34 hours of Travel

Our last week before we left was packed with saying goodbyes, packing, getting rid of stuff, etc. The day before we left (Monday), was a full day of cleaning our house (with help from Kevin and Colleen, friends from church) and having farewells with friends at every meal. To make things more exhausting, when we put Ralph down for the night (normally an easy process), he kept crying really hard. About the same time, we realized that our non-refundable Delta flight that Stephen had just checked in for that we were supposed to take the next day from PDX (Portland) to LAX was not going to work because we wouldn't have enough time in LAX before our flight to New Zealand. We discovered this while reading the fine print, which says that check-in and bag drop for Air New Zealand closes at 8pm instead of 8:45pm like we thought. Our Delta flight was going to get in at 7:30pm and we needed to get ourselves, Ralph, and all our bags (our 2 carry on bags, three personal items, 3 checked bags, car seat, and packnplay/port-a-cot) from the domestic to the international terminal before 8pm. So, as Ralph was screaming his head off, not wanting to sleep, we concluded that we needed to buy new flights to get to LAX earlier. I (Tamara) finally was able to get Ralph to sleep while Stephen looked for new flights. We called our airport ride, Alex and Kellsie (friends from church), to make sure they could take us at 8am instead of 1:30pm. They could, so we re-booked with Southwest to leave at 11am with a layover in Oakland. Thankfully, we had already packed and cleaned up most of the house by then, but we still had to finish up a few things, return a few things to neighbours, message people who were planning to say goodbye the next day, and organize a friend to pick up our bed and take it to our friend (thanks Toni!). We were finally able to get to bed around 11pm and got some sleep in before our alarm went off at 6am.

Tuesday morning, we ate a good breakfast, finished last minute packing, packed the car (it was pretty stuffed!), and headed to the airport with a send-off from 6 of our dear neighbours. During the whole journey, I didn't feel like it was real that we were moving to NZ! I kept thinking we were going on a holiday and would be back at our home later. There is a sadness to leaving, but there was also a LOT to do and a LONG day of travel ahead so it was hard to be too emotional. 

With Alex driving, we made great time to the airport. Our first flight (to Oakland) went smoothly, with Ralph napping some of it while S and I listened to an audio book. We had a 2 hour layover in Oakland, where we got lunch and Ralph crawled around with his ball, smiling and making friends like usual. We made it to LAX at 4:15pm and were able to take our time getting our bags and getting to the international terminal. In the hour between getting to the international terminal and the check-in opening, we enjoyed some time outside (with Ralph sleeping in the carrier), watching the traffic at the international arrivals (especially the traffic man telling people off for loitering and threatening them with his BIG ticket book!). Stephen and I talked about how un-real it felt moving to NZ. While waiting for our turn to check-in, we chatted with a family that was also immigrating to NZ with their little child, Luca. Amazingly, there was no line to get through security! For dinner, we used our last US cash (plus some of our credit card), which made everything seem a little more final.

We were feeling a bit apprehensive about the long 13 hour flight and asked many people to pray. There were lots of other families traveling and we made friends with some of them. Before we took off, a flight attendant asked if we wanted a bassinet for Ralph, and of course we said yes! Ralph fell asleep in my arms at take-off; once in the air, we moved to the seats by the bassinet and put Ralph in, where he slept for the next 4-5 hours, waking up only a few times to cry briefly. When he woke up, we let him crawl around or held him for an hour or two. Finally, Stephen put him in the carrier; once he fell back asleep, we were able to transfer him to the bassinet again. He slept pretty well for a few more hours while S & I both slept on and off. When he woke up again, we read him books and he played with his new friend Luca before breakfast. He then fell asleep in my arms when we started our descent and stayed asleep when I put him in the carrier as we were deplaning.

When we landed in NZ, a government worker came on and told us we'd be quarantining in Christchurch. There was an audible sigh of sadness from the plane, as this would make our long travel day even longer! There were so many stations we had to go through when landed: health check, bio security, passport, customs + customs x-ray of our carry-on bags, "normal" security for our domestic flight, and then waiting in a huge room with everyone for about 2 hours before our flight to Christchurch. Thankfully, they gave us yummy snack bags and Ralph enjoyed crawling and charming more people. Our flight was just 1.5 hours; we got off in small groups, starting with families with young children. They helped us get our luggage on a bus, which took us to our hotel: Distinction Christchurch. After getting our marching orders, we again had multiple stations to go through: contact tracing station, a quick health screen, getting our lunch, and finally getting checked in. The workers were a mix of military and hotel workers. Upon getting to our suite (comprised of a bedroom, bathroom, and living/dinning room), we found a packnplay, highchair, and baby bath already set up. In the next post, we'll give more details about our 14-day Mandatory Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) stay. We were exhausted, but also full of adrenaline to finally be on New Zealand soil and not moving!

Many things went seamlessly on our trip. Here is a list of the many things we thank God for during our long trip:

- There wasn't any bad traffic on the way to PDX
- None of our big suitcases were over the 23kg/50lb limit
- At no point, PDX, LAX or in NZ customs and security check, did we have any of our bags searched (even the lunch bag with snacks and food for Ralph)! We regularly get our bags searched because of food/medication we bring for Ralph.
- They never questioned my covid test, which was in my married name, even though I was traveling with my Australian passport which is still in my maiden name, Blackwood.
- We didn't have to wait hardly at all in security lines
- Air NZ didn't weigh our carry-ons (which were not under the 7kg limit)
- Air NZ didn't mind that we had a packnplay instead of a stroller
- Air NZ offered us a seat with a bassinet for free (you normally have to pay a little extra) AND they let Ralph in it even though he's technically too old
- Ralph slept the majority of the international flight
- All our flights were on time 
- Our MIQ suite has two rooms! 

On the plane to NZ!

Ralph in his airplane bassinet

Our first evening in our MIQ hotel room