January 4, 2012
I arrived in Auckland New Zealand around 4 am. That was seriously the longest flight ever. 13 hours on the plane. Lets start from the beginning.
On January 2nd (Utah time, January 3rd New Zealand time), I left Salt Lake City, Utah. That was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I had such a hard time leaving my dad and everyone around me. When my dad told me it was time to go through security I lost it and started to cry. I just couldn’t hold it back any longer. I was going to miss him and everyone sooo much. There were about 7 or so of us in Salt Lake flying to San Francisco. That airplane was tiny, but I got to sit in the very first row so there was tons and tons of leg room! Woohoo! We arrived in San Francisco and had a huge layover. Luckily all 20 of us girls met up there so we were definitely not bored. We spend most of our time using our cell phones for the last time in 3 months and using as much of the free wifi as we could. As the time got closer the butterflies set in. I couldn’t believe that I would be heading to a foreign country in just a few hours. The plane was huge. We flew on a 747 Air New Zealand plane!
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| Our Plane |
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| Getting ready to board in San Fran! |
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| Sitting on Air New Zealand. |
Most of us girls sat together but there were a few that were scattered around. I didn’t sit directly by anyone I knew but right across the aisle were a few of the girls. Each seat had their own little tv set built in, which was super nice. There were so many movies, tv shows, and music that you could listen too. They also gave us our own headphones and a pillow and a blanket. The flight instruction video was seriously the best part of the whole thing. You must watch it!
The flight was seriously so long! I hated it. I would fall asleep but only for like 30 minutes at a time then I would wake up because it was so uncomfortable. I seriously would be fine if I never am on a plane that long again. Oh wait I will be on one even longer the day I come home. I think that day is a total of 20 hours or something, BLEGH!
Finally the plane landed it as the greatest thing ever. I was so excited to get off and just walk around. As soon as we got off we found this cute thing that all of us girls got a picture underneath. Aren’t we just the cutest girls ever! Then we had to go through customs. That was a little intimidating. They were convinced I had an orange in my checked bag, which I did not. It was just a pair of socks!
After customs we walked out and my host family Dave and Cindy Foxcroft were there waiting for us with a huge sign and two beautiful leis. One of the leis was made by a Tongan sister from our new ward. They are beautiful.
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| The beautiful Lei! |
After we got settled in our new home we went for a drive. We went to an overlook of Henderson (the part of Auckland we live in) and we went to look at an overlook of Piha beach (the Tasman sea). It was beautiful. Unfortunately the combination of the curvy roads and not eating very well on the plane, plus the long plane ride made me super car sick. That’s the perfect way to make an impression on your new host-family. Get carsick in their car. oops!
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| View of Henderson |
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| Don't I look lovely after all those hours of travel. |
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| Piha beach. |
We then went to the mall to look for a few things and then came back and took it easy. WE were so exhausted but we made sure we stayed awake until at least 9 pm so that we could adjust to the time easily.
That was day one! I was super homesick the entire day!
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