12 hour flight, 4 hour layover Abu Dhabi, 7 hour flight, 4 hour layover Hong Kong, 11 hour flight, arrival in Auckland.  Add in 3 hours to get to the airport early in New York and we’ve travelled for 39 hours.  Add in the time difference and it goes like this; We left NYC on a Tuesday at 10pm, and we landed in Auckland on Friday at 7:30am.  Yowza.  

Who cares about all that travel though? We’re here in Auckland, New Zealand, and I’m not even joking when I tell you the very friendly man who checked us at customs said “welcome to paradise.” Was the flight worth it? Yes.  Would we do it again?  Absolutely.  In a heartbeat.  This is a dream.

After navigating through the easy-to-follow airport exit requirements (visas, customs, figuring out transportation…etc) we felt it was a bit too early to check into our Airbnb so we headed to the Auckland Central Business District to get a taste of our new town.  The SkyBus service from the airport dropped us right in the middle of the city.  We walked for a block or two and settled in at Remedy Coffee for a much needed breakfast and cup of coffee. It felt great to sit outside in the fresh air and take off our backpacks.

It wasn’t the best opportunity to really walk around since we had our luggage, so we headed to the main downtown transportation hub, Britomart, and planned to go to the Airbnb.  After a little help from the ticket counter employee, we purchased the cards we’ll need for public transportation during our stay.  Just like NYC, one card covers the trains, busses, and ferries, you can “top off” money as needed. Looking at about a 15 minute train ride to get to our desitination, we headed on our way.

After checking in with our hosts and oohing and aahing over our new home, we took showers (HEAVENLY) and settled in.  We anticipated being exhausted from travel so we had planned for this day to very relaxing and our last task was to head to the grocery store to stock up on a few days worth of food.  Thankfully, a huge mall with a grocery store is only a 10 minute walk away.  This location is perfect for what we need and the home is adorable.  

We keep looking at each other and saying “we’re in New Zealand?!?”

Auckland, we love you already.