02/14-16/23
Kia Ora! To start off this big trip, we took 3 flights that spanned 33 hours in-transit before we reached our first destination – Auckland, New Zealand.
Our first flight was with WestJet from Toronto to Los Angeles (5hr). No meal service but 2 rounds of cookie/pretzels. Our stopover in Los Angeles was spent with some of Bev’s family – Tita (auntie) Baby, Tita Inday, Tito (uncle) Banjo and her great Auntie.
We had some Filipino staples – ChowKing (I got the beef wonton noodle soup with a bolabola siapao (steamed chicken bun) and Red Ribbon (classic Bakery for mamon and loads of Ube and flan options).
We ended up hanging at Bev’s aunt’s home and hung out with their cockerspaniels Tuffy and Muffy.
LA traffic is no joke. Took us an hour to get from LAX to Van Nuys/Sherman Oaks area and same on the way back.
The weather was confusing to say the least. When we arrived at LAX, it was super-hot outside but after an hour of driving towards Van Nuys, the sun disappeared, the winds picked up and it got super cold. Van Nuys is in the San Fernando valley which stays cool due to the mountains.
Before we knew it, we had chatted for a few hours and realized we had to make it back to the airport. But of course no trip to LA is complete without some In-and-Out.
To catch our next flight, we went to Tom Bradley International Terminal (across from LAX) and we flew with Fiji Airways – Los Angeles to Nadi, Fiji (10hr55min). This plane was massive as we were seated in row 55.
We made friends with our seat buddy – Carson from Utah who came on the plane with every type of pillow imaginable to make the trip comfortable. He was enroute with his friend/client to Tonga.
Nadi, Fiji greeted us with a welcomed warmth and humidity but also a bit of rain. Unfortunately it was a very short layover spending the entire time in Fiji standing in line once again to go through security as we were transiting through Fiji and straight to our next flight. Our last leg of flights was Nadi, Fiji to Auckland, New Zealand also with Fiji Airways (2hr40min).
Cyclone Gabrielle blew through New Zealand hitting Auckland hard about 2 weeks prior to our arrival including flooding the airport. It started to get back to “normal” by the time we arrived. A high of 22°C and mix of sun and cloud coverage welcomed us. We hopped on the Supershuttle which was the cheapest option ($51nzd for 2ppl for 30mins) besides taking 3 buses over 1.5hrs to the Parnell neighbourhood and cheaper than uber. We checked-in and off we went to walk the waterfront all the way to the viaduct harbour. We stayed at the Parnell Hotel.
We ended up at Commercial Bay’s Food Hall Harbour Eats. To our delight we ordered from The Little Fish Shop – garlic prawn skewers, fries & soft fish tacos ($17CAD) and ordered from Hawaiian Soul Food – Ahi tuna mo betta shoyu poke salad ($13CAD).
