The Journey So Far (Part 4 of ?)

After that, Customs was a breeze.  Even though they wanted to look at my hiking boots as part of their Agricultural hold.  (And the boots were at the very bottom of my suitcase.  And I told him I'd cleaned them in anticipation of this.)  Still, I "declared" it; they looked; everyone was happy.  I was still laughing over Immigration, and besides, I was on holiday, this is the FUN part.

...they did, however, send BOTH my suitcases through the big scanner.  Now, I made a point of putting all the film in my carry on.  Kodak's website says film is ok in a carry on but they say if it gets scanned more than 5 times, you should be concerned.  So far, my film has gone through 2 little scanners and the agricultural one ... and might hit two more tomorrow.  So who knows if any pictures will ever come out.

ANYWAY, we then reach the Find The Airport Shuttle part of the trip, which, like I said, has generally been my downfall.  My travel agent told me to take the "complimentary shuttle" to the airport hotel.  There were no signs for "hotel shuttles," so I followed the signs for "shuttles."  This led me to a $30 shuttle into Auckland.  No, that ain't it.  The nice man at the shuttle bus asked me where I was going.  "Airport hotel shuttle?" says I.  "Over there," says he. 

He sent me a $12 bus that made a circuit of all airport hotels.  I broke into my suitcase to look at my itinerary again.  Yep.  Complimentary shuttle.  Back into the terminal for me, looking for the sign or the help desk or something.  Was just about to give up when I looked outside the window and saw a bus with the name of my hotel on it.  Score!

So, here I am.  I checked in and asked the porter for the hotel's business center.  He proudly escorted me to a room with one (1) computer and printer in it, and told me to buy a card at the reception desk.  Someone was using the computer already, so I waited, and now it's my turn.

Ooops.  And now I have 6 minutes left of my original hour.  Gotta run!