its warm in LA!!

[Maggiemoo]

Well we have now completed the 1st part of our journey to NZ and are safely ensconced in our hotel at LAX - we decided to break the journey to give the kids (and us!!) a chance to get acclimatised gently to the time difference and to be honest I think they are doing better than us!! Hubby currently fast asleep on the bed with his 5 month old daughter lying next to him pulling his nose!!!! [smiley=icon_biggrin.gif]

The flight wasn't half as bad as I thought it would be - travelling with kids seems to bring out the best in check-in staff/security staff/airport officials - or maybe they just wanted to get us out the way asap! WHo knows!! Air New Zealand cabin crew were absolutely fantastic - they pulled out all the stops, helped us with all our hand luggage, pushchairs etc when we were getting on the plane and were really attentive to the kids during the flight -we ended up with 7 seats cos the check in guy blocked off anyone having the window seat which was next to us on one side and on the other an elderly gent moved cos he wanted to sit nearer the front (well that's what he told us anyway!!!) Kids were brill - both slept quite a bit and the older one was fascinated by the telly so the 10.5 hours went quite quickly - thank god!!!!

Unlike some of the other posters on this site, we didn't have any probs at LAX immigration/customs and were through in half an hour - again we seemed to be fast tracked cos we had little ones with us and three tonnes of luggage!! [smiley=icon_biggrin.gif] Again we had really friendly airport officials - really chatty and attentive to the kids.

So tomorrow evening we get back on NZ1 and head off down to Auckland - here's hoping this flight will be as good as yesterdays.....

Will no doubt be in touch when we get to Auckland...best wishes to everyone

Maggie and the Moo's xx

[MotherBear]

Well done on a great start to your adventure, Maggie. Good of you to keep us abreast of your news. Hope the rest of the journey goes as well.

Will be interested to hear your views and first impressions of Auckland after Stevey's damning report.

All the best to you all. Look forward to hearing that you've arrived safe and well at your final destination.

[selchie]

Happy landing, Maggie. I hope the air in LA wasn't too thick. So, no visits to Disneyland? I guess the kids can't holler about it if you didn't tell them, eh?

[Glenda]

Great to hear your flight was good and you had none of the trouble others had reported at LAX. We also had no problems there (probably because of the kids) and I had wondered whether we were an isolated and lucky case.

Really ... no Disneyland or Universal Studios? [smiley=018.gif]

Looking forward to your next post.

[smiley=icon_biggrin.gif]

[Maggiemoo]

Hi all thanks for your messages.....

We decided not to go to Disney/Universal as we thought the kids were probably a bit too tiny to appreciate it (21 months and 5 months), and given the weather today (hottest day in 6 years or something!!) we thought the beach wasn't a good idea either as our elder daughter is red-headed/fair-skinned so we've been exploring round the hotel, snoozing, playing games, watching TV etc!! [smiley=icon_biggrin.gif]

We are off to Aquarium of the Pacific at LongBeach tomorrow as Frankie loves fish and it seems like a good way of passing the time til our flight tomorrow evening.

Was really interesting to read Stevey's comments on Auckland - we are not big city people either so will be interesting to see how it compares to London/Birmingham etc

Will no doubt be posting again soon - laptop comes out everytime kids go to sleep!!

Maggie [smiley=icon_biggrin.gif]

Hi Maggie,

Good luck with the second leg of your journey, hopefully it will be as pleasant as the first part.

Hope you enjoy AKL, it's not my cup of tea but it is a clean city and we felt really safe there. Suburbs are obviously a lot nicer but it all depends on what you like.

Have fun on your journey...

Great news Maggiemoo. Tis hard keeping up with all those jetting off at the mo. Looking forward to your first post from the other side!

Finally I manage to get to an internet cafe!!! We had hoped the apartment block we are staying in would have internet access, but sadly no! Ken's bought a local mobile which enables us to send mails and stuff but I find it really difficult to look at web on such a small screen - god I'm such a girl!

We arrived in Auckland on Wednesday, and are really enjoying our stay here - I was a bit apprehensive about the place after Stevey's comments, but we've really liked what we've seen. We arrived really early in the morning and caught the shuttle right to our apartment so perhaps we missed out on seeing the suburbs in the evening. We've explored the city centre, and been to the zoo with the kids (definitely recommend it for filling in a couple of hours, and I thought it was really good value for $16 - Whipsnade cost us a LOT more than that a few weeks back!! [smiley=icon_biggrin.gif] )

Supermarket shopping has been fun - loads of recognisable products but we've made sure that we haven't just gone with what we know - local biccies are yum!!!

We are heading out of Auckland on Tuesday heading via Tauranga (checking it out for fingers-crossed!!) Rotorua, Taupo and Napier before arriving in Wellington next Sunday...can't wait.....

Had huge second thoughts just before we left, but am definitely over that now - both Ken and I are feeling really positive about the whole thing now - just need to get the kids a bit more settled (sleep patterns are still all over the place - the older one is waking for 2-4 hours at 2am!! Not good for all of us!!)

Hope everyone is having a good weekend, and when I next get a chance to log on I will not doubt bore you with more details!!

Maggie and the moos!

Hi Maggie,

So glad you are liking New Zealand, and Auckland too! Looks as if you are seeing the move as an adventure rather than a UK replacement - which is how it should be! [smiley=icon_biggrin.gif]

Enjoy Tauranga and the rest of your travels.

[smiley=icon_biggrin.gif]

Hi Maggie,

Glad you've been enjoying yourself, you'll enjoy Tauranga and Taupo both really holiday feeling places.

Be warned about the smell in Rotourua the kids may make a few comments about it. When you're there you must got to the Warawara Village, its a Maori village and it lovely to wander round, great experience, try the Hangi's as well delicious!

We weren't overly keen on Napier but we did visit the Marineland there which was just awesome, again something for all ages like AKL zoo. You'll all love it. Just along from Marineland you can also hire bikes for pretty cheap, quite a good way of seeing the coastline and getting around Napier.

Have fun, cant wait to hear about the rest of your journeys!