My First Flight - New Zealand 2007

It is on…

I scrambled to make alternative arrangements for my excursion. I booked additional days at a few hostels and rescheduled my entire Auckland agenda (yes I actually had a planned agenda). I was in good shape, I had spent considerable hours researching all the things I wanted to experience while in New Zealand and I was beginning to feel happy and excited about making the big plunge. I still had my vacation time booked at work and I was ready to go. I saved every penny I could for past few months and I was quite confident that I had a reasonable warhorse to take me on my grand adventure.

The Big Day…

I was up early that morning and I really had no reason to be up early. I had packed all my belongings the night before and I was ready to go at the drop of a hat. I was excited, scared, stoked and completely freaked out. I had never done anything like this before. I felt like I was fifteen again and I was going on my first Greyhound adventure. Only I was now 27 years old and taking a plane halfway across the world.

My bus was on time and I arrived at the airport three hours in advance to make sure I had time to make it through the security screening and check in procedures. I was the only person standing in the Air Canada check in station and there were only three people going through security. It is safe to say that I had allot of waiting on my hands. I found a place to sit and promptly fell asleep.

I slept for little over an hour and spent my remaining time watching planes land and takeoff through the large windows. I started to feel a little apprehension since I had never been on a plane before. I started to reflect back to all the plane movies in which a plane crashes. Fear crept over me as I realized I was about to get on a plane. I quickly cursed myself for being too much like my mother and decided to daydream about what the shores of New Zealand were like.

My Air Canada flight arrived with little fanfare and slight confusion as per my boarding pass was incorrect and I was about to board a plane to Washington and not Chicago. I was finally directed to the appropriate plane and as I took my seat on the little tin plane, flashes of lightning were seen across the sky and a mighty rumble of thunder cut through the air. The heavens opened up and the rain fell.

I was delayed.