Made it!

There are two things I have learned from this trip already... 1) 12 hours straight is a retardedly long time to spend on a plane. 2) Quantas is about the coolest airline there is, at least of the ones that I have traveled with.

I spent some time in LA yesterday during the long layover. I went out to Santa Monica Pier and walked around. There were a lot of people there, even the taxi driver said it was way more than usual. It was fun, but when you have luggage in-tow it cuts down considerably on the cool factor. Everyone was looking at me like I was crazy. Oh well, maybe I am, that wouldn't come as too much of a suprise to me.

The flight to Auckand was un-eventful. It wasn't full and it was a 747, so we had room to streach out. But no matter how much one streaches out, 12 hours is a long time to be held captive in an aluminum tube. But the service was exceptional, and there were lots of good movies to choose from. I got a bit of sleep, but not much. There were not a line of executives waiting outside the plane to give me a job, much to my dissapointment.

I went through immigration and then customs. My bags had to be searched. I stepped up to he counter and the customs officer asked me about my bags and began opening them. His very next question was if I had voted. There was no one else in line behind me, so this began a 20 minute conversation about the American voting system, foreign, and fiscal policies. No big deal, they just wanted to get an American's perspective. Its amazing to me, they knew more about American policy etc. than most Americans I know. Just thought it was funny.

All of the people I have encountered have been very friendly. The custom's officers especially. From what I have seen of it, Auckland is a beautiful city. I plan on seeing a bit more of it today.