Today, my adventure in New Zealand and Australia begins! I got limited sleep last night so was up by 0545 (no alarm needed). After eating a light breakfast and cleaning things up in my condo, I met my neighbor (Monte) in the parking lot. At 0645, we left for the Dartmouth Coach Terminal in Lebanon. I had one big bag (less than 40 pounds) and a day pack carry-on bag. We arrived at the station to find two buses (one for Logan and the other for South Station). I got on the 0705 (mostly full) bus and we departed on time. To get to Boston, we took I-89 and made one stop at New London (to pick up one person). I passed the time reading. After getting on I-93 and using some side streets, we arrived at Logan (Terminal C) at 0930. Immediately after getting off the bus, I located the USO and spent about two hours there relaxing, eating and talking to other veterans. At 1130, I said goodbye to the helpful staff and walked to the United Airlines Counter in Terminal B. It was fortunate that I tried to check in early because the gate agent immediately discovered that there was a major issue with my itinerary (“Jim’s itinerary”, Plan A). At least one of my later flights apparently “didn’t exist” (?) and, as a result, I was in danger of not getting out of the US today. I think being an “Early Bird” on a Saturday ultimately made it easier to resolve my problem but there is no doubt that I owe a lot to the very nice employees at United Airlines who quickly created a new itinerary. After learning that my trip was "impossible" (there some kind of problem with the Air New Zealand legs), they rebooked me on an American Airlines flight to JFK (instead of Houston). At the time, it didn't register but I later learned that I was booked on ANZ’s flagship flight (“1”) which, at 17.5 hours, was the fourth longest flight in the airline world! The main impact on my overall schedule appeared to be that I wouldn’t arrive in Christchurch until three hours later than my original plan. Best news, though, was that I could get to New Zealand without much extra delay. To execute Plan B, I had to walk across to the other side of Terminal B to find the American Airlines counter. Fortunately, the lines were short and I was able to check in for my flight (got my free checked bag too). In the process, the nice gate agent changed my BOS-JFK flight to a 1407 departure (Plan C). Next, I walked a short distance to the TSA Pre-Check line. Unfortunately, my United profile information didn’t carry over to American so I had to switch to the regular TSA line. I was lucky (again) that the line was very short and I made it through quickly. After all the waiting, I decided to spend a little time walking and stretching my legs before going to my gate. However, just after I sat down, the gate agent called my name and told me I should change flights again (“because this one is about to be delayed and you will miss your flight to Auckland”). Even with this extra change (Plan D), I didn’t have far to walk and felt like I was due for a quick trip to NYC. I found out later that my new flight was already three hours delayed and the time continued to "slide right." In the meantime, the last two flights of the day (later than mine) were canceled and all the passengers on those flights started filling the empty seats we’d previously had. The American Eagle E175 aircraft was so little that the gate agents next wanted me to check my carry-on bag all the way to Christchurch! I knew this would not be optimal for me so, with the desk manager’s blessing (probably only to get rid of me), I carried my little backpack on the flight. With help from a nice flight attendant, I was then able sweet talk my way into getting it on board (she stored it in the coat closet for me). I was in my seat by 1530 but we next got to sit at the gate for nearly an hour while the crew attempted to get clearance to depart (JFK had gone into a "ground stop" condition). Finally (1630), we pushed back from the gate and taxied towards the runway. Before we could depart, however, we had to wait on a taxiway while the crew burned fuel (down to maximum takeoff weight. In the end, it wasn’t until 1735 that we finally taxied to the actual runway hold short line. After a few hours of doubt, I was aboard the last AA JFK-bound flight of the day. By this point, I was crossing my fingers that “Plan X” would be the one that helped me catch a Trans-PAC connection... Ultimately, the flight was mostly uneventful, with a little turbulence but no other issues, and we landed in New York City at 1840. With all the delays, I'd had time to do research about how to find the Air New Zealand counter and, before we even landed, I had already reached the disconcerting realization that I might not have enough time to get to Terminal 1 (where my flight to NZ would depart). It didn't help that our plane parked at Terminal 8 (where we parked) - this was just about as far away from my next flight as I could be... Next challenge, I had to leave the secured area and then re-clear TSA - grrrr. Needless to say, I practically sprinted from the American Eagle flight to find the AirTrain. The way the trains were running, I had to do a full circuit of the airport because they only drove clockwise. Next, I had to look all over the Terminal to find Air New Zealand’s little counter. When I found it, the gate agent told me they’d only been there since October and were basically borrowing space. With time dwindling, I got checked in and then had to go through normal TSA (ANZ not enrolled in Pre-check) again. Fortunately, the lines weren’t too bad so I found myself on the cleared side again by 2015. With an hour left before boarding (whew!), I decided to finish getting my 10,000 steps. This was actually a little difficult because there wasn’t much room between TSA and the gates. Still, it was nice to move around after a lot of sitting earlier in the day. At about 2045, I sat down to rest and wait for boarding. Just after 2100, the gate staff started boarding people in a rather random order. Since I couldn’t really tell what group I was in, I decided to try to get onboard. They just let me past and I was in my seat a few minutes later. On the aircraft (B787-9), I was surprised to sit down in an empty row and even more shocked when no one ever came to sit next to me; we departed the gate early (2145) with only 74 people in the Economy section (I think there were almost 200 empty seats). Because of the size of JFK, weather and the departure line, we didn’t actually take off until 2215. Any loud sound you heard at that time was my sigh of relief to finally be on the Air New Zealand Dreamliner, enroute to Auckland - nearly five years in the planning and it’s actually happening! Once we settled in at cruising altitude, I was quite impressed with the performance of the classy ANZ crew. The airline also offered many good amenities (free WiFi, great movies & music choices, awesome food). I enjoyed a delicious dinner (penne with an excellent sauce and sliced chicken, a creative salad, a dinner roll, cake and a brownie) and the crew gave me a few chances to sample New Zealand wines (I tried a Cab-Sav and a Sav-Blanc). It was actually possible (although I didn’t try it) to get almost any kind of drink during the night. Instead, completely satisfied, I stayed awake until after midnight (NYC time) and then lay down in my empty triple-row “bed” for the night. It was a LONG, difficult day but I'm on my way!
