Wednesday May 25 - Friday May 27 (Rockville, USA to Napier, NZ)

Wednesday
What a gorgeous day, too bad it was my last, still the weather is always something completely out of our hands, lol! I made my farewells to humans and one canine! We had a good run through to Dulles airport, though there was some heavy traffic in places. Check in was a breeze as I go through Premium and, yay, I was given TSA Pre so no taking shoes off etc!

Many escalators took us into the bowels of the earth underneath the airport to catch a train to the gate. Quite a bit of walking then but finally arrived. I grabbed a coffee at Au Bon pain, nice too, and headed for the United Club, it was right beside my gate!!

Many thanks to Scott, Mayo, Phoenix and Armasis (he looks so serious) for putting up with this kiwi again. I had a great time and appreciated all the driving to take me places and get me to the airport well on time!

The flight from Dulles to San Francisco was not that pleasant. There was a family with a baby and youngster in the row behind me, the baby cried on and off while youngster would scream from time it time and also kicked seat a few times. The woman beside me was working and I was a bit squashed up, she also crossed legs and her boot kicked me a couple of times. However, I was saved as the plane had the in flight entertainment for personal devices working so I watched a film on my IPad. I also paid for Internet access for the whole flight, $4.99 was not too bad!

It was quite a long walk to the lounges so I have had plenty of exercise today, lol. The upside though was the fact that I did not have to go through security again and that was great!

I grabbed a coffee at Peet's, it is a CA company I believe, and the coffee was not too bad! I then wandered to the international terminal and found the EVA Lounge, it is a Star Alliance lounge so I was able to use it. I had some chicken nibbles and they had Bailey's, lol, it was free!!

They closed at 5.30 so then I moved on to the United lounge, it does not measure up to Air NZ or even EVA! The weather was a bit overcast with some sunshine although there was a gorgeous sunset later.

I kept checking the board but the gate number was not updated so I went to ask at the desk. The woman on duty was too busy chatting to a colleague and totally ignored me! As I left I asked at the downstairs desk and she was more helpful.

Although I was not late, most had boarded so it was nice and clear. The doors were shut well ahead of time but by the time all was done and we had taxied to the end of the runway we were 30 minutes late departing, lol!

I watched one film and part of another while dinner was served but I was not that hungry so I had the soup, tomato, red onion and capsicum, not too bad. I just had coffee and a Baileys on ice for dessert, lol!

The flight was fairly smooth with an occasional bump and the usual bumpy jet stream around the equator. I managed to grab five hours of on and off sleep, better than nothing. 

Friday
We were only three minutes late after a 12 and a half hour flight. It seemed longer than usual, lol!

I had a bottle to collect from Duty Free, oh my, talk about technology! I entered my order number on the keypad and this robotic arm went to the correct spot pulled a drawer out and I just opened the hatch to collect it, lol! Messages appear to tell you what stage it is at! It is certainly faster than a human, just hope it does not break down!!

There had obviously been some heavy rain overnight and more showers were forecast so I wanted to make it a quick walk between terminals. Unfortunately, others were just happy to wander along but they also spread across the footpath. So I just used the "Excuse me" card but one older guy did not like that and told me to keep my shirt on, lol, could not be bothered to respond!

I spent a couple of hours or so in the lounge waiting for my flight to Napier and caught up with events as Thursday had disappeared on the flight home, lol!! The flight was on time and landed ten minutes early. Grant was there to greet me and so it was off home to see Seb and Sylvie. They seemed happy to see me, I got lots of purrs!

So, another trip over. I had a wonderful time and owe many thanks to all the folk who put up with me, for their generosity and the time they gave to me. I now have a month to recover before my next trip, lol!!