And we made IT!!!!!!

Sorry for the delay, but it has been a crazy last 10 days. We tried to see as many friends and family as we could. If we were unable to see you before we left we are truly sorry. We hope to see you when we visit in 2024. We will make sure to let you know when we have exact dates.

We did make sure to get our "last" In n Out Burger (for awhile) as well as some good Mexican food.

The long flight over wasn't too bad. But it was long! 

We got to the airport with all our bags - 5 suitcases and 4 carry-ons! at about 6:00pm for a 10:00pm flight.

We had hoped to relax in the Air New Zealand Lounge since we had 2 eVouchers for access. However, apparently there is no Air NZ Lounge at LAX - only the Star Alliance Lounge which Air NZ is a member of. BUT they do not accept eVouchers - It all seemed pretty odd and I was sad and disappointed. So we found a nice place to sit in the terminal to wait until boarding at about 9:30pm.

We both managed to sleep on the plane at least for a little while and we landed in Auckland a bit ahead of the scheduled time. We managed to get all our luggage and processed through customs in a very reasonable amount of time, with plenty of time to make our connection to Wellington at 10:00am.

Although a bit tired and stiff the 10-minute walk from the international terminal to the domestic terminal was glorious! It felt great to stretch our legs, breathe the crisp fresh air (masks off) and we were grinning from ear to ear- excited to be back.

We enjoyed a fruit smoothie and donuts before boarding our connection.

It was a very easy flight to Wellington. When we arrived we were greeted by 4 very dear friends. They helped us collect all our luggage drove us to where we are currently staying. We visited for a while and then went to get some lunch and do some marketing. The rest of the day was a mix of resting, unpacking and going to bed early. It was a great first day back. We have several things to tend to over the next few weeks, but nothing overly pressing so it will be nice to do it all at a leisurely pace.