Made it! The trip didn’t start out too well, with an earthquake in SF, and a cancelled flight. Good thing I don’t believe in “signs”. The good thing about waiting 4 hours for a flight was that I was able to wait at the newly renovated Terminal 2 at SFO, complete with a Pinkberry, a Burger Joint, free wifi, and a cool vibe. Thankfully, after 4 hours of waiting, I was able to make it in on the next flight to LAX where I met up with Fanny! We were then prepared for yet another one of our exciting adventures…

After a 13 hour flight and a slight snafu at customs (reminder – don’t EVER try to bring fruit into NZ – kiwis are friendly but extremely strict about that kind of thing), we picked up our rental car. Now, THIS is where the real adventure begins. I reserved a small little car, but when we got there, they told us “Congratulations! You got upgraded!” I looked outside and what did I see? A RAV 4. Now, I’m very familiar with RAV4’s, as my parents have one at home, but the obvious difference about this one, was that the steering wheel was on the opposite side. Now, the thing that initially made me nervous was driving on the opposite side of the road. And that still is nerve-wracking. But the 2 unforeseen issues were: 1) I didn’t realize that I hugged the left side of the road while driving to avoid oncoming traffic on the right. What this means was that I was dangerously close to cars in the left lane, a fact that Fanny and the lane bumps made me aware of. 2) The turn signals and windshield wiper controls are on opposite sides which means that I have very clean windows, but cannot signal a turn to save my life. Somehow, someway, I made it to our hotel with both of us and the car in one piece.

Our first day in Auckland has so far been spent eating and drinking, which is one of Fanny and my favorite pastimes, so this is only appropriate. I had my first taste of mince meat pie – like an overgravied paroshki. Now, we’re lazying away at a local coffee shop. Real touring to begin soon!