USA-NZ - LAX --> Auckland

I didn’t even have a Wednesday. It just ceased to exist. Or at best, it existed for a couple hours over the Pacific; but it never had a sunrise and it never had a sunset. So I’ll just pretend that my transoceanic flight occurred on Wednesday.

With an early arrival into LAX, it gave me a bit of time to relax. Er, except that I was in Terminal 7 and had to get to Terminal 2. At other airports, such transfers would often be a pretty smooth process. At LAX, however, I had to walk outside, then walk along the full length of the airport’s frontage; only to realize it stops at Terminal 4… and then I had to walk across the parking lot (traveling through restricted areas & walking along freeway ramps in the process) to get to Terminal 2. Bravo, LAX.

I still had a pretty decent share of time to spend in Terminal 2. It gave me a chance to track down some chow – which ended up being Burger King since everything else had obscene prices – and then sit down with my beloved Civilization. But Civilization was put on hold when I ended up sharing one of the few working power outlets with a Kiwi woman named Wendy; and also when I discovered that I could mooch free wi-fi from some Air France terminal located somewhere.

For my long flight over the seas, I had opted to upgrade myself a bit to “premium economy” class. The price difference wasn’t too severe, and I figured that it I was going to spend 12 hours pent up in a tin can: I might as well be a bit more comfortable. I’d also been under the impression that it’d provide power outlets, hence more Civilization. It’s like a drug, really. All-in-all, though, I was just expecting “Coach Plus”.

What I got was borderline first class. Premium Coach was the way to go… I had some storage bins between my in the window which I could chuck stuff into & then use as a footrest; I had massive amounts of leg room; I could recline much much further; and I had amazing food / drink / hot towels at almost every moment I was awake. There were no power outlets, though, but that at least gave me reason to watch some films & get some sleep. Film choices ended up being Defiance – a good WWII movie – and Aliens, which believe it or not: I’d never actually seen from beginning to end before.