Day 1 (12/21): After a stressful, hectic week which culminated at midnight when the packing was mostly done and the Christmas presents wrapped, we were ready to start our trip. We awoke to the news story about how crowded the airport was and how long the lines and wait were. This led to some near-panicky rearranging of our departure time and airport transport. (Thanks Bruce!) Of course we breezed through security at the commuter terminal in San Diego and were left with a two-hour wait for our first flight.

Disaster averted at LAX. Despite our best efforts to go to the wrong places, stand in the wrong lines and get lost in lines, after some special treatment, we managed to catch our flight. Whew!

After a long, boring and, fortunately, uneventful flight, (my first on a 747) we arrived in Auckland ready for Day 2.