When I arrived at HKG I already had my boarding pass in hand, plus my newly minted eChannel enrollment sticker on the back of my passport, so within a few minutes I was airside and on the train heading towards the end of the terminal.
First stop: Centurion Lounge.
The lounge only opened a few weeks prior. Frankly, it's underwhelming. Better than no lounge access at all but definitely inferior to the CX Bridge or Pier J lounges. It's very small and open to the rest of the terminal (easily my least favorite aspect of several HKG lounges).
The food spread is okay, though not as extensive as CX's lounges. The bar is relatively small and there's not much seating in the rest of the lounge.
The bar, however, does have solid drinks.
Not a bad liquor selection.
After one drink at the Centurion lounge I headed over to the Pier J lounge. I just can't resist Aesop shower amenities.
I had a few rounds of food at the Pier lounge.
Dan Dan noodles:
Some cabbage, rice and Korean-style beef.
Battered chicken and a few veggies, plus an egg tart.
I fell asleep twice in the lounge. A red-eye from SFO plus 15 hours in Hong Kong had me absolutely exhausted. I headed to the gate right as boarding was called and strolled straight onto the plane.
As soon as we hit cruising altitude as laid my seat back and fell asleep. I was *out* completely until we were about 90 minutes from AKL. One of the best night's sleeps I've ever had on a plane. This was my first time on an A350, so between complete exhaustion and higher humidity/pressurization, I slept great.
I was awake just long enough to take some shots of the menu:
Breakfast, sans eggs:
Arrived in Auckland, ready to go with my trusty Red Oxx Air Boss:
All Americans now qualify for eGates at AKL so immigration only took a few seconds. The line for biosecurity and customs wasn't too bad. I was landside in about 15 minutes.
I prebooked a cab through CheapTaxi.co.nz so I was quickly on my way to the CBD.