WanderlustandWhimSea

Wow what a journey to get to New Zealand – 5 hour flight from Miami to LAX, 6 hour flight from LAX to Honolulu, 9 hour flight from Honolulu to Auckland.  I feel sort of silly about a few of the surprises upon arrival. First, I never stopped to think about what side of the street they drive on, but it was pretty clear when I went to get in my rental car and there was no steering wheel on the left side. Second, I expected to be able to communicate with no problem but apparently my accent so cloaks the English language that I have to repeat things multiple times to be understood.  The funniest encounter was with a chatty waitress serving me a toastie (Grilled Ham and Cheese). She said, “My cousin lived in the States for 4 months and she came back and told us the oddest thing – You don’t have Chicken flavored crisps in the States. That can’t be true, Right?” Me, “Chicken flavored potato chips? No I ‘ve never seen them”.  She was completely gobsmacked, mouth open, incredulous. She looked at me with complete amazement that I lived in such a deprived country.  So of course, I immediately went to grocery and found no less than 8 brands of Chicken Flavored crisps.  So they don’t really taste like chicken to me, but perhaps whats in the bottom of a pan after you fry a pork chop or chicken. It’s early in the trip and I’m not sure what other cultural divides I will encounter but I will keep you posted.

And by the way, the driving is going great after I stopped turning on the Windshield Wipers when I intended to hit the blinkers.  I even figured out how to pay tolls on line and fill up the car – big milestones!  Below a few pictures of the sky from my AirBnB (they call it BookaBach) that is wonderful! For once ,it is even better than the pictures, no weird helicopter sounding refrigerator like in Lucca, plenty of hot water and what a view of the sea!