I have finally received my passport with Visa attached!
It was quite an experience. The immigration consultant called me this morning to inform me that the DS2019 had arrived from Boston. I signed the form and she took it in to the consulate which meant I could have left today (Monday) instead of Wednesday as we previously had thought.
So, I scrambled to get a flight for today confirmed, but it became more and more apparent that it was near to impossible to make it from the consulate at 2:30pm (when they give back your passport) to the airport at 2:55pm (the required 3 hours prior to my booked flight).
So, I am now scheduled to leave at 5:55pm on Tuesday 18th July. This time, it looks like I will actually be leaving! For those of you who are really interested, a copy of my itinerary is below. I checked it very carefully this time because one of the previous versions had me ending up in Houston!
Tuesday, 18th July 05:55 p.m.
Depart Auckland Airport, Terminal I on Qantas
Flight QF25 (Boeing 747-400)
Economy class seating
Flying Time: 11 hours 50 minutes
10:45 a.m.
Arrive Los Angeles Airport, Terminal 4
02:30 p.m.
Depart Los Angeles Airport, Terminal 7 on United Airlines
Flight UA448 (Airbus A320)
Economy class seating
Flying Time: 2 hours 18 minutes
05:48 p.m.
Arrive Denver Airport
06:35 p.m.
Depart Denver Airport on United Airlines
Flight UA548 (Airbus Industrie A319)
Economy class seating
Flying Time: 1 hour 49 minutes
09:24 p.m.
Arrive Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, Terminal B