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February 19, 2006
Chasing the Sun
We had to get up at 6AM on Friday, to help my Sister with a problem she's been having. Then, at 3PM, we boarded our flight to LAX. It had already been a long day, but was no where near over: we still had the flight across the pacific, below the equator and across the International Date Line, to Auckland, New Zealand. We got to LAX with no problems, then headed to the international terminal, through all the security, etc, to our flight. We were hoping to get a few drinks in us once we found our gate, but there was only a very small, very over crowded bar nearby. It didn't matter, as we boarded in a short time anyway.
We took off from LAX at 7:40PM (PDT). Our Quantas flight to New Zealand was aboard a Boeing 747-400, 'The Spirit of Australia'. A huge beast of a plane. It took a very long time to get everyone aboard and then take off. We were going to be in this flying building for the next 12+ hours. Fortunately they have a nice entertainment system, with displays in the seat backs. They have a nice selection of movies and TV shows to help kill the time. I managed to watch 'Corpse Bride' (Note to Linda: you have to see this, if you already haven't) and then most of 'Blazing Saddles' before I started passing out from lack of sleep. We flew economy class, so no big sleeper seats for us. The seats did go back a tiny bit more than usual, but not that much. Sleeping like that did quite a number on our backs and necks. Add in the fact that some guy a on the other side of the plane was coughing every ten minutes or so and you can imagine we didn't sleep too well.
Some time around midnight (NZ time, 5AM CDT) we both woke up a bit and just managed to doze on and off until they served breakfast, at about 4:30AM (NS time).
We landed at around 6:30AM. Getting through customs took at least an hour, as it was packed. Once through we got our money converted to NZ dollars and found a pay phone to call our hotel so they could send a car for us. It was then that we discovered a Universal Truth: all pay-phones steal money. Having been unsuccessful with the pay-phone asked the nice lady at a help desk and she pointed us at the courtesy phones. Our hotel sent a car over and we were finally able to relax a bit in our room, which is very nice.
It's much more humid here than I expected, but the temperature is only around 23°C/74°F, so it's really quite nice (especially considering that it was -17°C/23°F when we left Chicago).
We napped a bit during the day, but tried not to really sleep, since we wanted to get our body clocks adjusted. We managed to stay up until about 9:30PM before getting to sleep, and were going to get up at 7AM, but I just woke up around 6AM and started checking my email and writing this entry.
It's almost 7AM now and we are going to get started soon. We have a 10AM flight to Christchurch, on the southern island. From there we rent a car and our trip really begins.
Posted by ed at February 19, 2006 11:58 AM
Comments
We are so glad you made it safe and sound. And by the way thanks sooooo much for the help, I am eternally grateful. (don't let that get to your head). We love you and hope you have a wonderful time.
Posted by: Mom and Sis at February 19, 2006 10:29 PM
there's a place called "christchurch"?!...crazy!
I'm glad you kids got there safely! Enjoy!
And Corpse Bride is awesome!
Posted by: freddie at February 20, 2006 2:09 AM
Corpse Bride is absolutely awesome. I'm totally into it right now. Have fun on your trip!!!
Posted by: Linda at February 20, 2006 12:35 PM
I think its time for a Litmus Green Reunion dont you?
Posted by: Danny323 at February 25, 2006 5:49 PM