2/15 - 16/2011 Alaska Air, Air New Zealand

we set off for a record (for us anyway) airport/airline journey to new zealand. 3 flights to get to our destination and 3 to get us home - but you'll have to wait for that post. we arrived at SEA about 12:30pm on tues. 2 airlines and 3 flights later we disembarked in queenstown NZ about 1:30pm on thursday which was 4:30pm on wednesday for those in seattle.

alaska air: seattle to san francisco-

buffalo mozarella, tomato and basil, a couple oversize croutons and a little salad. pretty durn good snack for a national flight!

air new zealand: san francisco to auckland-

we started with an amuse of warmed cashews and almonds, strawberry, slice of ham, gherkin, and wedge of cheese

bread, butter was served with our appy. 

five-spiced with cucumber spaghetti, daikon, papaya salad and sesame ginger dressing

this was quite tasty for a cold chicken dish.

the main course - new zealand lamb loin with shank ravioli, roast potatoes, ratatouille, and sweet pea butter

not the best lamb i've ever had. better than most airplane food however.

dessert - dark chocolate delice with raspberry coulis

think profiterol only not quite as good

there was the drink upon boarding, white for the starter, pinot for the main, a dessert wine and port for after if you wanted it.

i snagged an L&P -another schwepps product for my main beverage but had a few glasses of wine as well.

the cheese wasn't too bad. all 3 were from NZ

a bunch of snacks were available if we got hungry between meals but i slept through any chance of having some.

for breakfast we started with a fruit bowl but i realized after i had eaten it that i didn't get a picture. guess i was still sleeping :-S

coffee and pastry

i chose to have the 3 cheese and chive omelette with chicken coriander sausage and spiced tomato chutney

i have to say for airplane eggs this was yummy! the tomato chutney no so much. cooked tomatos are big in NZ we found out. there wasn't 1 breakfast buffet missing them.

matt chose the belgian waffles with strawberry, manuka honey, apple syrup and freshly whipped banana cream.

manuka honey is a NZ honey and it's quite good. people swear by it's healing powers, having a spoonful a day.

and on the flt from auckland to queenstown we had a little snack -

pork rinds! well not really. they are crisps (potato chips to you americans) but instead of fried or baked they were popped. you can get them at a number of stores now. if you haven't tried them they can be quite good. healthier alternative to the other 2, but if it's the texture you're after it's quite different.