Flying across the south Pacific is no trivial matter, and yet, flying time in 10-hour chunks is about as routine as ... well ... flying from Santiago to one of Los Angeles, Dallas, or Miami.
The LAN "south Pacific ferry" goes Santiago (SCL) - Auckland (AKL) - Sydney (SYD). Auckland is an important junction with additional destinations in New Zealand, Australia, Oceania, and continental Asia. LAN uses Airbus 340-400 series metal on their transpacific and transatlantic routes and in economy, the airline provides seat-back screens with audio-video on demand (AVOD).
The plane leaves SCL just after 11pm, and arrives in AKL at about 4am local time for a flight duration of just over 13 hours. Since I'm going through to SYD, I alight the plane in AKL, follow the signs to the international-transfer area, clear the X-ray machines, head on into the empty yawning international terminal, and get ready to board the same plane I alighted.
Some of the available choices open in the early hour include duty-free shops, Burger King, Whitcoulls (books), The Great New Zealand Shop, or Blue Bar. With the sense that it "feels like" 12pm (Chile time), I am very ready for that "lunch beer", despite the apparent incongruity with the local time.
* image #1 (43): "Blue Bar", AKL international terminal, 1st floor
* image #2 (51): At 5am, I have 15 minutes to ...
* image #3 (46): ... to quaff this beautiful beer
With the departure from AKL at 6am, the final flight-segment lasts 3.5 hours, which is enough time for the post-beer brekkie and the post-brekkie snooze, before the plane lands in SYD at 730am local time.
In making this trip a third time, the 5am beer at AKL becomes a ritual.
- HL, 5am Auckland, 23 September 2010.
Posted via email from H-posterous
