FLYING TO NEW ZEALAND - FUN FACTS!

Greetings to all…….we are back on the road or in the skies I suppose….Cathy, Linda and I made the trek from Toronto to Auckland and are currently sitting on Air New Zealand flight 64 - we are less than an hour from Auckland Airport as I write this…..there are a few photos taken from inside the plane but time was precious so we were unable to obtain any good airport photos of us being interrogated by the both Air Canada in Toronto and Air New Zealand in Vancouver….Cathy boarded both flights without incident but both airlines held Linda and I up for “random” inquiry…..we were required to provide a copy of our return itinerary and other details of our international intentions - our Canadian address did not seem to matter to them……I do believe that U.S. Customs have tagged us as “suspicious” (see earlier blogs for details) and perhaps even as international “homeless” people…..I guess that we are not just a U.S. threat but now we are an International threat……who said retirement was boring??….more than anything, the whole thing is just silly and annoying.....fortunately we left so much time for checking in that the only danger of missing a flight happened in Vancouver when the flight from Toronto departed 45 minutes late, then Cathy’s carry on in Toronto had to be checked in because the on board carry on was full and then Linda and I were slowed by this second interrogation - despite the 2 hour stopover, we barely made the flight……I guess that we will have to be that much more careful in planning any future trips….we haven’t been through Auckland customs yet but I’m sure that we will have to go through the same thing with them - maybe more severe……on another note, 14 hour flights are interesting….I think that an overnight flight was the best way of doing this and there were a ton of movies if you can’t sleep….we all slept……I feel surprisingly good although a shower and toothbrush would make things that much better……we have almost arrived at Middle Earth…we are very excited about this next adventure and in one more sleep we will have our daughter back for more than 6 weeks and our new Middle Earth adventure officially begins….Kiwi Canucks…..The Fellowship of the Poutine…..as they set off to carry their permanent Canadian address to Mordor Customs and return it to the customs data base for the last time….then and only then will the gentle folk of Middle Earth be able to live in true and everlasting peace!!…..and have a good vacation to boot!….now that is the stuff of legends!!.......