Have loads of fun memories as a kid doing that route to LHR through LAX. Dad used to fly a lot for work back to the UK, and his employer would allow him to choose either 4 economy tickets or 1 business class ticket for the trip so if a planned trip lined up with school holidays we'd be off to the races. I remember going anywhere from 1-3x per year from about 1997, and the first time I didn't take that flight to go to the UK was in 2006 when we went via Dubai.

In no particular order, I remember:

• Mum and dad buying me a Gameboy Colour for my birthday, and saying I could only play one hour on the plane and then had to read. Of course the nanosecond they fell asleep I snuck into mum's carry on and spent the next however many hours glued to the screen.
• Being really confused by how high the water level is in American toilets (still confuses me)
• Not understanding why we couldn't walk around the airport (when they still had the normal transit option pre 9/11, if my memory serves me right?)
• Being excited for every single meal and snack, now I usually can't wait for the meal service to be cleaned up so I can try to sleep

My last trip was in 2019, outbound to the UK to start my honeymoon. So once again great memories ... particularly of the young 18 yo American lads sat beside us who got trolleyed on their duty free less than an hour into the flight and got caught by the cabin crew. I also remember thinking (as lame as it sounds) that I had 'made it' as a somewhat frequent flyer because the flight from AKL - LAX pushed me into Air NZ gold status.