Friday August 4 - Sunday August 6 (Chicago to Napier)

Friday

It was quite a pleasant morning though cloudy and a bit cooler. I was up fairly early, ate some breakfast and did my final packing. I was at the airport in plenty of time and went to the United Club, the one on Concourse C (flight was from Gate 21) had closed so I had to go to B! I headed off to the gate to wait for my flight only to discover that the 12.15 flight to San Francisco was delayed until 1.52. So back to the lounge I went, lol! Thank goodness the flight to Auckland did not leave until 9.45 pm.

I arrived safely in San Francisco after a good flight from Chicago. The lateness was due to the awful weather yesterday evening! I went to the EVA lounge to begin with as the Silver Kris was closed until 6.15.

I enjoyed a free Bailey's and Ice as per usual. (United makes you pay, the others have it free, lol!) It was lovely to watch the late afternoon sky turn into the evening and then the night sky!

We boarded on time and were just about to pull away from the gate when it was announced that two people had to de-board due to an issue! Their bags had to be removed as well of course. Finally, we were leaving the gate when we were informed that there were two bags on the plane that should not be there. So back we went to get them taken off. We finally took off 80 minutes late!! This was a journey of delays, lol!

It turned out to be a medical emergency, the wheelchair came and took person with their partner off. There was a three way communication between the plane, the ground crew as well as United for baggage tag information, there was some miscommunication plus the hold doors were closed and that was why the plane started to leave with the two bags still on board, lol!!

The 2 I/c of cabin crew was busy most of trip sorting flights for people as many would miss their connections. The passenger list was stuck up on closed door covered with lots of post it notes, lol! It would be tight for my flight, we were due to land only about an hour before departure time and there was passport control, collection of my checked bag plus security to pass through.

Saturday
Disappeared somewhere over the Pacific Ocean when we crossed the International Date Line, lol!!

Sunday
I was fast asleep but after about a couple of hours some turbulence woke me, from then on we experienced quite a few periods of turbulence, more than usual. It was not bad, just a nuisance so I only dozed on and off for the rest of the "night".

We finally landed about an hour late and were taken to a remote "gate", it was actually just a parking spot and we had to wait for buses to arrive to take us to the arrivals area, lol! The bus we were on had to stop at one point as an aircraft was taxiing to take off!! 

It took longer to get through everything and I missed being able to use the bag drop at the International Terminal so it was off to the Domestic!! I made my flight, just, and arrived in Napier in good time. It was an excellent flight and it was good to see the sun shining over Hawkes Bay. 

My friend was there to pick me up and we went to a local cafe to have some breakfast. She then took me to get a few supplies and then it was back home to catch up with Seb, the purring machine, and unpack all my gear.