three days, since we called it that on our planning spreadsheet in order to keep all our reservations for the next three weeks straight.  After many months of deciding what to see during this once-of-a-lifetime trip, we are underway. 

          To travel to New Zealand, we have business class flights on United Airlines from Jacksonville to Washington to San Francisco to Sydney, and then Air New Zealand to Auckland.  This takes about 5 hours longer than the nonstop SFO-Auckland flights, but we only paid $55.00 each for our tickets and the regular business class fare for the shorter route is around 14 grand each.  And you know Charlie ain't gonna part with $28,000 for a vacation that lasts less than 5 years.  He wouldn't part with that kind of cash for a lifetime supply of ice cream and a place to hide it from Tricia.  This particular airline points deal is the best ever for us, and we had a chance to catch up on reading and computer work during the long journey over.

            Travel these days is a learning experience.  We can report some of the things we learned just yesterday, for example (or was it the day before yesterday?).  We had planned every step of the trip so carefully.  So when we approached the United counter in Jacksonville at 1:10 for our 2:42 flight, we were prepared for some extra time en route.  We were not prepared for what followed.  Here’s the approximate time line report:

            1:10 - The friendly ticket agent in the Premier Access line takes our passports and tries unsuccessfully to retrieve our boarding passes.  She is unable to get us past San Francisco, and searches for the reason.

            1:20 - The computer finally says we do not have e-visas for Australia, and without them, boarding passes cannot be printed.  Now friends, we have done a fair amount of traveling.  We have passed through the airport at Bangkok on the way from Cambodia to Hong Kong.  We’ve gone through Istanbul airport on the way to Johannesburg, through Munich on the way back to the USA, and through Panama on the way to Ecuador.  Never have we had to possess a visa to pass through an airport, and nothing in our confirmation documents hints at such a requirement.  The agent says she did obtain one of these electronic visas for a customer a year or two ago, and will try to get them for us in time for our 2:42 flight.

            1:35 - The agent is having problems with her first effort; the computer is rejecting the second page of information she is having to submit regarding my passport.  She telephones someone and carries on a lengthy conversation to try to figure out what is wrong.

            1:45 - The agent gives up on her first effort, and starts the entire application process over.  After another 15 minutes, she thinks she has succeeded.

            2:00 - The agent can’t get confirmation that my e-visa has been issued.  She gets out what appears to be her personal tablet to try to get the information another way.  Another agent comes over to begin working on the application for Tricia’s e-visa.

            2:10 – Tricia’s agent is able to confirm her e-visa has been issued.  Both agents decide they must get all three of our bags on the conveyor belt immediately, so he prints the baggage tags.  But they only take the bags to Sydney instead of Auckland.  He tries to rectify the problem, with great difficulty.  Tricia and I are discussing the possible alternatives to a New Zealand trip.

            2:17 – The correct baggage tags are finally printed, along with Tricia’s boarding passes.   The boarding passes only get her to Sydney, but hopefully we can straighten that out in San Francisco.  We watch the bags go down the conveyor belt, 25 minutes before departure.  We watch the sign that says all passengers must be on board at least 15 minutes before flight time.

            2:25 – My agent is now working feverishly, on the phone, on her tablet, and on her computer.  She is finally able to confirm my e-visa through a commercial web site (after I reluctantly agree to the $39.98 charge), and gives me a piece of paper with some code numbers written on it; she hurriedly tries to explain what I am supposed to do with it and where I am supposed to do it.  She gives me a gate pass and tells us to hurry out to the gate, and she will be working on my boarding passes, which can be printed at the gate if she is successful.  We rush off to the security line.  (Note to file:  do not try to bully the TSA people; they don’t care how close you are to flight time.)

            2:35 - We arrive at the gate, where the agent is on the phone getting information about the two travelers who are delaying the flight.  He has no boarding passes for me, and tries to convince Tricia to board the plane.  She refuses to go without me.  She appears a bit tense.

            2:40 - After what seems a lifetime, the computer spits out boarding passes to get me to Sydney; the agent personally escorts us onto the plane and forces a lady out of my seat, even though she has a boarding pass for the same seat.  She is unceremoniously hustled to the back of the plane.   We high-dollar passengers have our rights, you know.  The door is quickly closed and we are away, at 2:42:30.  We are now confident of getting to Sydney tomorrow.  We are hopeful we will also see New Zealand.

            In San Francisco we are told boarding passes can’t be issued for the Sydney-Auckland flight because it’s February 6, and our flight doesn’t leave until February 8; the computers haven’t figured out the International Date Line yet, apparently, and don’t realize that the Sydney-Auckland flight is only 16 hours away.  But we take our seats on the upper deck of the 747, put them in the lie-flat position, and travel off to dreamland.

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            Our adventure continues in Sydney the following morning—which, Down Under, is now the day after tomorrow—where we arrive at the transit counter to be told our flight to Auckland is closed to the seven passengers who have not checked in.  Never mind that checking in was impossible from the U.S.  But there is a nice 777 leaving in a couple of hours, and they can seat us in row 46 without additional charge.  The deal even includes lunch and a free drink.  We are sooooo excited!

Air New Zealand 777 ready for Auckland

            In the Auckland airport at 5:00, we pick up bags, cash out at the ATM, buy a SIM card for our phone, and call the Super Discount Car Rentals place to pick up our special deal car for the next three weeks.  By 6, we are on the highway through Auckland’s Friday afternoon rush hour, and before 11:00 p.m., we are unpacked in our B&B near the Bay of Islands.  And, hey, it has only been 36 hours or so since we left home!

            We may be capable of reporting further in a couple of days . . .

Charlie and Tricia

©2013