We left Portland, OR at 1:29 pm. Arrived in San Francisco about 3pm. went through security fine. The plane was small, 3 seats on each side. It was SO hot when we first got on, actually almost went claustrophobic it was SO warm. But once we sat down and got a/c it was fine 🙂 

Pic of a plane similar to what we flew in:

At San Francisco, we walked a ways to the right gate for our next flight, the area had HUGE windows, which made the space very hot. We just sat, walked, stretched, got some food (caesar salad with chicken, and a roast beef sandwich). drank lots of water, went up and down a few flights of stairs. didn’t have to go through security again, yay!

Flight took off at 7:45 pm. BIG plane this time. It was a Boeing 777-300E. we got to watch “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and ate dinner (was beef with veggies, a bread roll and a small salad). Then we tried to sleep. I don’t think either of us were successful. I would get cozy in one position, then my leg would fall asleep, so I changed to a different position, then my lower back hurt, then another position and I just felt like my lower ribs were stabbing into me! Ugh! trying to sleep on a plane is decidedly NOT fun. On the way back home we’ll have a “SkyCouch,” so hopefully it’ll be easier return trip.

Could feel a lot of turbulence throughout the flight too, which made me nervous since it only got bad once we over the middle of the ocean! Scary! But God was good, and we had a good pilot, so there was no emergency’s or anything. everything was quite smooth going really.

Landed in Auckland, New Zealand about 8:45 am Wednesday (5:45 am Thursday, New Zealand time). It was still super dark when we arrived. we had cheese omelet, fruit and yogurt on the plane for breakfast. Its really nice they include dinner and breakfast for these long flights.

In Auckland, we had to go through Customs, which was really smooth and easy. Told them I had my prenatal vitamins and supplements in my suitcase and they were cool with that.

Then we walked through the main airport, outside, across the parking lot to the smaller “local” airport. Waited for our flight. when we went through the gate…. it was like stepping onto the flattop of an old movie, so simple and open and you actually walked out on it and then up a couple steps into the smaller plane!

Can feel the turbulence a lot more in the smaller planes, fyi.

We landed and met up with Johnny’s family, went to Burgerville for “brunch” (10:30 nz time, 1:30 home time). then we went to Huka falls (Hoo-Kah) then went and saw some black swans. Battery in my camera died right after this, but here’s what I was able to capture first:

Then, we finally went to the Donaldson’s place, saw their cats and cows and house and some of the property. We arrived just in time for Papa Keith’s birthday, so we got to sing “Happy Birthday,” meet the grandkids, say hi to brothers Thomas and Daniel and their families, and had cake and ice cream after a lovely dinner of mutton, mashed potatoes & gravy, and fruit salad. Oh, we also got to meet Papa Keith’s sister, Aunty Loll!

SO tired! Hoping to nap today, sleep in tomorrow and then we’ll see how we feel, if we feel up to actually doing anything or not yet.