Day 1:

Well, what a day! I know I have always thought having more hours in a day would be great, but having just had a 32 hour day, I think I like the whole 24 hour concept!

We arrived safely at Sydney ariport, returned the car (a neat little i30, which might end up being my next car.) then made our way to check in. Air New Zealand does not have online check in (sad, in this day and age!), so the line was decent, but moving quickly. All good to go, so we got our boarding passes and headed off for breaky. We cleared Customs & Security easily enough, although the amount of people who disregard security rules & then get pulled up (or hold up the lines) was ridiculous.

Flight boarded on time, and departed on time. Compliments to Air New Zealand for that fact. The first flight was to Auckland. Nice plane, nice comfy seats with great leg room & the inflight entertainment system was great. Good food & service too. The attendants were so friendly, came around and chatted to everyone, checked on everything all the time. Very pleasant. The flight made good time, and landed 45 mins early.

We had 3 hours to kill in Auckland airport. The international transit lounge is very average (in my opinion) no showers, 1 place to get coffee and a burger king, a few souvenier places & a newsagent/pharmacy place. No free internet either.

Finally, our flight started boarding. This was the smallest plane I have ever flown on internationally. Seats were uncomfy from the minute we sat down. No foot rest & very limited leg space. Unfortunately, even though we had picked our seats at booking, we ended up very close to the back of the plane. Not the best place to sit during a long flight.

Flight departed slightly late. About an hour in, we hit turbulance. That turbulance turned into severe turbulance, with the plane dropping feet suddenly, shaking and boucing around. Cabin service was halted, and staff told to take their seats, and

to remain there unless there was a medical emergency. The captain came on and advised us that there were gale force winds of 150 k/per hour in the jetstream, and that he had tried to fly above, below and around, but could not avoid it. They were in contact with other flights nearby, and all were experiencing the same thing. Flights ahead said it got better once we crossed the equator.

The horrible turbulance continued over about a 2.5 hour period. I can handle turbulance normally, but the sensation of the plane dropping suddenly was pretty scary!! Fortunately, the really bad turbulance stopped about 4 hours into the flight. Unfortunately, repeated turbulance was the theme for the entire flight. So, needless to say, the 13 hour flight went very slowly, and I got no sleep. Oh I am soooo not looking forward tot he flight home.

Anyways, Vancouver airport was pretty nice, cleared customs easily enough, and caught a taxi to our hotel. The drive thru downtown was really nice. The hotel was pretty decent, and it was nice to arrive!

After freshening up, we went for a walk thru our part of Vancouver. We are staying near Yaletown & the Entertainment District. Yaletown is really nice, beautiful tree lined streets, nice buildings etc. The Entertainment District is interesting, and a bit seedy, but still ok.

Had a lovely dinner at Basil Pasta Bar. HUGE portions, delicous food, fantastic price. Then we pretty much just headed to bed.