Moving Day

    It's hard to say goodbye to Ponsonby lodge, but after a few days of walking the area it's time to explore other venues. Our friendly van seller, Neil has told us of a sweet as lodge in Parnell. It's in a kind of ritzy neighborhood as opposed to Ponsonby which is mostly inhabited by kids working in the local café's on the weekend. It was built for Tongan royalty in the 1800's and now has a ton of suites, and a nice kitchen, though feeding time gets hectic and the four cooking areas make the kitchen a bit hot. Our room is tight but comfy and clean.

The Little Things

    One glimpse of the road in NZ and you can tell you're not in Kansas. The first obvious thing is the cars driving on the left side of the road, as a new traveler the first taxi ride from the airport is frightening as if every left or right turn we take we are on a one way collision course with another vehicle. This left side of the road driving even seeps in to the little details. For instance if you're walking down the sidewalk and someone is coming in the opposite direction I as an American want to pass them on the right, they as a native, want to pass on the left, this leads us both veering off the sidewalk in the same direction, where I eventually realize and move to the left. Another difference is these ubiquitous vans, which are like, totally awesome. For some reason they are all relics from japan that got shipped here for sale, you wouldn't see many like them in the U.S. but they have small engines and are good on fuel. They come in many flavors, off road, large, compact; some have Moari tattoos, some have been shuttles, but most of them are customized for travel. The traveling season is coming to an end in NZ as the autumn approaches now, leaving tons of these up for sale. Today we are gonna get one. The backpacker's lodges have bulletin boards that are stuffed with vans for sale.

         The first one we test feels like an overstocked walk-in-fridge on wheels. The owner, Neal, is from New York, and has decided to move here and has gotten a job as a vegan chef downtown. Not needing his van anymore he wants to sell it, and rambles on about the best grocery stores and lodges while I, sitting in the back, try to get a hold on something secure. Like in the galley of a boat, things swing from the ceiling; I walk away from this one feeling a little motion sick. I decide the only thing more terrifying than that first taxi ride is my mom test driving a vehicle in a country she hasn't driven in, on the manual transmission of a car that she's not used to. Then next one seems promising an automatic Mitsubishi 4wd van with a fold down futon in the back, I wait at the lodge while she drives it, but we still have another meeting in an hour so we hold off. The great thing about the whole process is your meeting people who have done the same thing you're about to do and so they have all sorts of tips on where to stay, and they are usually willing to pass on a map that has locations circled, like a treasure map. The final van for sale is from a Canadian guy Brendan and his Chezk? girlfriend Kasha. This one is sweet a Toyota Liteace like 92' and in decent shape, some of the highlights include fold down bed, with storage below, and camping gear including a stove, a down comforter, sleeping bags, cookware, etc.. it's a deal at 1600 U.S. it's got 180k kilometers. The easiest part of the process is transferring ownership, any post office will do it, and they just so happen to be banks so exchanging money is easy, you just have to buy miles like some kind of calling card for driving it has to do with the cheap price of diesel. The last words Kasha says are the tires are terribly worn be careful. We say goodbye and go about buying new tires. With new tires and a new van we are on the road.

We’ve Landed

Coming into Auckland we were greeted by rain clouds just like Seattle except the humidity was intense. Arriving at the Ponsonby backpackers lodge, it followed us inside and lingered. I couldn't tell at first, but the lodge itself was partly responsible for the musk. The only cleaning i saw was a vacuum run down the hall for a couple minutes. This could be the last night. It is accommodating though with a big kitchen and a large patio. There were several people posted up guy on the couch style, but I had a mission for the day, establish some communication, and so, ventured out even after the long flight and picked up a transformer and a new sim card so I can have a local number. When i asked the guy at the convenience store about an adapter so i could plug in my phone, I was introduced to the kiwi accent, a strange mix of Irish, Scottish, and welsh i think. When i asked if i could see the adapter he said "you just fucking plug it in." having never even heard the kiwi accent before i wasn't sure if i was hearing him right, they tend to talk fast and pronounce their vowels faster. For example a lot of restaurants advertise their "fush and chups" so just to make sure i ask, "did you just say, you just fucking plug it in?" Nodding enthusiastically with a big grin he asks where I'm from, I tell him Seattle and he says "that's where he's from." so i ask him where's that, and this is where it gets weird, he replies "Iraq." I decide my first interaction could be amiss so i write it off, gathering my fucking plug-in and heading back for some much needed rest. Anyway now i can use my foreign things, all I had to do was unlock my iPhone and now i have my trusty companion just like it never left my side. Essentially letting me know all the great food/coffee shops within a few blocks, as well as help out on the next mission get some transport. Now if I could only find a friendly shop that would give out the password I'd be in business.

