Ask Away: Find the waka that brought you to NZ

An Air New Zealand 747. Photo / Martin Sykes

Eli Orzessek answers your travel questions.

Last month was the 20th anniversary of my arrival to New Zealand. I thought that, for the family history (in case any of the kids ever get interested in it) it would be awesome to show them my "waka" … or the airplane that brought me to these shores.

Do you know if there is any way to find out what planes were being used by what airlines on specific flights two decades ago?

The background: I arrived in Auckland on the morning of February 11, 1999 on a red-eye flight from Los Angeles. It's very likely it was Air New Zealand, but it could have been Qantas.
Fred

At this point, it may be hard to find the exact flight and aircraft if you're not sure of the airline. However, if you do happen to find your old ticket, flightaware.com does offer an option to purchase the flight history of a flight number, dating back to 1998 — but it's quite expensive, charging $2650 for the full date range.

If you did travel with Air New Zealand back in 1999, you would most likely have have arrived on one of the airline's Jumbo Jets. Unfortunately, the last 747 was retired in 2014, so flying on your exact "waka" wouldn't be an option. Today, you'd most likely be travelling on one of their Boeing 777s or Dreamliners, with more than a dozen flights a week.

Qantas still uses 747s, but no longer offers direct flights to Auckland from LAX. The operate a partnership with American Airlines with its 787 Dreamliner — departing at around 11pm and arriving around 8.40am.

I'm looking to do a trip somewhere that's far from New Zealand, but I'm going to be on a budget. What's the cheapest and farthest away place you can get to from Auckland?
Trixie

What a great question! Well, I've done a bit of research and found the very handy website furthestcity.com, which tells me that the furthest spot from Auckland (that's not in the ocean) is the corner of southwestern Europe/northern Africa. So you're looking at Spain, Portugal and Morocco, all of which are quite affordable destinations. If you can nab a cheap flight to Europe in the early-bird sales (usually around August), you could easily get a connecting flight to any of these destinations with a budget airline.

In particular, Morocco often makes the lists of best-value destinations — you can save money on accommodation by staying in hostels, or finding good deals on Airbnb. When buying souvenirs in the markets, get your haggling skills up to scratch and you can pick up some great bargains. And when it comes to cheap eats, there's plenty of delicious street food on offer.

Spain is one of the cheapest countries in Europe and Portugal is even better for budget-minded travellers.

Many budget airlines operate in this area, so if you book in advance, you should be able to pick up a great deal.