Stymied Again

Disclaimer: I don't even know my sleep to awake ratio for the past 48 hours has been but suffice it to say I have crossed the international date line and enough time zones to leave 15 hours between home and where I am now. This means I simultaneously feel quite tired and awake/energized. I still feel as though I am vibrating from the plane ride.

Short bit of background – I got a flight out of NYC on Tuesday heading towards Wellington. This was quite exciting.

I floated through NYC security like a dream, and then actually got on a plane in LAX to go to Auckland without much trouble. I had to give someone a prolonged stare to get an outlet at the charging station so I could charge my computer in preparation for the 13+ hour flight. Let me say, Qantas does these flights well. They feed you a lot and give you personal entertainment screens with a good mix of TV and movies on demand plus games and radio. We actually stopped for a little over an hour in Fiji on the way over to New Zealand, though we couldn’t deplane. The plane was delayed going into to Auckland so I missed my connection to Wellington, which was fine, as we were told we could get another one. Well that's what I thought until I got to the desk and saw that all flights were cancelled due to this stupid ash cloud. Again. I tried to see what my options were on an Internet terminal in the airport that kept signing me out mid email composition which added to my frustration at the situation. Alas. My choices then were a) sleeping in the international terminal (there were showers!) or b) going to a hostel. All Jetstar flights were cancelled for that day. I figured I might as well check out Auckland while I was there. I won’t deny that I was kind of angry. I mean, this time I had actually made it to the country of my destination, which was definitely a better place than before, but I thought I could actually make it to Wellington in one go. I guess there is someone who doesn’t want me to make it there. I had at least two people in LAX tell me that it just wasn’t meant to be when I was going back home.
I was mostly annoyed at how things didn't go as I thought they would. I wasn't expecting anything grand, instead just that flights might go according to schedule and the decision to sleep in the terminal wouldn’t have to be made. It would be totally different if I were with someone. I think it might have been more of an adventure and less of an isolating experience. Duh. If I had expected things to go wrong, or the airport not to have wireless, I think I might have had a different gut reaction. I’m not sure. Kind of like how I don't care if I get dirty and gross on FOP because I expect it, but it's going to bother me more if I'm in a place where I should be clean. New Zealand is strange because I expect certain things to be similar to the US – like the Internet and computers. But I would say that they are at least 4 years behind us. It’s strange for me to think what I’ve become accustomed to. I think it bothers me like some small irritant because it’s so close to what I’m used to now, but falls just short. It’s very odd. I didn’t really have Internet access last summer and that was totally fine. I was biking all over and wasn’t thinking I would. Two summers ago I had spotty access and that was okay, though a little more annoying because, like now, I felt as though I should have had it more. It’s all about expectations. If I were to go off in the woods, or to some random place in Tanzania, I don’t think I would associate those settings with Internet. Pft. But I do associate a hotel or an airport with wireless networks. It’s such a strange thing to think about now, and putting it into words makes me sound rather entitled and annoying.
But this story has a happy ending. I am currently in a Hilton thanks to my mother’s magic (and points) right on the water in Auckland. I plan on collapsing on the beautiful bed soon. The shower I took this afternoon right after I came here was definitely one of the top five most glorious showers I’ve taken. The other ones were mostly associated with being intensely cold and the shower making me warm. This one was just highly pleasurable and made me clean, providing a wonderful watery cocoon for my tiredness.
The great and funny thing about Auckland and Wellington (from my limited exposure) is that they are small, and kind of squashed in one little circle area. It brings the scale of the rest of the country into focus. It’s not that big. The concierge here was quick to talk about how I as an American was used to long car rides and cold temperatures. New Zealand has a much better grasp on its place in the world than the US. I think it has a lot to do with size. It’s hard to talk about the US as a whole – you can’t really talk about several different regions in a cohesive manner. There are lots of NZ shops here – with authentic NZ memorabilia. I can’t quite imagine an “American” souvenir shop. Sure, get your NYC souvenirs, or your LA souvenirs, but not USA. Get a flag, or maybe a plastic cheeseburger? Who knows.