And So It Begins...

I have arrived!  I currently sit on the third floor of the Auckland City Public Library mooching off their free (up to 100mb of transfer) Wi-fi.  I have stopped by my hostel (my temporary home for the next 5 days) and have stored my luggage but I can't actually check in until 1 pm.  I've been aimlessly wandering around the city for about 2 hours now until I have finally stopped for a little while at the library.

Pre-travel I had a good time with Mike and Ken as they both stopped by the house on my last night in town so that we could all enjoy a really good cigar before I left.  I finally finished packing as mom and I left for the airport at 12:10 pm EST.  My final request before I left the country was that I could eat a meal that I knew I would not be able to eat in a very, very long time.  So, naturally, there was no other place to go - Bojangles.  Oh it was so perfect too...

Anyways, at the aiport Mom helped me with my luggage to the counter and we checked everything in and off I went!  It's hard to believe that I'm going to be living for a year with just these three bags...you might be able to tell how excited I am at that prospect...

My trip was completely uneventful which I'm grateful for and I even slept for a good bit of the 12 hour flight.  I immediately started watching Nine starring Daniel Day Lewis once I got on the Auckland flight and I'm happy no kids were around.  It was practically softcore porn when Penelope Cruz was on screen...but it was also a good movie.  After that I enjoyed my dinner, brushed my teeth, drank some Nyquil and went to bed.  I woke up and had breakfast an hour and a half before we disembarked.  I landed this morning at 7:25 am in New Zealand and only lost my turkey jerky at customs.  My illegal knife and my hiking shoes survived the customs agents mostly because no one really gave a crap about the shoes and I told a fib about the knife not being an assisted-opening knife.

After getting out of customs I made my way to the bus stop, paid my 16 New Zealand Dollars and hopped on the bus that took me straight to my hostel (after reading the brochure that I could have saved two dollars by showing my student ID.  I arrived at my hostel to find out I couldn't check in till 1 pm but they could hold my bags for me.  Since then I've wandered aimlessly (I tried to find a breakfast joint outlined in Lonely Planet but I couldn't find it) around the central part of auckland.

I am getting fleeting memories of the streets from when I came here as a 15 year old.  The streets feel, in a strange way, familiar.  Also, Auckland seems to be like Seattle on a smaller scale.  It is an overcast day today so I have yet to see much of the sunshine and it feels like an early Fall day in Boone right now.  Cold enough to have my long sleeves on but that is about it.  I really wish I put my flip flops on before I left the hostel!  It's getting to be about time for me to go back to my hostel and find out what room I'll be in and maybe some things to do for the coming night and few days.  I could also use a nap.  Or at least a comfortable chair as I've been sitting on the library floor now for about an hour.

More to come!