4/27/20
It was a bit of a rainy morning. We packed up and did some cleaning. I ran around the Kelvin Peninsula loop. I'm really going to miss the views and trails here. My walks and runs and bikes the last few days have been emotional and sad, b/c I've grown to love it here.
There are so many things from New Zealand that I'm going to miss or little things that were just very Kiwi and will always remind me of NZ. We'll miss the Kiwi news, which was so positive and in a way cute. And NZ TV has such longer spans between commercials and such shorter commercials. It makes watching live TV bearable and watching long movies possible. We'll miss the Kiwi sense of humour (spelled kiwi style). The COVID-19 updates and the little jingle that was associated with it. The unity in fighting corona and the funny or inspiring commercials promoting it. We'll miss the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her empathy as she addressed the nation everyday. And we'll miss Dr. Ashley Broomfield and his medical advice and updates each day. We'll miss the stability of our life. Sleeping in, then having tea and breakfast, then doing little projects, lunch (often on the deck), then hikes/walks/bikes in the area, making sure to be back for the 6 o'clock news. Then some of our favorite shows afterwards (recently Australia's Amazing Race). There are only a handful of channels in NZ, yet they play a lot of movies which is nice. The pure numbers of channels here in Colorado is overwhelming. And they do this thing where each channel also has that channel +1, which is an hour later. So if 6pm doesn't work to watch your favorite show, maybe the replay at 7 will work.
We'll miss the calm and friendliness of the people and their courteousness. How everything seems to work just so smoothly there. We'll miss our favorite radio stations, such as the Edge and Highschool Hits. And we'll of course miss the funny accents. We'll miss all the talk of the "bubble" (who you were lockdowned with) and Maccas (mcdonalds) and all those other Kiwi sayings. And many more things that I'm not remembering now
4/28/20
We left Queenstown at 6am with plenty of time to get to Christchurch. No one was really on the road even though today NZ dropped from lockdown Level 4 to Level 3. We had time to stop at a few of our favorite viewpoints: Lake Taupo and Lake Tekapo, which have great views of Mount Cook and the other snowy peaks. OUr flight was set for 3pm, and we arrived to Christchurch at noon, with plenty of time to spare. Thus, we dropped something off at the Antarctic Centre, drove by McDonalds to see the crazy long line at the drive thru (drive thrus opened with the dropdown to level 3) and bought an ice cream at the supermarket. We dropped the car off and got to the very empty terminal at 1:05pm. Most of the terminal was closed off and dark. We were promptly told that our 3pm flight had been cancelled and the only other flight was at 1:20 PM. They managed to switch our flight, check us in, and we went through security and hustled to the gate before the last boarding call was even announced. It was a fairly full flight with Kiwis taking advantage of Level 3 allowing you to move North or South in one direction once to relocate your bubble if you wanted. Still, I had a whole row to myself as did Elisha.
We had a several hour layover in Auckland. It was empty there and everything, including food was closed. Luckily we had the foresight to pack snacks.
Elisha and I had our own row on the long haul flight to LAX. The passengers consisted of quite a lot of Brits headed to LA to catch another long flight to Heathrow. The plane was probably a bit under 2/3 full. Watched some good movies, had some cocktails, and enjoyed the nice service of Air New Zealand.
4/28/20
We crossed the international date line and arrived to LA before the time we had left Auckland. It was the quickest time through customs and immigration ever at LA. My friend Triggers (a comedian from Craigmont, Idaho) picked us up and drove us on the empty freeway to his apartment.
He had a zoom meeting (he's teaching animation to high schoolers), so we explored the neighborhood looking for lunch. Turns out, we couldn't get anything or go in anywhere without a mask (In NZ, masks weren't a thing). LA was some major culture shock. So dirty, run down, trash everywhere, lots of homeless. Seemed 3rd world to us after New Zealand.
Triggers took us for a walk along the LA River, and then we picked up yummy Thai takeout. We all fell asleep watching the new Star Wars movies. Triggers was a fantastic host!
4/29/20
Triggers drove us to the airport early in the morning. LAX was empty and a breeze to zip through. Literally 15 minutes from curb to check in to security to gate. Air travel, in a sense has become super easy! Our large plane to Denver was empty (about 10-15 people), and I got to sit in first class, since I"m back to being United Premier. So I got to enjoy a meal and adult beverages while the poor pleibs in the back (Elisha) didn't get anything. Flying over Zion National Park and the snowy Rocky Mountains was AMAZING!
Mom and dad met us at the airport with 2 cars, and Elisha and I drove one home. I was tired from the travel (makes me more emotional) and I dearly missed New Zealand and was sad to be quarantined from my mom.
It was a bit of a rainy morning. We packed up and did some cleaning. I ran around the Kelvin Peninsula loop. I'm really going to miss the views and trails here. My walks and runs and bikes the last few days have been emotional and sad, b/c I've grown to love it here.
