Touchdown

AUCKLAND -- So I made it so far. That was rough. But not as bad as I thought it could have been.

The fluids in my face, as in ears, nose, sinuses were relatively under control during the entire trip. That is very unusual. I often have some terrible and very painful issues with my ears and forehead from the pressure changes. I also usually can't hear at all when I am on a plain -- the bubble effect. Did not have that this time.

The only real issue was descending into LAX. My right ear went nuts. It hurt bad and I could not hear out of it the entire time I was on the ground in LAX -- which was problematic since my change over was difficult to find and I could barely hear the people I was asking for help.

Anyways the long flight to NZ was relatively easy compared to that. Once we got up above the clouds my ear cleared up and it has been fine ever since. I got to watch a number of movies while I was in the air. My list includes The Dark Night, Wall-E, Bull Durham, and The Hulk. I also watched several episodes of House and Gossip Girl.

I arrived in Auckland at about 5am. So I had some time to kill before I could even check into any hotel. Therefore I cruised around Auckland a little bit. And also learned how to drive on the left side of the road. Not that hard but not that easy especially after traveling 20 hours through several time zones.

Never the less I made it to a motel and plan to shower and sleep during the mid-afternoon and maybe find a pub later this evening.