>> And I survived the trip to EnZed, too!!
>
>So when can we expect a trip report?????
>
Now that I finally have the time I'll give you the first installment on
getting there.

>curious tygresses want to know!
>
I was technically laid off on March 31, but I promised Don and Stuart I'd
stick around until April 15 to give them a hand out and to ease their
transition a bit, since Natalie left March 31 and they were a little lost
without her.
As it was, I couldn't get all of my stuff done, so I left them April 14,
spent the 15th doing last minute laundry and shopping, and left April 16. We
were supposed to fly direct from Vancouver to Auckland, business class, had
to be at the airport at 5:30pm to leave at 7:00pm for a 13 hour flight
arriving in New Zealand 8:00am April 17 our time, 4:00am April 18 their
time.
The waiting was comfortable after we went through customs and checked our
bags, because Richard has an executive lounge pass in Vancouver Airport, and
that was comfortable and had computer bays and tea and snackies, so we
started a read through of my second book with comments and edits while we
waited.
The first plane we were on developed a hydraulic fluid leak so we put down
in LA. We were in LA for 2 hours, which wasn't too bad because Richard has
executive lounge admittance in LAX, and we were given clearance on his
executive card (I went along as a sort of non-entity - a strange experience.
For the first time I was doing something with one of my children, and my
child was in complete control, while I wandered along with no say, and no
knowledge of what was going on - the reversal of roles)
We left LA at 10:30pm, not too horribly late, figuring there was no need to
phone Auckland, as the person who was meeting us (my sister Liz's first
ex-husband) would check the flights and know we were getting in a bit late -
and you never know how much time a plane can make up over that much
distance.
Where Richard and I were sitting was right beside the Flight Attendant's
bay, so we could see their screen giving flight information whenever someone
went through the curtain. We were going 866K heading south at 10500k up at
1am when I suddenly felt nauseated, as if we'd done a U-turn. It was pitch
dark outside, no frame of reference, so I figured I'd imagined it, and just
wasn't used to flying. I couldn't see the screen at the time.
I was on my way to the washroom when the captain came on and said, "You may
have noticed we've turned around. We are heading back to LA. There is a
technical anomalie we feel needs to be looked into. We're sorry for the
further delay, but we do feel that we need to have something checked before
we continue to Auckland. LA is the closest place we can put down."
Most people were sleeping, the ones who were awake just groaned. When I got
back to my seat the flight attendants were walking up and down the aisles
asking if anyone wanted refreshments or a snack, but most people just wanted
to sleep. So as not to disturb anyone, I whispered to Richard, "they don't
turn a ship like this around for nothing" he agreed and said he'd seen the
flight attendants checking manuals. We quietly took another look at our
emergency pamphlets and checked where the life vests were, then settled down
to get what sleep we could, or at least what relaxation we could while we
could. The movie was shut off, and the flight screen put up for us all to
see. Going with the wind we had been going 866kph but now we dropped out of
that wind and were going 946kph without wind assist. He was serious about
getting back!
Coming in to LA the second time (remember LA? We were never supposed to be
there? Yeah, that place, we were there twice.) was fascinating. Landing the
first time we made a regular approach, swooping around which gave us a good
view of the city, and taking our place in the planes queued to land. Very
busy airport. Planes parked along the side runways being worked on. Coming
in the second time there was no approach. We dropped straight down from over
the Pacific, directly onto an outside runway. All of the planes and
equipment that had been standing on that runway were gone.. I said to myself
"this means something - whatever we've got, no one wants to be near us"
There was a row of fire trucks sitting quietly (no lights flashing) all
along the side
We pulled up at a gantry far from the others and were herded off the plane
in double quick time, into a holding pen. After we were all in the holding
pen we were told that there had been a burning smell in the cockpit, and by
the time we got to LA there was smoke.
I was quite happy to be on the little pink plastic chair in the holding pen.
I was quite happy to be there, able to feel it make my bum numb.
I could have done without LAX security around the holding pen keeping us
from moving about, looking through the doors, or anything. Guys! Get over
it! We didn't want to be here! We aren't planning to blow up your damned
airport! We are not an invasion force!  (Sheesh!!)
We were kept there without bathrooms (very hard on some of the younger
children) and without so much as a glass of water until 4am. Thank you LA
The problem had been an overheating entertainment unit which was removed,
the wiring behind it checked. (What brought down the Swissair is that the
captain took the time to find out what was causing the smell to decide if it
was necessary to turn around, and then decided to dump fuel rather than land
heavy, and by the time he tried to bring it in, the overheating unit had
melted through wires behind it and he couldn't control the plane. Our
captain had shut off everything non-essential, including the movie, and took
us straight back at the first hint, without waiting to find out what it was.
That's why I'm here to tell you this.
We left LA for the second time at 4am (remember LA? We weren't supposed to
be there? Yeah, that one)
More later, I have to get back to work.

Laurie phlying Phoenix

--- Rachel's Little NET2FIDO Gate v 0.9.9.8 Alpha