There are so many things from New Zealand that I'm going to miss or little things that were just very Kiwi and will always remind me of NZ. We'll miss the Kiwi news, which was so positive and in a way cute. And NZ TV has such longer spans between commercials and such shorter commercials. It makes watching live TV bearable and watching long movies possible. We'll miss the Kiwi sense of humour (spelled kiwi style). The COVID-19 updates and the little jingle that was associated with it. The unity in fighting corona and the funny or inspiring commercials promoting it. We'll miss the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her empathy as she addressed the nation everyday. And we'll miss Dr. Ashley Broomfield and his medical advice and updates each day. We'll miss the stability of our life. Sleeping in, then having tea and breakfast, then doing little projects, lunch (often on the deck), then hikes/walks/bikes in the area, making sure to be back for the 6 o'clock news. Then some of our favorite shows afterwards (recently Australia's Amazing Race). There are only a handful of channels in NZ, yet they play a lot of movies which is nice. The pure numbers of channels here in Colorado is overwhelming. And they do this thing where each channel also has that channel +1, which is an hour later. So if 6pm doesn't work to watch your favorite show, maybe the replay at 7 will work.
We'll miss the calm and friendliness of the people and their courteousness. How everything seems to work just so smoothly there. We'll miss our favorite radio stations, such as the Edge and Highschool Hits. And we'll of course miss the funny accents. We'll miss all the talk of the "bubble" (who you were lockdowned with) and Maccas (mcdonalds) and all those other Kiwi sayings. And many more things that I'm not remembering now
4/28/20
We left Queenstown at 6am with plenty of time to get to Christchurch. No one was really on the road even though today NZ dropped from lockdown Level 4 to Level 3. We had time to stop at a few of our favorite viewpoints: Lake Taupo and Lake Tekapo, which have great views of Mount Cook and the other snowy peaks. OUr flight was set for 3pm, and we arrived to Christchurch at noon, with plenty of time to spare. Thus, we dropped something off at the Antarctic Centre, drove by McDonalds to see the crazy long line at the drive thru (drive thrus opened with the dropdown to level 3) and bought an ice cream at the supermarket. We dropped the car off and got to the very empty terminal at 1:05pm. Most of the terminal was closed off and dark. We were promptly told that our 3pm flight had been cancelled and the only other flight was at 1:20 PM. They managed to switch our flight, check us in, and we went through security and hustled to the gate before the last boarding call was even announced. It was a fairly full flight with Kiwis taking advantage of Level 3 allowing you to move North or South in one direction once to relocate your bubble if you wanted. Still, I had a whole row to myself as did Elisha.
We had a several hour layover in Auckland. It was empty there and everything, including food was closed. Luckily we had the foresight to pack snacks.
Elisha and I had our own row on the long haul flight to LAX. The passengers consisted of quite a lot of Brits headed to LA to catch another long flight to Heathrow. The plane was probably a bit under 2/3 full. Watched some good movies, had some cocktails, and enjoyed the nice service of Air New Zealand.
4/28/20
We crossed the international date line and arrived to LA before the time we had left Auckland. It was the quickest time through customs and immigration ever at LA. My friend Triggers (a comedian from Craigmont, Idaho) picked us up and drove us on the empty freeway to his apartment.
He had a zoom meeting (he's teaching animation to high schoolers), so we explored the neighborhood looking for lunch. Turns out, we couldn't get anything or go in anywhere without a mask (In NZ, masks weren't a thing). LA was some major culture shock. So dirty, run down, trash everywhere, lots of homeless. Seemed 3rd world to us after New Zealand.
Triggers took us for a walk along the LA River, and then we picked up yummy Thai takeout. We all fell asleep watching the new Star Wars movies. Triggers was a fantastic host!
4/29/20
Triggers drove us to the airport early in the morning. LAX was empty and a breeze to zip through. Literally 15 minutes from curb to check in to security to gate. Air travel, in a sense has become super easy! Our large plane to Denver was empty (about 10-15 people), and I got to sit in first class, since I"m back to being United Premier. So I got to enjoy a meal and adult beverages while the poor pleibs in the back (Elisha) didn't get anything. Flying over Zion National Park and the snowy Rocky Mountains was AMAZING!
Mom and dad met us at the airport with 2 cars, and Elisha and I drove one home. I was tired from the travel (makes me more emotional) and I dearly missed New Zealand and was sad to be quarantined from my mom.
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| Empty Auckland |
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| Empty Auckland |
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| We're the only ones in Auckland |
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| Funny to see some flights schedule for Days in advance due to such a paucity of flights |
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| Empty Auckland |
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| Not a Maccas open in sight |
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| Empty Auckland |
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| Empty Auckland |
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| Customs in Auckland, such a breeze |
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| Most of the airport closed off |
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| Used to be Duty Free |
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| No traffic down there in LA |
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| Just a few cards through downtown LA |
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| Triggers picked us up at the Airport! |
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| Flying to Denver |
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| No one at check in at LAX |
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| who has ever seen security at LAX like this |
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| Empty LAX |
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| Empty LAX check in |
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| would be easy to find a bench to sleep on at LAX these days |
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| First Class |
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| Empty plane |
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| Our set-up in the basement quarantine |
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| Our new kitchen |
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