Off to New Zealand

The first thing one notices about a 747 is how big it really is.  The airport was crowded.  I thought, “Wow, the airport is crowded for a Tuesday night at 10:00."  There were no seats in the small deli/bar on the South wing of the LAX International Terminal.  So I ate a cold turkey wrap standing up (not knowing what AirPacific would serve for “dinner." It was a good thing, too... ;)  There were no empty seats in the waiting area, and certainly no seats near an electrical outlet.  I thought, “Where are all these people going?”  

Well, it turned out that we were all going to Fiji.  A full 747 can hold over 500 passengers, and it was full.  But that’s okay with me.  Whenever I ride a full airplane, I think, “Good, this airline is making enough money to stay in business and keep fares low.”  Besides, AirPacific Los Angeles to Aukland was about half what Air New Zealand or Quantas would have cost, and a stop in Nadi, Fiji, sounded interesting.

Unfortunately, it’s hard for me to fly over the pacific without flashing on Tom Hanks in Castaway, and think, “This is a big plane…it holds over 500 people…that’s a lot of people to die all at once if this plane crashes.  Of course, I would be one of the survivors, having to float to some deserted island and then face all my personal demons alone while living in solitary confinement for a decade with only a face painted on a volleyball to talk to.  My only real worry?  Where am I going to get the volleyball?