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Leaving the Ordinary World We departed from LAX on board an Air New Zealand flight. The plane had Aragorn and Legolas painted on the side. I couldn't get a decent picture because the jetway was in the way. But just knowing that the airline had gone through that trouble helped to set the tone quite well.
We got into the Auckland airport and went through customs. They are very strict about agricultural products or just about anything biological (after visiting there I understand why). I got grilled about a wooden Churchwarden type pipe I had brought for some photo opportunities. They kept wanting to know if it was for smoking Cannabis, I kept trying to explain it was for a picture. Eventually we went through. They were nice folks and very polite throughout. It was well past midnight when we finally reached the Spencer on Byron hotel where we were staying. We ordered some wine from room service and tried to sleep. We slept right on well past noon and then got up and were able to meet with Erica Challis (Tehanu from TheOneRing.net) and she took us out to chat over some beers.
Erica has a pretty impressive background. She is a French Horn player in the Auckland orchestra, editor of "People's Guide to Tolkien" among other things, and an all around well-rounded and intelligent woman. She took me and Penny down to a waterfront section of Auckland and we went into a nice pub which served enormous portions. Unbeknownst to us there was a trivia contest that night at the pub, we joined under the team name of "The Inklings" and came in 3rd! Had a great time, but was quite looking forward to the next day, when Penny and I had some activities planned and the tour would officially start. |
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Day 1