Upgrade!

The Upgrade Gods have been good to me again.

I had my boarding pass scanned the gate in Singapore. The machine beeped, the light flashed red and before I knew it my Economy Class boarding card was being ripped up and I was being presented with a nice blue Business Class one. Was I happy? Well obviously!

Over 9 hours over night in Singapore Business Class. Over 9 hours of lie-flat bed bliss.

Once on board I got comfortable and had a couple of pre-flight glasses of Champagne (Bollinger I think)!

The flight was great. Good food, nice wine and a few hours of decent sleep. It's just the amount of personal space you have that makes such a difference.

We landed at Auckland on time and I whizzed through immigration and customs. I walked to the Domestic Terminal and managed to change my flight to Christchurch to an earlier on.

At the Domestic Terminal there were a few desks manned by consular staff from various countries dealing with people affected by the earthquake in Christchurch. I also saw a Korean rescue team -- bright orange uniforms and immaculately shiny black boots.

I dropped off my bag and, once through security, I went to the Air New Zealand lounge (Koru Lounge). My first stop was to grab a shower.

Now suitably refreshed I had some food and waited for my flight to board