Dave Gee: Life from Right Field

Well, after many hours of sitting on aeroplanes (five to be exact), I've finally arrived in Luton for the start of my three week winter escape.

The journey here wasn't without its problems, beginning when I first tried to check-in at Dunedin. I was flying Air Nu Zillund through to LA (via Christchurch and Auckland), then switching to United to get to London (via San Fran - yeh, I know, huh?).

Anyways, despite the fact that both sets of tickets were booked with the same contact details, somehow on the Air New Zealand ones my first and last names were switched around...

They told me that would mean I couldn't check my bags right through to London (which would normally be okay, being Star Alliance), but would have to collect and recheck my suitcase at every stage... the reason being a "Mr David" was flying to LA, but a "Mr Goosselink" was flying the rest of the way.

Luckily the Air New Zealand staff in Christchurch saw sense and managed to get them checked right thru, altho I think it confused them in San Fran, as one of the stewards had to come up to me on the plane with a note of instructions to check they'd put the right bag on ;-)

I also got selected as one of the "lucky random travellers" to have go thru the extra security screening in LA... the delay wasn't too bad, so didn't miss my next flight like happened with a bunch of us heading to summer camp in '02. LAX is still a shite airport tho, full of grumpy people and a serious lack of signs pointing anywhere... The sooner Air NZ (or a real airline) fly direct from NZ to New York the better!

Got a few snoozes on the flights over, but I'm currently surviving thanks to my trusty XTZ tabs (caffeine, guarana, ginseng, ginkgo biloba, gotu cola, and kola nut... All the good stuff!!)