24

Stepping into the SeaTac airport Friday morning it hit me. This will be the end of the familiar for a while, I didn't give it much thought being wrapped up in finals for the previous two weeks and even then i didn’t have my ticket till Wednesday night. Nevertheless the journey was about to begin... which was signaled by the long lines through TSA security. Having packed just my laptop and a jacket this was easy to get through until I decided to avoid the x-ray machines. As I asked to pass through without the screening the guard administered a barely audible word thorough his radio..opt-out. I was soon greeted by a buisnessey guy who snapped his rubber gloves and informed me of the process. After the pat down the gloves were then swabbed and placed in a detector after a pause there was a loud beep and he said "you're clear to fly."

Six hours later i stepped into the friendly Kahului airport on Maui. I love this airport it’s a quick step down to the baggage claim. I stopped to see the blind convenience store guy, if you go through this airport you can’t him. I bought a sprite and some chewing gum with a handful of ones, he wouldn’t let this slide, asking me how long  I had to work it on the floor to earn these ones. What? I asked, he continued, in his quick pigeon speak “You must have been workin' for hours." finally catching on i respond "yeah i even have a stage name" he then comments on my lack of sense of humor as he feels the bills one at a time and places them neatly in the cash register.

I have a few hours for my flight to Maui so call up Erik to see if he wants to grab a burger before i leave, but he's on the other side of the island so i resign to make a few more calls while I’m still local. I go through the security again in Kahului which takes just ten minutes and is much more civil. I decide to see where my mom is coming as I’m supposed to meet her in Maui then on to Honolulu and finally New Zealand. She's about to check in but the flight leaves in twenty minutes. Even with the quick security i doubt that she'll make it. If this is any indication of the trip, I’ve accepted to wait for my travel companion throughout the trip. She misses the plane. I get to the international airport in Honolulu and charge up my laptop and cell phone and make some more calls while i wait at baggage claim for her, an hour later she arrives. I get to see the mom's we have a hug and chat, then we go the last check-in at air New Zealand.

I assumed she would have a few bags, but they have already flown on to new Zealand... she mentions her three bags of course packed to the 50 pound limit, I shudder a second thinking about carrying the bags around the airport in Auckland tomorrow after our 12 hour red eye, and again, just accept it.

First attempt through international security screening: My mom stops to eat some food and drink her water. She decided to leave a few sips in her glass bottle. The random security screening goes easy for me, I take my shoes off empty my laptop into the tray  i walk through the metal detector and wait for her to be screened. "who's bag is this?" I hear over my shoulder... great here we go. "that's my mom's she's right there" i point "waiting to be checked"

"ok" i hear "you need to take this outside and empty it then return through check-in" he hands me the water bottle with no more than a gulp in it.

Second try: I go through the gold check in after walking out and go through quickly again. She's still being checked... waiting... waiting.. and the news breaks that she has food in her bag and must leave to finish eating it. Well I'm through, so I decide to go to burger king inside the airport and wait. I pack a whopper for the trip and make some last minute phone calls and Ashley helps me setup my Google voice over the phone. By the way this is great you can forward all calls to your google voice mailbox and check them over the internet and avoid international roaming rates. I turn off my international roaming and data on my phone, forward all calls, and step into the giant 747 air new Zealand jet. It’s deluxe with personal entertainment TVs on the back of the seats and a remote to watch some 30 or so movies and go off to a hazy slumber often interrupted by my foot that keeps drifting into the aisle blocking the cart that delivers food. Its five am and we are awakened by the captain some message about turbulence... the plane is jarred every which way and vertigo sets in. It feels like we’re in a jumbo sized box being shaken by a giant. But I’m so exhausted from travel that I manage to get to sleep before it ends. I wake up some time later. The on flight entertainment "air show" displays we are 900 km from our destination yay! Filling out our arrival declaration cards i make it simple and just say no, to all the stuff I’m bringing into the country. My traveling companion however has brought food, dirty garden tools, muddy boots and a mess of other bio-hazards which are immediately found by the food sniffing dog at baggage claim. Again I hear "who's bag is this?" and again i point "it's hers" the security agent scribbles something on her arrival card, and dumps the rest of the smuggled food, and gestures to the inspection line. I pile some five large bags onto a cart and begin moving to the next checkpoint.

This one is simple enough just a man wanting to see everything potentially carrying microbes. He inspects the tools and footwear, and clears us to the next check the baggage x-rays. I unpile my mountain of luggage put it on the tray go another six feet and pile it back up. 24 hours have passed, this will be an interesting adventure.