Day 55 - The last day away of this trip

In many respects, this was a wasted day, with nothing planned and a 9:30pm flight from the nearby LAX.  Had we been younger and new to LA, then maybe we might have crammed something in, but we’d already decided we’d just laze around, which is exactly what we did - though we did opt for an over-priced hotel breakfast of eggs and Canadian bacon.  Canadian?  In other words, not that thin, crispy, streaky bacon, so beloved of Americans.  What we actually got was some form of circular reformed bacon.  It was OK.

Final packing was straightforward before sliding out of the room at midday, taking the last two photographs from our window, and settling down by the pool, in the shade. The temperature in the sun was again quite high and with two skin cancers to be removed two days after our return, the shade was the sensible option.  A noisy mob of children shouting and screaming in and around the pool wasn’t ideal, but kids will be kids.

At least there was free Wi-Fi there (not in the room…) and we relaxed with a mixture of Codebreaker puzzles and Wordsearch on the mobiles.  Although we have to guess many of the words, it is a reasonable way to waste time.

An easy shuttle ride to the Tom Bradley terminal and the usual efficient Air NZ check in, before heading for immigration and security scanning.  We smiled as we passed the 50m long queue for QANTAS economy check in, just across in the eating area,  a gentleman with a bright red sweater caught my eye.  That looks just like Colin I thought, and spying a blonde lady with her back to me, I took a second glance.  Sure enough, it was our good friends Col & Jude from Sydney, who had just left the Circle Pacific cruise and been dumped at the airport a good ten hours before their flight. 

Needless to say, we chatted for a while and then we said we’d catch up with them again after we’d had a bite and they’d got through security.

It wasn’t to be.  Bearing in mind we were in the fast track queue for scanning, it still took us a good 40 minutes.  What a contrast to the outward journey.  Hard to believe it was the same airport.  Plenty of staff around jumping up and down exhorting everyone to totally empty their pockets, take off shoes, belts, watches, etc., but as far as I could tell, out of the 5 scanners there, only two were working.   When you take off all this gear and have to take stuff out of your carry on (computer etc.), instead of using up 1 plastic tray, you use three at least, so naturally enough, it takes at least three times as long.  With just the two scanners working, it just makes it even worse.  No wonder many people try to avoid flying through the USA.  Had it not been for the fact that Air NZ doesn’t fly all the way through to the UK via Singapore, we would probably have gone that way, as it is so hassle free at Singapore and also very fast, in or out. 

We headed for the Star Alliance lounge and from the balcony, tried to keep an eye out for Col and Jude.  No luck.  Once again, the peace out on that balcony was shattered by musicians playing on the floor below.

Onto the aircraft Ok and away on time and as always, a great Air NZ cabin crew for the journey home, arriving about 5:30am, to a damp and miserable Auckland.

Smart passport/immigration - no delay.  Luggage collection - no delay. 

At Auckland airport, there are now three options on arrival when it comes to getting through the MAF check.  (Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries) who are there to ensure there is no risk to NZ with what passengers bring in.  The green line – Australian & NZ passport holders with nothing to declare. The yellow line – Aus & NZ passport holders with something to declare. The red line, other passport holders and with something to declare.

The queue for the yellow line was about 100m long.  The queue for the red line (ours!), just two people.  We were declaring chocolate (even though we know it isn’t an issue, but the declaration does say food), plus a juniper pot stand from Estonia – and a half eaten tube of Pringles!

“What flavour are they?”, asked the officer.

“Sour cream and chives.”

“Drat, if they’d been salt and vinegar I would have enjoyed confiscating them…”

Straight to the scanner (no queue) and out to catch the prepaid shuttle home.

So that is it for this trip, but we have another 1 week trip planned for October - another dance competition for Paula - in Hawaii.
* Due to a health hiccup, two weeks after we returned, we had to not only cancel the dancing in Hawaii, but sadly, next year's World Cruise. That was devastating as we were really looking forward to it as so many cruiser friends were already booked and we know we usually add more with each cruise.
 

My next post should have been a summary of the cruises on the Crown Princess, but life got in the way.  Much of that due to the cancelled Hawaiian trip.