And we are off....

After a couple of years of planning and a whole heap of waiting, the trip is finally underway. Fiona and I headed off to the Christchurch airport for our first flight of the journey up to Auckland, nervous and excited at the same time. Another 2 months and 3 days of travel lay ahead of us and this was just the first step. We arrived in Auckland on time and hung out in the airport for a few hours, stocking up on duty-free booze and hunting down a New Zealand flag to wave at the games.

The 12-hour flight to San Francisco was pretty uneventful and somewhat more uncomfortable than I was expecting, I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised sitting in the middle of a row of 3 seats with only minimal legroom. The woman on the outside of me who must have been in her fifties proceeded to get drunk on the first part of the flight, but at least she slept pretty soundly from then on, which is more than I can say for myself.

We touched down at SFO right on time, and even though I was expecting the usual level of interrogation from Immigration and Customs, they must have been having a 'Be Nice' day, as we sailed through in about 10 minutes. In all my time flying in and out of the US, this was the quickest it has ever taken to get through the airport and with all extra formalities we had heard about because of 9/11, I was expecting a long delay.

We met up with my good buddy Yates in the arrival lounge who had come to pick us up, and we soon heading off down the highway to his place in Los Gatos. After a quick pitstop to change and freshen up we went out for our first meal at a local sports bar, interestingly called the 'Double D's'..! After a huge burger and a couple of beers, the only thing I was fit for was a power nap, all the travel and lack of sleep on the plane was finally catching up with Fiona and me, so we crashed out for a good 3 or 4 hours...

When we resurfaced around 7pm we were off shopping at the local supermarket, only to be followed by another meal, this time at a nice Mexican restaurant. The pork burrito I had was soo good, I just had to eat the whole thing and man was I stuffed... It felt to us that the only thing we had done since we arrive in the US was eating... There goes my waistline...!

On Sunday guess what we did first thing, yup you got it.... we went out for breakfast and the biggest omelette you have ever seen. This time I only ate two-thirds of it and left about half my hash browns. Is it any wonder there is an obesity problem in America with the amount of food they serve, I think I've put on a good few pounds in the short time I have been here.

Believe it or not, but Sunday was a cloudy and rainy day here in California so after breakfast which finished at about midday we decided to go and see 'The Da Vinci Code' at the local cinema. After all the hype and bad press I actually really enjoyed the movie, it held my attention, did not get overly complicated or too detailed, and moved along at a reasonable pace. Maybe not having read the book helped as the flashbacks and explanation of some of the historical stuff worked just fine for me, so overall I would say it was a well put together, entertaining and thought-provoking film. Go see it...

Last night we caught up with my old friend Mark and his English wife Joanne for a BBQ at their place. It was great to catch up with someone I have known now for almost 15 years and have a great deal off fondness for. He and Joanne now have 2 lovely kids and look to be doing really well. We had a great time catching up and remenicing about some of our more drunken past antics, and also talking a little about how we have all changed over the years, and what the future might bring... All in all a good evening.

And to top off the evening, Fiona checked her email when we got back and found that we had been allocated some tickets for another World Cup game in Frankfurt, the high-class soccer duel between Korea and Togo, should be a classic... I shouldn't joke, as any game is gonna be great...

It's around 1:30pm California time right now, all we have done today is lay around the house and get rid of the last of out jetlag. We will be heading into San Francisco a little later for a Major League Baseball game, so that should be an experience for us.... We have managed to avoid any heavy large meals so far today, but I'm guessing that there will be a number of beers and hotdogs with my name on them at the game..., I might need to get some bigger trousers soon...