Joyful Maiden: My Trip to the States

Our Flight Going Over

I’ll first start with what Mum wrote about this first part (pictures are below this):

We had to leave church quickly to head to the airport, and ate lunch on the go. We got to the airport in good time, and got checked in, then said goodbye to Gayle, Seth, James and Joe. We found our gate, and had nearly an hour to wait to board the plane. Nathan enjoyed running around and investigating while we waited.

Our first flight was Christchurch to Auckland. It had been somewhat cloudy, and we were a bit disappointed at the thought of not being able to see the ground, but as it turned out the clouds were quite patchy and we were able to see a lot. We were able to pick out and identify all the rivers between Christchurch and Kaikoura, and had a pretty good view of the Kaikoura Peninsula. Nathan did pretty well on that flight, although towards the end of the hour he was very restless.

We took our time going from the domestic terminal to the international terminal and enjoyed the walk outside in the warm summer evening. While we sat on a park bench along the way and let Nathan play for a bit, I called Gayle one last time while my cell phone still worked, and then we went into the International terminal and started finding our way through that maze. There are a lot of checkpoints to get through in there! First, we had to go to the second floor, then go through a customs checkpoint. They require a form to be filled out and turned in for every passenger leaving the country, saying where you live, where you are going, why, and for how long. After we went through that line, we went through security—and lost a water bottle! We had totally forgotten to empty our four water bottles before entering the terminal. Oops. Poor Simon lost his water bottle at the beginning of the trip!

After we got through security, the terminal seemed like a carnival of sorts—all kinds of shops, restaurants, and games. We went through that area as fast as we could, looking for our gate. We went up another level, through another area of restaurants and shops, and all the way to the end before finding the Air New Zealand gates. We had to wait an hour there, but had a good view of the big planes (lots of 747s) while we waited. Once they opened the gate, we stood in a long line that filed past a table where our boarding passes and passports were inspected again, then went downstairs to the waiting area at the gate. After waiting there for awhile, we were finally able to board, after yet one more check of our boarding passes!

We had a bulkhead seat, at the front of one section of the plane. Lots of legroom there! That is where they put the bassinets for babies small enough to lay in them. Nathan is too big to fit, but we had plenty of room anyway, which was lovely. He fell asleep almost immediately, before take-off, and slept all night, only waking up about the time the fasten seatbelts light came on half an hour before landing in Los Angeles! Esther and I traded him back and forth several times, but he never woke up.

An hour or so after take-off, we were served a delicious meal. Awhile after everyone was done eating, they dimmed the lights and we tried to sleep. Elijah slept well all night, but Simon and Esther had more trouble. Esther got about an hour and a half of sleep all night, and I think Simon got a few hours. I slept about two and a half hours, even though I was holding Nathan a lot of that time! One thing that helps is that they supply a seatbelt for the baby, which goes around yours. That way I didn’t have to worry about dropping him when I would fall asleep.

Once on the ground in LA, we had to first go through immigration, then customs. After customs, we re-checked our luggage, then headed for the next terminal. That walk was not nearly so nice as the one in Auckland, but it was nice to stretch our legs. After getting our boarding passes at a self-serve kiosk, we joined an incredibly long line of people waiting to go through security. New Zealand security is much more pleasant to go through than US security.

We had about an hour to wait at our gate. We occupied ourselves by filling water bottles, eating snacks, and playing a game Esther brought along. Nathan occupied himself by trying to play with our cards and running away! We put on him the harness Simon made last week out of an old pair of sweat pants, and he figured out in no time that he was stuck. He tried pulling away from us; when that didn’t work he tried to crawl away, and then he tried scooting away on his tummy. When all that didn’t work, he came over and tried to pull the end of the leash off my wrist. What an indignity—to be tethered to Mommy! He didn’t get lost, though.

The flight from LA to Chicago was very full. We were not able to fit our carry-on luggage into the overhead rack, but finally found room for it under the seats in front of us. Apparently the stewardess didn’t notice that we had bags piled around our feet, and at the end I was glad that we had it all so handy. I was kind of concerned about our next flight, as we had only 35 minutes in Chicago. At first, it looked like we’d be in half an hour or more early, but then we had to slow down and circle for awhile before landing and were only 5 minutes early. Since our luggage was all at our feet, we were able to get it together and get out pretty quickly, then took off as fast as possible for our next gate. We got there as they gave the first boarding call! They had our boarding passes printed and waiting on the desk, praise God! I had to be in one particular seat, with Nathan, because that is the seat with the infant life preserver on that small plane. I was over the wing, but the other children were way in the back row. They did fine. We were seated and ready for take-off when the announcement was made that we couldn’t take off yet after all. They had to de-ice! So, we sat there another half an hour till that was done, then finally took off for Grand Rapids. While we waited, I put Nathan’s pyjamas on him so he’d be warmer getting off the plane, and then he fell asleep till after we landed.

Finally, we were in Grand Rapids! We landed about midnight, 26 hours after take-off in Christchurch but still Sunday night! Nathan’s birthday was Monday, so it got put off a day when we crossed the International Date Line. Mom and Rebecca were there to meet us—what a sight for tired eyes! It was so good to hug them and know we had made it. We got back to Mom’s at 2:00 and crashed.

…and the pictures!

The first flight. Not tired yet! :)

Mountains, the Pacific, and (I think) Kaikoura Peninsula.

Last view of the South Island—the top most part of the island, all the Sounds (Pelorus Sound, etc.). AWESOME scenery.

In the Auckland airport. Nathan loved pushing the button and watching the water run! :)

Ever-patient Mama. :)

Filling water-bottles. Great job to do when you can’t think of what else to do! :) We all drank a LOT going over.

On the 12-hour flight across the Pacific: almost to L.A.! :)

Waiting to board our third flight, going from L.A. to O’Hare (Chicago). Nate wanted to run away, so we put a harness on him! Poor fellow; he did NOT like it at all! We just laughed. :)