New Zealand Trip 7-20-19 to 7/22/19

View from my room - Grand Mercure Hotel 7/22/19




I am writing this from the Grand Mercure Hotel in Auckland, New Zealand.  Yes, you read this right, JO ANN is IN New Zealand!

My life these days is doing things on my "bucket list" and visiting New Zealand was a bucket list item.  My daughter Rebekah has been touring with Disney On Ice this past year, and after going to Japan to see her at this time of year last summer (and climbing Mt. Fuji with her), Rebekah and I decided I should join her when her tour went to New Zealand.

I haven't seen anything yet.  All I have seen is the airport in Auckland and what I saw from the plane as we landed and the scenery from the Uber I took from the airport to the hotel.

But...I already had kind of a cool experience during my plane travels:

I flew first from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Brisbane, Australia.  It was a LONG flight that left LAX at 11:20 pm on Saturday night 7/20/19 and landed in Brisbane at 6:05 am Monday morning 7/22/19.

My plane to Auckland left Brisbane at 8:45 am, which was 11:45 am in Auckland and landed in Auckland at 2 pm.

The person sitting next to me was from Tokyo, Japan.  His name is Hideki.  He was the nicest seat companion that I have ever had on a plane!  He was on a business trip to Auckland and then the business trip continued in Sydney, Australia (or was it Melbourne?) I think.

I told him all about my trip to Japan and showed him photos.  He was fascinated that I especially went to Japan to Climb Mt. Fuji.  He told me that long ago he had climbed Mt. Fuji.

He also, I discovered, like many Japanese, is a figure skating fan and he said he "was honored to sit next to me!"  We talked a lot about famous Japanese figure skaters and he knew all their names.

I told him about the Japanese etiquette I learned while I was in Japan including elevator etiquette.  We talked about how restaurants in Japan have photos of food on menus and how choices or substitutions are not available.  Hideki told me that in Japan, that Subway fast food choices are difficult.

We talked about Japanese Curry, lack of trash, no eating while walking on the street, and how polite everyone in Japan is.

He also told me since the Olympics is coming to Japan, that the society will be going "cashless" in a year or so.  I told him how fascinated I was with Japanese coins and cash and showed him the coin purse I bought in Nagoya at a train station.

JO ANN and Hidaki




After we landed, Hideki and I were together through Passport Control, Baggage Claim, and Customs.  He helped me get a cart and even helped me load my baggage on the cart at both the Baggage Claim and at Customs!

Hideki also told mei he wanted to buy my book, My Skating Life: 50 Plus Years of Skating, and will email me after he reads it.

My encounter with Hideki was already a highlight of this international adventure!  I can't wait for what is in store!