Europe Trip 2011 #1: Wellington to London - the trip

Well, I've made it. all the way from Wellington to London in a little over 30 hours. Add in that I was awake for the preceding 10 hours, and that I only got 2-3 hours of broken sleep on the plane, it's a wonder that I feel human this morning!

The flights themselves were really good. The sectors were Wellington [ICAO code: NZWN] - Auckland [NZAA], Auckland - Hong Kong [VHHH] and Hong Kong to London Heathrow [EGLL]. I checked it out and no airline [that I could find] coukld get me from Wellington to London in a quicker time.

Air New Zealand gave me my requested standby upgrades [at effectively NZD$220 each] for both international sectors which was awesome, albeit with a window seat each time. Still, on the Hong Kong to London sector, the middle seat was free, so heaps of room to stretch out and relax and only one person to climb over :-) The service was great and it's a nice relaxing was to travel... now for a free upgrade to try business class? I don't think so somehow :-) All in all, well worth the extra dollars [Airports dollars anyway] for the upgrade!

Anyway, here are the first photos. Just three this time - the first light as we near Hong Kong, just after landing in Hong Kong and a picture of the Air NZ Boeing 777-219, ZK-OKA, that I traveled on all the way to London. You'll probably notice the engine... it is HUGE - an amazing piece of engineering.

The next post [when I get around to it] will have photos of many of the airlines I saw at Hong Kong.