Perth, Western Australia....My new homeland with lots of Pictures along the way

View of the mountain range somewhere near Arizona

Some peaks from 30k in the air

  This entry will be a recap of my journey across the pond of sorts, while providing some new pictures and updates of my status in Australia. The 2.5 days of total travel really really took its toll on me the 1st couple of days Down Under. It hits your body so hard that its difficult to really enjoy those first few exciting days, especially for me because I only slept about 2-3 hrs over the 46 hr journey from Charlotte, NC to settle in WA.  I snapped a few pretty cool pictures of some mountain ranges from my 1st flight across the country, no significance but I like mountain ranges and I hope you do as well!

What's wrong with this picture?

 An additional note to the picture above, after settling into my window seat from the QC to LA, I kicked something with my right foot and looked down. This is what I saw, that's always a good sign on an airplane right? You pieces falling apart at my feet haha

   To the left are my new Skull Crusher headphones that really helped my trip go by a bit smoother.  I debated on ordering the official "snoop dogg" version but when I found the exact model without the Dogg father's signature on them for a cheaper price I had to go that route. These headphones nearly drown out all outside noise while providing an amplified mini sub woofer to pump out those bass busting beats that I prefer at times.

 Here is a nice shot of what I did for about 11hrs in LA while at the airport. I got into that cool swanky, "Air New Zealand VIP Lounge" and felt like a rock star for a couple hours as there were only about 10 people hanging out w/me. As the night progressed I was accompanied with about 130 other people, so i didn't feel so cool anymore but I did manage to have about 4 sandwiches, lasagna, 2 jack and cokes and 4 beers while kicking back.

 After arriving in LA, i was stuck in no man's land because the air New Zealand section was still closed due the huge time gap in the time zones. I just laid on top of my bag until people finally came out and everyone rushed to the line. This was the 1st and only place I had to surrender $50 for checking my carry on bag which was too large for the overhead bin. Due to an error, I was able to ship a 47lb bag and my tri bike across the world for FREE!!!

   After waiting for eternity, we were called from the VIP lounge and escorted down to our flight by the concierge. We were able to straight shot to the front of the line and take our seats, which was pretty cool. Since this was the longest flight that I had ever taken, i had hoped this would be a "baller" plane with all the bells and whistles.  Since I was able to get an aisle seat I was stoked because I knew I could hop up and down as much as I wanted to stretch out the legs. The Air New Zealand 767 was very nice and satisfying to me as it was a brand new plane with our own personal TV's and a fair amount of room. I was VERY FORTUNATE to sit next to a very personable couple who were flying to New Zealand for vacation to stretch for 2 weeks. They were from San Diego and seemed to be very well traveled as I spoke about heading to Malaysia as a possibility, the gentleman had even played golf there once. This flight went by very well for me, I popped 2 ambien and slept for a maximum of about 2 hours some how? I just cannot get comfortable sitting up I guess, but oh well, i watched 4 movies along the way.

Check out the h20 and mountains

2XU compression(blood circulation)

 Upon arrival to Auckland, NZ, I said my goodbye's to my new friends. I had a 7.5hr layover so i attempted to leave the airport to explore the city but was unable to do so, because a baggage snafu with my bike and bag, which took almost 2hrs to clear up.

" Ladies and Gentleman, could you please refrain from leaving your seats and please make sure your belt is securely fastened!"

  "We will be experiencing some pretty rough turbulence for the next bit, everyone must stay in your seat and buckled, especially children please!!". When this is announced 4 different times in a 5 minute span and the pilot comes over head to say the final "SIT DOWN", it is what every passenger wants to hear. Perhaps we are about to go down in flames, the plane is already shaking a good bit as it is and there is more to come? I was comforted to remember the wise words of TrySports mechanic Rob Morgan, " the plane can land with one engine, if it makes you feel any better". The turbulence passed and I managed to read for a VERY brief period before trying to take a short nap while glancing out of my window seat.

  Unfortunately I am not able to provide this blog with pictures that I snapped along the flight and post flight, some of which are humorous. Thankfully I purchased some new headphones that block most outside noise and the rattling and shaking of our luggage just above our heads did not bother near as much as it would have otherwise. The flight as a whole was the most turbulent flight that I have been on in recent memory. As this would be my shortest flight at 5 hours and 30 minutes, I fully prepared myself as if this was a puddle hopper and it went by fairly quickly, surprisingly. I managed to sit next to a guy who had some ridiculously kicking breath and he never even talked to me, he mostly slept, that's some serious breath! There were a couple of kids just a few seats in front of me, they were hopping around and laughing, usually it would irritate me but I had the trusty Skull crusher headphones!

Traveling from Charlotte I made a few notes on my PC about long distance traveling in general after I enjoyed an oh so delicious gourmet Burger King $9 breakfast combo and my experience from Charlotte to LA.

1. ·         As a favor to everyone, when I have children of my own I will not take them on flights just so people can enjoy their traveling experience. I am sitting out in the food court area of the Charlotte Douglas international airport and this baby is going buckwild while her parents are just eating away. I can’t imagine if they were on my 13 hr flight from LA to NZ, I may very well strangle someone.
2. ·         Traveling with a mini notebook makes it much easier to fit your drink & snack on the tray while trying to navigate through your PC. I know firsthand as I have a seemingly HUGE Acer Laptop PC dwarfing my tray as I am walking a tight rope with my drink sitting on top of my ACER ready to fall over at any moment.
3. ·         Noise deadening headphones have already helped my flight experience tremendously. The SKULLCANDY, “Skullcrusher” headphones I special ordered are working great minus the dead battery for my “amplified power bass boost”.
4. ·         While checking my bag and Kuota K-factor Race bike at the kiosk, my grandmother accompanied me just to assist with all of my luggage(yes I said it but she is not just any ol grandmother!). She knows how I don’t always get the fine details and for such a lengthy trip, she wanted to make sure things went according to plan for me( thanks GRANNY!). While playing 20 questions with the ticket agent assisting me, somewhere in the mix they forgot to take my payment for my luggage! So far so good, Karma may finally be helping me out!  Cody’s expense for luggage and a bike = $600, Janna’s expense for luggage and a bike = $150, Chris expenses = $0.

A

After arriving into Los Angeles, I was trying to figure the appropriate terminal to head towards since I did not yet have a ticket from LA to Auckland, NZ. After making my way out of the terminal and down the street, I ended up at Air New Zealand's check in center. Only one problem there were about 25 people sitting on the benches and the floor waiting for the workers to come out. Initially I was thinking, "Did I miss the Air New Zealand strike somehow? am I stuck here? Sweet, to the beach!". Hey when you have lemons, make some kickin lemonade right? Long story short, I laid on my bags for about 40 minutes before we were able to check in. One of my bags was too big and too heavy so i had to check it last minute and actually pay the $50 fee! I tried asking about the Charlotte Running Club discount but apparently they had never heard of it. 

  As I checked this bag in the last second, i grabbed a couple things I wanted for the flight while numerous people waited behind me. I forgot about my blanket as well as my camera chord so that I could upload new photo's from each stop in my trip! Freakin A, oh well.  Once I was in the terminal, knowing I saved at least $150 on baggage and knowing I have a 10 hour layover, I was heading right to the VIP lounge

Stay tuned for pictures to follow this post, it will be so much more vivid as well as a short video of my wait for the "air strike".