Traffic came to an historic standstill in Costa Mesa, Southern California today. I am staying with good friends Kim and Bob, and this morning Bob offered to take me for a jaunt in his classic 1952 Ford Sortsman 'Woody'. This fantastic vehicle is part auto and part tree, with a carved and curved wooden rear end that would look at home in an English country manor library. It is a rare car these days and valued at over US$200,000. Unfortunately it remained at a st...

So, the first leg of the adventure is over and I'm in Los Angeles. I always knew leaving NZ would be a bit of a wrench so treated myself to an Air New Zealand Premium Economy seat. Despite NZ having traditionally been an egalitarian place, there is no doubt that modern air travel is based on the old First, Second and Third Class system, except they're called Business, Premium Economy and Economy. And Premium was decidedly second class. Yes the seats are bigger, ...