Arrival: In for the long haul.

So as I boarded fight NZ6 to LAX I wondered how on earth I was going to stave off boredom within a few hours of the 11+ hour flight across the pacific.
I needn’t have worried. There was so much to watch on my little personal screen that in the end, I had to narrow the options and missed out on at least 5 ‘must see’ movies.
I watched ‘Dan Every Day’ (I think that’s what it was called) and that was pretty funny, and then was fed roast Lamb/veg followed by more of that delectable Kapiti ice cream that deserves its medals.
Deciding to live dangerously, I wandered into the kids selections of movies and watched half of the Bee Movie before nodding off. I stirred enough ( thanks to the two year old in the seat next to me kicking my leg for about the 7 millionth time ) and turned off the screen in the hope that I might fall asleep again.
Not a problem as it turned out - I slept soundly for a solid 5 hours and woke up only because they were announcing breakfast on the way.
Not going to be good for the hips just eating then sleeping then eating again.
I lucked out though, I got Blueberry/apple pancakes smothered in Manuka Honey - yum!
Now I wish I’d bought some in NZ. And the last movie I got to watch only half because they turned them off for the landing bits. It was a movie I’ve wanted to see for ages….
PS I Love You…..
Man…. What a tear jerker. I must have looked dreadful after that long flight and then crying for the last hour of it. Before I knew it - and I’m still amazed by how all those hours disappeared - I was exiting the plane and joining one of the longest queue’s I’ve seen. It snaked around in endless zig zags towards the customs officials letting people into the country one by scrutinized one.
A few fingerprints and cheery chat about the joys of cruising later, and I was off collecting my bags and heading from terminal 2 to terminal 3 ( once I located it)
The trick it seems is to look as lost as you possibly can and then people materialise to point you in the right direction.
So here I am. At the departure lounge for Alaskan Airlines with another hour to kill before the flight.
The moment I stepped off the plane on US soil, it was like walking into every sitcom I’ve ever seen. Actually the first ‘scene’ I noticed was more like one of my favourite cartoons.
You know the one… Sam the Sheep dog ( played by a plump customs official - jovial but efficient) waving to his skinny by comparison workmate with a drawled… “ morning Bob” and going about his business of herding us sheep down the right gates ready for the next part of our journey. All that was missing was clocking on.
And now here in another terminal, there is the quintessential ‘works too hard’ dad and uber-wife and two teen daughters ensemble - each with book, laptop, iPod and cell phone respectively, going about being together separately.
Next to me is a cross pollination of Barbie and Prom Queen complete with Valley girl dialogue telling the person on the other end of her phone that ‘of course she loved them’ and then proceeded to do the same to at least 4 more people.
Then there is the exhausted parents across the aisle with the toddler and early primary children in tow - both playing with piles of new toys being reefed out of new Disneyland bags. Dad catches a few moments sleep while Mommy watches the kids, the bags and breaks up the odd territorial scuffle over the new toys.
Further down the row of seats, the corporate couple dressed to impress with their latops perched on their knees - using every moment of downtime to no doubt set that deal in concrete.
And I don’t mean to generalise, but this is everything I imagined a slice of Americana to be like.
Likely this cross section of American Culture has many many more areas of light and shade but the ones that stood out are the ones I recgonise off the TV.
I have to say, so far, I love America. Everyone is so helpful and friendly ( well - except for one bus driver - but even he softened and helped me with my bags and chatted away for another 5 minutes before reboarding the bus and going on his way)
Its just fascinating to observe the nuances that I imagined existed here but you never really see on the TV.
The feeling of incredulity that I was actually seeing this far away dream destination out of my window seat bloomed into a full blown ‘can’t wipe the smile off my face’ countenance as I strolled from one terminal in the glorious sunshine to the other.
Despite being weary, I just can’t stop smiling.