Bon Voyage

Annabel, Chris and Libby took Lou, Will and me to Dunedin International Airport (!) where we met my Mum, Cathy. We had meticulously planned everything – packing, passports, licences etc so nothing could go wrong… right? Not quite… we checked our baggage right through to LAX before discovering that the address of the place we are staying was required before we could depart. After initially thinking that this hiccup wouldn’t be a problem, it eventually turned into a kind of gastro-enteritis that almost chopped the trip short before it had started. We planned to stay with Stephen Nees, a good friend of mine from high school, and his wife Sarah in Irvine, CA. However, the address did not come to light quickly and, after exhausting multiple avenues (thanks Cathy and Hao), we eventually were able to get underway.

We left from Dunedin with stops at Wellington and Auckland before landing at Los Angeles. The flight was largely uneventful with William getting a decent amount of sleep while Lou and I struggled to string a few consecutive hours together. We had found out before the flights that a bassinette service could be requested for parents of young children and we were lucky enough to get a cot for Will to sleep in – the bonus being the extra leg room for us as well! The cot itself was made for a baby no more than 11.8 kg but we have field tested the cot and can claim that it will survive a toddler of 13 kg… although the length may not be adequate!

The trip took a total of about 17 hours including the connecting flights and although it seemed like a long day at the time, it wasn’t all that bad. We arrived at LAX (three hours before we left – messes with your mind a bit) expecting to be fully strip-searched for failing to declare a piece of poo on our shoes only to discover that the arrival process was swift and pain free. We found a bus to take us to our rental car and we were off. Coming from a cool, snowy/icy Otago to a very hot, sweaty California was quite taxing at first – lots of water consumed.

I was initially worried that driving on the wrong side of the road was going to be a problem, but it turned out that all my hours spent playing Need for Speed: Most Wanted™ were not needless after all. After compensating for the controls on the wrong side and the positioning of the car within the lane, it was plain sailing. That was until we reached Irvine and found that my maps stopped short of telling us how to get to the Nees’ house after we reached Irvine! Fortunately, I managed to get hold of them as they were on their way home and Sarah led us back to their home convoy-style.


Irvine is a beautiful city about an hour southeast of Los Angeles and their apartment complex was as beautiful. That night we had Thai from their local Thai shop which was great. Lou and Will passed out early so Stephen, Sarah and I had a game of Carcassonne before retiring ourselves.