Hello, my lovely readers! We made it to New Zealand, and so far, so good.
The flights weren’t bad. Honestly, the worst parts of the trip in terms of service and overall comfort were on the domestic side of things. Once we were on our Air New Zealand flight, things were great. There were plenty of extra seats, so we had room to spread out. The food {they provided dinner and breakfast} was good, and the “concierge” and flight assistants made frequent rounds to see how we were doing. The only negative was that one of my shampoo bottles leaked, and despite being double-sealed in Zip-Loc bags, it managed to get into my suitcase. The only thing ruined? A bag of Skittles that I brought for my friend, Priscilla {sorry!}.
We got through the Auckland airport without a hitch and had no trouble getting our rental car from Budget. The lady at the desk was helpful and gave us better directions than Google Maps. It was a fairly straight shot to our hotel. Chris did a marvelous job driving {so what if he left the parking brake on for the first few miles… he figured it out eventually!} and I did a not-too-shabby job navigating, if I do say so myself. Here’s some video that I took on our way from the airport.
We obviously made it to our hotel, and they have valet parking so we didn’t have to worry about that at all 🙂 Our hotel is nice. We have a 1 bedroom apartment with kitchen and washer/dryer. The hotel itself has a spa, sauna, gym, and restaurant. It’s right in the middle of things, and within walking distance of the shops and university. Our suite is small, but it’s comfortable, and it’s only for 3 weeks. Even better, we don’t have to pay for it or our car and, in my book, that makes it very attractive.
Chris is napping. He’s attempting to recuperate after the long flight. Once he wakes up, we’ll likely walk around and pick up some supplies. I’m excited to see the city!
Here are some photos of the view from our balcony…
So what do you think? Anyone ready to come visit us?!
Oh, and since I’m now in a completely different time + date zone, I decided to add a world clock to my blog. Want to know what what time it is in Auckland, New Zealand? Just look in the left column!
Glad to hear you made it safely! It looks beautiful!
Glad you made it there safely!
I definitely want to come and visit! It looks beautiful there!! 🙂
Absolutely beautiful! So glad you guys made it their safely. Sign me up for a visit!!
Wow, the pictures are gorgeous!! I’m glad you made it there safe and sound:)
The clock on the sidebar is a fun feature!
Oh my goodness. If only…Such gorgeous photos!
GORGEOUS!!! So glad you made it safe and sound!!! Can’t wait to see more photos as you explore your new home further!!! XOXO
So exciting! Hope you have a great time exploring your new town 🙂
Woohoo!! Glad you guys made it safe and sound 🙂 Those views are AMAZING!!!
You have an AMAZING view! I am so excited for you! Oh, and just a teeny bit jealous. ☺
Congrats on making it there! Those pictures are amazing. I’m so excited for you and the adventure you’re about to have. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the preview! Beautiful!
Glad to hear that you arrived safely! Those photos are just lovely!
It looks so beautiful! Glad to see you made it safely 🙂 Enjoy exploring!
Yay your here!! 🙂 was thinking of you guys today and so glad we had a nice sunny day to welcome you! And no worries about the Skittles 🙂
Hope the jetlag hasn’t hit you too hard yet. I can’t imagine getting off a flight and driving on the other side of the road straight away, so good job Chris 🙂
YAY! Thank you so much for sharing! I was thinking about the first night we drove into Austin on our move the other day, and remembering what it felt like got me thinking about what your first day in Auckland was going to feel like… I’m so glad you posted the video! Tell Chris he looked very confident on the wrong side of the car 🙂
I hope you are adjusting fabulously and I can’t wait to see more pictures/videos of your new home…
AND… I’m so jealous that you are there and settled in (its so great that you don’t have to pay for your rental car or your hotel… SCORE)… oh yeah… back to being jealous… we still have 9 1/2 weeks until our move… and time just seems to be dragging by!
I’ll be on the next flight! 😉 It looks gorgeous there! So glad you guys had a good flight. Can’t wait to hear and “see” about your guys’ time there! = )