davethegrinch.net

Sarah Says:

Well folks, for a little while there it looked like your favorite travelers were never going to catch a break. My luggage was finally delivered to me by a very nice taxi drive a mere 30 hours after we landed – very nice to see my stuff again. Unfortunately, the weather has been what some would call atrocious. All the poor backpackers have been stuck inside watching Trainspotting while it pours rain outside. Meanwhile, I awoke on our first full day in New Zealand sick as a dog. I had to stay in bed for 2 solid days wrapped in a fleece and 3 blankets, too weak to do anything but shed the odd tear. Poor David trodded off in the rain all on his own – which worked out well cause I didn’t really want to go to the Maritime Museum anyway.
But, fear not, my friends – our down days seem to be behind us! I am healthy again and the sun has finally come out!
We are heading out on our first official roadtrip tomorrow. This is a very exciting thing to a backpacker – your first time out. I think it may be even more exciting than the flight over. I mean – we’ve been here a few days, met some very nice backpackers, we’ve gotten advice and shared ideas and now we are packing up and heading out. It’s quite exciting. We are leaving the city behind – no offense to Auckland, it’s a lovely city but, really, seems exactly like Seattle with a Space Needle and everything – heading northeast for the beach. We promise the pictures will start coming soon.

Thank you to everyone for keeping in touch with us – I can’t believe how many of you have sent us messages!! We love reading them; thank you, thank you, thank you.

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Dave Says:
Rain!!

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Dave Says:
Every great explorer must face adversity and then rise triumphantly from it. For our intrepid explorers adversity came in the form of major airline carriers from around the world. Alaska, it appears, is unable to estimate flying times from Seattle to LA. Qantas is unable to ascertain if a passenger should or should not be on a flight. Baggage handlers at LAX are unable to read baggage tags (something, it must be said, should be a requirement of the job.)

Let us elaborate. Due to mechanical failure at SeaTac, Alaska announced that Auckland bound passengers would miss their connection in LA and sent everyone to customer service. Once at the desk our favorite travelers found out they weren’t actually on the same reservation as each other and Dave (me) could not be guaranteed a reservation on the next Auckland bound flight, the next day. Just when things were looking grim, Alaska decided they could fix the plane and get everyone to LA in time to make the connection. Oh, but wait, with only an hour between arrival and departure Dave (me again) would have to collect his baggage and re-check-in with Qantas in a different terminal whilst Sarah could go as a transfer passenger.

We skip ahead two hours to LA. Picture the scene. Warm breezes, blue skies, palm trees and Dave running like fury from baggage claim to checkin, to security and concourse whilst Sarah was told with no sympathy whatsoever that my (I apologize for the mixed pronouns – it seemed like a good idea at the time) seat would be sold to the next head of cattle in ten minutes if I didn’t show up. I know you’re all on the edges of your collective seats here but rest assured I made the flight. But wait, there’s more!!

At the embarkation point, where they scan one’s boarding pass, Sarah was informed that she had been “off-loaded”. This means they thought she wouldn’t make the connection from Seattle so they sold her seat to someone else. Never mind, they found her a seat and they found her another one and they said that it was (and I quote) “iffy” that her bags would make it.

Fast forward twelve hours. We arrived in Auckland and wait in baggage claim for our luggage. We wait and wait and wait and my bag appears (I’m Dave but I guess you already got that) and then we wait and wait and Sarah’s bag just doesn’t show. Off to customer service we go and they tell us it’s in Melbourne (but it will be here at 1am the coming morning).

Anyway, it’s a long story, as you’ve found out, but we’re here and in one piece although we nearly weren’t and our luggage is still to sample the joys of Auckland International Airport.

And that, my friends, is how Capt. Scott almost made it the south pole (except he died!!).

Sarah Says:
No need to panic as we did arrive safely and have already made some new friends in our lovely hostel. However, we’ve just endured the absolute worst – make that hellacious – journey of my entire life. I stink, I’ve got no bag and some chick named Alicia at LAX gate 122 is going to get a real juicy letter in her Qantas employee file from me. Love to you all! We’ll send pictures once we’re feeling normal!
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Sarah Says:
Dear Family & Friends,
I truly cannot believe that the time has come to type this message to you. After at least a year, if not longer, of talking, planning, saving, changing our minds, researching, changing our minds again, booking flights, breaking it to you, getting very excited and getting very nervous – our big adventure will start in just 2 days. There’s a big plane leaving Seattle on Monday with 2 seats on it for us. We have no idea what waits for us on the other side – and I don’t think we really want to know. All that we really have to worry about for the next 3 months is hoping for a nice cup of coffee in the morning, a nice cold beer in the afternoon and some fun in between. Hopefully, we’ll come back to our home and the people who mean the world to us richer for the experience. I didn’t even have a passport when David Browne came into my life. He introduced me to the world outside the United States and for many years this – what we are doing – has been my dream. He’s having his time living abroad right now – with us here in Seattle. As a dream come true, I’m about to have mine – for a little while.

Now, there have been some family and friends out there who’ve expressed mild devastation about our journey. I want to speak directly to you for a moment – you know who you are. I just want to say – I love you with all my heart. David and I are the luckiest people in the world to have so many people enriching our lives and you’ve shown us that tremendously as this day has drawn near. Before I start crying in my keyboard, I’ll close. Take care, everyone! We’ll be in touch!!!

Dave Says:
Haven’t started packing yet. Doesn’t really matter. I probably have enough baggage anyway. How light can one travel? I remember coming to Seattle with just two suitcases. Those suitcases are long gone, replaced by technical marvels of modern living complete with wheels, compartments, straps and other accoutrements essential to today’s traveler. I like my new luggage but still feel a little nostalgic for my trusty old fashioned £10 suitcase. Over the next three months I plan to consider my luggage carefully.

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