I'm expecting delivery of a gold iPad Air 2 tomorrow too, very excited! I had the first iPad and finally upgraded to an iPad 2 but haven't had one since - I think I will notice a difference
Being in the UK where everything is more expensive, I had to pay £49 up front and £38 per month for 2 years but that does include 15gb of data.
Your new iPad Air 2 is going to be thinner and lighter, you'll love it.