Nearly There

Okay, I skewed-up the last post by hitting the wrong key at the wrong time, but now here we go!

San Francisco - Thursday 12/10.09

After a 'brief' six hour flight, during which I managed to sleep a bit, I arrived at

SF International at about 9:30 a.m. (12:30 Baltimore time). Because I felt that if I sat down even once in the airport, I wouldn't get up, I stayed on the move and immediately headed for the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and then the #30 bus that took me to China Town. (I had been traveling nearly ten hours and had foregone sleep the night of my departure rather than have to awaken in the wee hours.) After a 15 or 20 minute ride, and a transfer to the #30 bus, I was moving about China Town amongst a population speaking China's sometimes high pitched, tonal language that played havoc with my need to ask directions and my ears preference for bass sounds.

My goals for the ten hour layover had been simple: to avoid sitting in the airport, to have a tasty, freshly prepared meal, and to visit City Lights, the bookstore begun by the beat poet, Lawrence Ferlinghetti. I easily accomplished these with shopping between lunch and books, time for tea and a cream filled philo pastry in a pleasant little bakery - and a manicure at place recommended by the baker! I arrived back at the airport at 6 p.m. for a 7:30 flight for my thirteen hour flight to Auckland, New Zealand.

Being that , this was my first trip to New Zealand and the first time I had seen David and Dineli in nearly a year, my anticipation was high! (As corny as it sounds, I could hardly wait to see my grandogs and cat.) With the help of a small glass of wine and an ambien, and fueled by exhaustion, I slept about 9 hours! My seat mates were pleasant, a couple from Seattle, and the trip easy: we set down in Auckland, which is in the northern part of the North Island at about 6 a.m. and departed for one hour flight to Wellington, the country's capitol, where David would be waiting for me. Fortunately between arrival and departure, I managed to 'pick-up' a Kiwi engineer who spends his time moving from oil rig to oil rig ascertaining their proper maintenance. Actually, though it was he who approached me when he saw me wrestling with the my luggage! It was not a pretty sight.

Usually I am a careful packer using one suitcase with space for bringing back gifts. However, New Zealand weather is unpredictable with temperatures varying between the low 50's and the 70's, very high gusting winds, clear, warm sunshine and incessant rain. Hence I was advised to bring layers of clothing. Moreover, 'goods' are expensive in their newly adopted land and David and Dineli had ordered half of every available item on the Internet shipped to my home. Hence, my knight who traveled light, nicely helped me with my 3 pieces of luggage, knitting bag, and a purse the size of Alaska that contained a camera, itinerary, and travel books in addition to its normal contents. After my Kiwi and I wrestled my stuff from the international terminal to the waiting station for bus transportation to the domestic terminal (up and down, from inside to outside and across a street,) we shared a bench. He being a typical New Zealander, friendly and layed back, conversation was easy as we awaited our respective flights - he was heading for his home on the South Island. Before we boarded the transit to the domestic terminal he offered me his business card and suggested that I call. And I'm thinking about it. After all, I really did want to get to know the natives! (New Zealanders seem to fly about, much like we might take a train to D.C.)

With all this wonderful information, I leave you for now.

Kindly overlook any obvious errors in this posting and all future ones. This is not headed for the travel section of The Times, and I'm working on Dineli's mac - and I'm a pc! And ditto for seeming time discrepancies. By this point in my travels I had flown through several.

Hope this finds you well and warm!

With love,

B