A new adventure, almost down-under

It’s been a while since I’ve done a travel blog, and I would apologize but choose to blame COVID for my absence.

Terri and I have finally started a trip that had its beginnings back in 2019, way pre-COVID. But then, as we all learned again, poo-poo happens!

As it turns out, we are better off than some who lost their travel deposits/funds through no-fault of their own, or worse. We were lucky in that travel for us was just postponed but then was given a fast approaching deadline; use it or lose it. So 2022 has been a catch-up year: catch-up with family, catch-up with friends, catch-up with travel and catch-up with normality…sort-of. It’s been a really hectic year! We feel cheated for what we missed and for those we lost during the pandemic and yet blessed for all that we have.

The Trip: there is Nothing quite like jumping into international travel than with a 13 hour red-eye flight plus a two hour lay-over out of LAX. We started late on Monday night and landed mid-day Wednesday, (we crossed the international dateline), in Auckland, New Zealand. We arrived tired and excited, found a bus that got us within a few blocks of our 3-star downtown hotel, put on our backpacks and set out to see NZ.

Of any large city we have experienced, Auckland is pure pleasure. We started with a long walk around the harbor and downtown, just exploring with no goal in mind except staying awake until a reasonable bedtime in order to sync with the local time. The highlight was finding the Shakespeare Bar, Hotel and Brew Pub, the oldest brewery in Auckland. The beers were good, the wine so-so, but the lamb-burger was very tasty thanks to the roasted beets (who would have thought that?). We stayed awake until almost 7:30!?!

We were pleased to find out that our hotel offered a free breakfast. Terri was a little irked when she saw that they offered “cat milk” as a creamer for coffee. I suggested she wear her glasses more as the creamer was oat milk. The look of understanding – priceless and funny.

We spent the day walking Many of the Auckland sights-to-see, finishing the day with the Auckland Maritime Museum and a fine Turkish dinner, free of cat milk.