Why I love Auckland!

Just arrived in Auckland after struggling to sleep in Melbourne. As usual on this long flights to Australia and NZ the whole crew wakes up in the middle of the night! I was jumping in bed at 4 a.m. listening to iPod and dancing naked! What a sight!!!

Anyway, the best part of the trip is Auckland! I love it here because it really feels distant. Far and away from the whole world. Because on most maps the two tiny islands are always on the far low corner and than the maps is finished it seems that if we were to fly longer eastwards we would fall out of the Earth. Does it make any sense? However there is not much though after New Zealand. Just water, all the way to Chile (and a few islands in between that dont really count as land itself).

New Zealand is also a few days behind the rest of the world. What I means is that you can get here last month's Australian magazines. Madonna's new CD was released yesterday. I bought it in Melbourne but here, nope, still not on sale! Therefore no need to spend money here with CDs and DVDs.

The people here are also nicer than in Australia. They are more down to earth. Aussies think that there is nothing better in the world than Australia. Much like the Americans think of the US and us Brazilians about Brazil. But Kiwis, albeit loving their land, are more subdued than the bragging Ozzies! And the integration between the Whites and the Maori here is smoother. They have not killed them all and Maori is an official language. In Australia aboriginals are only there to entertain tourists playing the bongo or doing handicrafts (which are than sold in white-owned shops).

But let's stop talking nonsense about New Zealand and Australia. I also have to tell you that I discovered the pleasures of First Class. Because the crew was short of First Class crew and none of the more senior Business Class crew wanted to work in First, I volunteered! So, all the way from Dubai to Melbourne and Auckland and of course backwards to Dubai, Vicente is a First Class bitch! This is because the first class crew are always saying they are busy, than they came into Business or Economy to get something and go: Oh My God, we are still serving the 3 passengers in First Class (this when there are 42 in business or 204 in economy). It feels great to be able to give good quality service to people, though I much prefer the Business Class crowd. First class passengers are mostly very old and rich and dont want to talk to you about their life! They dont even eat or drink that much and at the end of the flight we have to throw all the leftover wine in the WC! And believe me, it HURTS to throw an almost full bottle of Dom Perignon Cuvee 1998 down the toilet! If only I were slack enough to lock myself in that toilet and drink it all!!!

Will try to write more tomorrow! Now all I need is to go back to the hotel, have a steak with sparkling Kiwi wine and go to bed! Tomorrow is another day...