And we're off!

After all that planning, I'm finally DOING the traveling. I arrived at 5am this morning (Kiwi time) after very uneventful and surprisingly pleasant flights. Right before I was going to purchase my round-the-world ticket I found the fine print on American's website about purchasing a similar ticket with frequent flier miles. Turns out, I had enough to do my entire trip in business class, except for the LAX - Auckland leg that was already sold out. So needless to say, portions of my trip are not very "backpacker". I arrived at O'Hare with hours to spare, and was able to visit the Admiral's Club with a combination of my international boarding pass and Platinum status. Upon entry I received a drink coupon which I naively tried to use to buy a Diet Coke - thereby announcing the novelty of this visit. Apparently Diet Coke is free at these clubs. So I ordered a Diet Coke AND a Corona and toasted my last drink in Chicago. The flight to LA was amazing - I was in first class on a 474 with so much leg room I couldn't reach the seat in front of me. Instead of the measly blanket and paper covered tiny pillow, I got my own personal comforter and full-size pillow. It was wonderful, but made the thought of economy on my next 13 hour flight even less appealing. Again at the Admiral's Club in LA, I was presented with FOUR drink tickets. How much do these people think I drink??? And again, I made another faux pax by talking on my cell phone in the "quiet area". Whooops. Now I know.

After stealing a few apples and cookies, I headed off to my next flight. Luckily, there was a seat open next to me and my seat mate was a pleasant woman, but it also makes for boring stories. I arrived in Auckland at 5am without a hitch and made my way to the hostel which luckily had a bed ready (the joys of traveling off-season) so I took a quick nap and headed into town. My hostel is in Ponsonby, which they call a suburb, but is really pretty urban. I would compare it to Bucktown in Chicago - it's apparently was recently very rundown and is curently in the process of going from grunge to sleek and hip. It's an cool to see, but makes finding places problematic as most places in the guidebook have already been shut down and replaced with something "cooler". It's a nice combination of hominess and foreigness for me - some of it reminds me of Dublin or Chicago, but it's different enought to be interesting. I spent the day wandering around downtown (about 25 minute walk from Ponsonby). The weather is cool but sunny and this afternoon I experienced sunshowers, which I' ve rarely seen since Colorado. At one point I thought, wow it's very sunny for being so late in the day, thinking it was around 5pm. I looked at my watch and it was only 1:30pm! Days are long when they start at 5am! I'm now back at the hostel to whip up some dinner in the kitchen and rest a bit before heading out to the "Dog's Bollix" Irish pub for live music tonight. I know, I know, so out of character for me!

Bizarre side note: I seem to be noticing the names of stores a lot here. So far my favorites are "Cyco", a bike store, and "Holy Sheet!", a bedding store.

So far, so good, but no fascinating stories to report yet, so sorry for the slightly boring post. Hopefully there will be more to report after the weekend. Monday I head off to Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty.