Thursday June 29 - Sunday July 2 (Napier to Port Orchard)

Thursday

Well, here we go again! 

It was difficult saying farewell to Seb, I do hope he will be OK and be good for Grant. He thoroughly inspected my bag nd discovered no room for him, lol!

It was a gorgeous day although cold first thing, it was great for flying. Grant dropped me off at the airport and once I was checked through I went up to the lounge. The flight to Auckland was on time and it was a good flight with just a few bumps at the end as we passed through some areas of cloud!

I eventually made my way to the International lounge and spent the afternoon there. At one point I opened the Air NZ app and noticed my seat allocation had changed. I had been upgraded to Business Class, yay!, so I immediately approached the service desk for a new boarding pass. That meant a lie flat bed both ways! 

 After a beautiful day there was a lovely sunset before night fell! As evening approached the lounge filled up as there are many evening flights especially to the US.

We had a relatively smooth flight and arrived about half an hour early. I spent some time in the United Lounge waiting for my next flight. I discovered my seat had been changed and I must say the customer service people we're very helpful as were the gate people and all was resolved!

We arrived about ten minutes early in Chicago but I had to wait some time for my hotel shuttle. I had a lovely shower before eating the balance of my sandwich with a lovely cup of tea then, finally, I hit the sack. 

Friday

I had a few hours sleep and a lazy start as check out was not until noon and I was booked on a late flight to Seattle (cheapest available, lol). After checking my bag in, very early, I went to the United Lounge as per usual. Later, I stepped out to get a couple of items and wandered back into the lounge. 

After a while, I went to buy a cup of coffee at the nearby Starbucks and discovered I had managed to lose my Air NZ debit/credit card that has foreign currency on it. I went back to the previous place but no luck. So I returned to the lounge, logged in to my card account and was able to suspend the card. I had to email the company and ask a couple of questions, Apparently, it takes four weeks to get another card, grrrr!

I was going to use some paid credits on my phone app to ring them but it would not work so I had to send a message to their support people!

I just hope I have enough funds for my trip. On reflection, I know how it happened, the chip slot was not working and when I swiped it the card was rejected. The guy had to enter the money manually and by the time there was quite a queue behind so I was rushing to finish!!! Such is life!

We boarded really early and we had to wait over 30 minutes before the doors were shut!! We arrived well on time at Seattle/Tacoma airport and I saw Cheryl straight away nearing the baggage collection area. It was good to see her again but Jim was waiting in the car at the texting area.

Well, finally the luggage came off the plane and then it was finished and my bag was not there. After some to-ing and fro-ing we discovered it had been placed on an earlier flight and was in the holding area! I did not know they did this, I thought in today's security climate that you had to fly on the same plane as your checked bag!!! Cheryl texted Jim and we waited for him outside amidst the total chaos! 

We arrived home after midnight and after being greeted by Serenity and meeting Gracie Mae for the first time, I enjoyed a lovely cup of tea and some toast. It was very late by the time I eventually showered and I got into bed. There was still no real response from the card support people or the phone support!

Saturday

I slept soundly for about six hours and checked my emails, still no real response from either groups. I then remembered the name of a person who had helped me before and I had her email address so I forwarded my original email and the auto response to her with a plea for help!

It was cloudy in the morning but eventually the sun broke through although there was a very coll breeze! We had a quiet day and went out just after 7 pm as there was an advertised Air Show at 7 and 9 pm with fireworks to follow at 10.15 pm. We collected some Subway on the way and found a good parking spot. After eating tea I went for a short wander round and then sat outside with Cheryl and Jim, I have to admit that I was feeling quite cold and should have brought a sweat shirt with me. 

It was a beautiful evening and Puget Sound looked awesome, the sun eventually set behind the Olympic Mountains and the sky was red for about two hours before night set in. The half moon was gorgeous sitting up in the sky looking down on us!

As more people arrived or spot was getting blocked off. There was quite a bit of alcohol being consumed and a lot of fireworks were being let off. I was surprised to see so many young children holding some and even lighting them! Both of these activities are quite illegal but of course there were no police to be seen!

The Air Show was a disappointment, it constituted one older plane sending out a stream of smoke in the sky, it was so high up the plane could hardly be seen with the naked eye, lol! At the end the pilot did spiral the smoke but it was not even a nice colour!

The fireworks were quite good and were accompanied by some good loud bangs from time to time. They were over a bridge across the sound and at one point the bridge was lit up along the side. After the show we headed home and, as we passed the local Walmart, we stopped so I could make a couple of purchases. I found some nice sugar free wafers and bought a couple of packets. There was a trial of the orange flavoured wafers with a cup of tea when I got home, lol, very tasty!

I then remembered that Air NZ has a FB page and I had messaged them a couple of times previously over separate issues. I decided to contact them tonight (or early morning) as it would be evening in NZ. I had a response within five minutes and a brief conversation ensued, it ended with them telling me they would put through a request for an emergency card. I told them i had contacted a articular person as i did not want to confuse the issue!

Sunday

Again, I had some sound sleep for about six hours and checked my FB page and emails for any responses. The phone app crew have still not replied in person but that has now become a moot point! I did have a response from Air NZ and the new card should arrive here between 5 and 10 working days from now. I also had confirmation from the person I emailed and she will also send me the tracking number on Wednesday. They were also prepared to ring me and talk me through obtaining some cash out of my account! I cannot speak highly enough of both the FB team and the individual who have helped me and I have emailed the guy in charge of Customer Services to let him know.

I spent the day doing some Sudoku and Sudoku High Five from the local paper as well as finally getting my blog under way! It was a lovely day once the early morning cloud burnt off and it was warmer today with no cool breeze.

It has been interesting to watch Serenity with Gracie, they are never far apart and Serenity watches over her like a big sister. Gracie is trying to be top dog though so it will be interesting over the next few months to see how the relationship develops. She is still very much a puppy but she is slowly learning to sit and not jump up.