The Longest Day - part 2

29 MAY 2009 - NZ/US

I was a bit nervous when I boarded the plane for my flight from Auckland to San Francisco. Would I sleep on the plane? Would I be able to find my way around and find things to do and not miss my plane from San Francisco to Chicago?

I was in seat C, which is at the aisle on the left-hand section of seats (ABC_DEFG_HIJ). The flight was very full and I was sitting by a man who works for the US Immigration service. He had just deported someone from the US to Fiji and was flying back via Auckland. We talked quite a lot for the rest of boarding and then over takeoff as well because I thought his job was pretty interesting. Despite the flight being full, we had one of the only spare seats free between us! No one was sitting in seat B so we had space to put things on the chair and on the tray too.

Unfortunately there were a couple with a small child sitting in front of us (maybe 2 or 3 years old) who was quite active and noisy. I was talking to Immigration Guy and happened to be pointing at the seat with the kid and making a face when one of the flight attendants was standing near. He happened to turn up shortly afterward with some of the sound-reducing headsets for us! They worked rather well and I think I will try to acquire some on my next long flight too.

I had lamb casserole for dinner, but Immigration Guy didn't eat anything for dinner or breakfast. His excuse was that he ate two "Burger Kings", but considering the amount of time he spends travelling I wonder if that's a secret for minimising jetlag. I watched Scarfies and managed to sleep for a few hours. I watched a few episodes of Flight of the Conchords Season Two and then we were landing!

My bag came out really quickly so I picked that up, got through Customs and Immigration really quickly. I think I was finished all that and had re-checked my luggage within 20mins of landing. It was too long until my connecting flight for it to be listed on the boards yet, and I spied a convenient airport information desk. It was being manned by pleasant looking elderly men, who gave me a little map of the airport and told me where to get the Airtrain that goes between the terminals, and of the airport museum.

I spent some time riding the airtrain just looking at the planes and stuff, then I went to the museum - room which was semi-interesting. It was made in a spanish-style like the airport used to be, and had examples of different flight attendant outfits, planes, and luggage stickers. There was also a library with books in atmospherically stable cases which had an actual librarian to look after.

There were also a lovely couple at the desk - Ed and Arleen. They volunteer there, so I suspect that the people on the information desks do as well. I talked to them for a very long time about NZ, the USA, travelling and all sorts of things. They were wonderfully friendly and it helped me pass the time. They asked how long I had in town and offered to show me around if I'm ever back again! The reception I keep getting everywhere really does make it easy to want to come back again (and again).

I had some beef and broccoli with steamed rice for... I guess it was afternoon tea around 4pm, but really felt like a late dinner with how fatigued I was starting to feel. I went to check the departure boards and found that my flight was delayed from 5.30om to 7.05pm. It ended up being delayed until 7.20pm in the end, waiting for a connecting flight to come through from Las Vegas or somewhere.

Once again I was counting on the kindness of strangers (ok, you caught me, I constantly impose myself on people). While standing at the departure boards a lady (wearing pink) came up and exclaimed about the delayed flight. I somehow managed to get to borrow her cellphone to call my friend's mum who was going to meet me, to let them know about the delayed flight.

I talked with Pink Lady for a while, looked after her bags when she went to the bathroom and then also sat with her at the departure gate while waiting to board. In the bathroom, when I mentioned I'd look after her bags she said "I guess I can trust a Kiwi". Well, I hadn't even thought of doing a runner with her things (or just her wallet and cellphone) - I'm fantastically naive, no wonder my friends and family worry when I take off overseas!

So the flight finally arrived, and we boarded and took off. This plane was entirely full so there was no chance of an empty seat. (People on stand-by had been complaining and hanging around the gate before boarding. They kept asking the staff questions so the staff kept making announcements that the plane was very full with the hopes that people would stop bothering them. I don't think it helped much.

This flight there were only the central monitors and they played the movies Bride Snores, I mean Bride Wars. I napped for maybe two hours at the start of the flight and then was pretty awake. I read a little, was bored a lot and when the movie finished they played one episode of the US version of the Office which was pretty funny; the first episode I've seen.

I had a window seat and started talking to the guy sitting next to me towards the end of the flight; when we could see the lights of Chicago out the window. Those lights went as far as I could see, orange and white in grid-lines for suburbs with thicker lines between them showing the main roads. There were a bunch of tall high-rise buildings showing downtown, apparently one with a red blinking light was the Sears Tower. The things he recommended I do in Chicago was eat deep-dish pizza (already on my agenda) and also go up the Sears Tower and be amazed at the size of the city.

In Chicago airport I found and recognised my friend's dad easily, and then my bag came through quickly as well! It was so late, 2.35am in the morning, but that meant the airport was so quiet that my friend's mom was sitting in one of the loading zones right outside the terminal and wasn't told to move. The drive up to Milwaukee was quite a blur for me and then I had a shower and went to bed.

I'm in America! I'm finished travelling (for the meantime)! I can have a shower and sleep in a bed, lying down. That was the very welcome ending to the longest day I've had in months.