NEW ZEALAND - DAY 1

March 17, 2013
And we're off!!!
We left home about 11:30 this morning.  We started by taking Darby to Melanie's house.  He was excited to go, but wasn't happy about staying without us.  Melanie took us to the airport where check in went smoothly.
As we were walking out to board the plane, the handles broke on one of my totes.  An extremely nice man came up to us and offered to take one of my bags - but he took two.  He checked one for us and carried the other one until we were onboard and at our seat.  He then put our bag in the bin and worked his way back to his seat.  What a nice nice person.

Virgil in Special Services Room at Denver Airport

When we arrived at Denver, Abdhul met us at the door of the plane!  We were surprised.  He then took Virgil to the Men's room (after putting him in a wheelchair).  He stayed with him, helped him find the sink, handed him paper towels to dry his hand, then brought him back to me.  He then took us to a cart and from there we were taken to the Special Services area to wait the three hours for our plane.  The driver escorted Virgil into the room and made sure he was comfortable before leaving.
This room has desks, comfortable chairs and even a place to lie down if we wish.    We have never been taken such good care of at ANY airport.  We are amazed!!

We arrived at LA to the same treatment.  Person met us at the door with a wheelchair for Virgil,  He could become helpless very easily if he remained in this environment,  LOL  I have to admit I  like it because it made the process much easier and much less stressful for me to get luggage and Virgil from gate to gate.  Also, the attendant pushing Virgil took us to the front of the line in all cases.  Now THAT was nice.

The layover at LA as supposed to be about 3 hours. By the time we went through all the security required -even with priority treatment - we had a 45 minute wait at the gate.  Then they announced that no carryon could weigh more than 15 pounds.  Of course one of mine did.  I had purchased a bag to replace the one with broken handles, however by the time I took out my mask and camera from the overweight bag so they could check it I still had 4 carryons - 2 for me and 2 for Virgil.  I must add, Virgil was running out of dollars for all the tipping he was doing.

From LA we flew Air New Zealand.  At this point, the care of the attendants escalated.  We thought it couldn't get any better but it did.