Returning to NZ

What a time this has been.  I had an awesome time in America which Bluey and I will possibly fill you all in on soon ;) but on the 3rd it had to come to an end.  It was really hard to say goodbye after having spent such a fun time together - I can honestly say that I didn't want to leave - but unfortunately it had to happen.  

Bluey and her mother took me to the airport early in the morning on the 3rd.  Had a few hours there before an emotion filled farewell, after which I got on the plane to Charlotte NC.  It wasn't a bad flight, but it did run slightly late...so even tho I saw a shop with something a family member had asked me to get, I had to ignore it and continue at a fast pace toward my next flight which was already boarding when I arrived at the gate.  

That flight took me from Charlotte to Las Vegas and was the most turbulent of any flight I've been on so far - in fact the person sitting in the seat next to me said that she'd been around the world several times and been on too many flights to count but had never been on anything like that flight - it was the worst turbulence they'd ever encountered.  Anyway so that was interesting...and kinda crazy.  

Once that plane had landed I had to go through the Las Vegas airport to get to a different airline which left from a concourse on the other side of the airport.  It was a little different to all the other airports I went through tho cause instead of walking along toward the gates and then clearing security just before reaching them, you had to go through security and then had to wait at a 'station' for a train to take you to the part of the airport where the gates were.  That plane was half an hour late leaving due to it being late arriving at the airport, however it was probably the best short flight I've had so far.  It was a little turbulent to begin, but the crew provided so much info that none of the others did - also even though it was less than an hour long there was a short program shown on the TVs - timewarp (sorta like mythbusters in some ways).  

Got to LA and met up with members of my family who live there - they took me away from the airport for a bit - went to have a pizza and managed to track down some chocolate skittles to bring back to NZ.  

At 8pm LA time I was back at the airport and headed through to the flight back to Auckland.  That was the longest of all the flights I've been on so far at over 11 hours - was really cool tho - had 2 meals on the plane (just like on the way over - dinner #2 and breakfast #1) - and once again they were proper meals - not just snacks.  we also had our own mini TV's again with tons of channels to choose from, plus about 80 movies, the electronic games, documentaries and the real time footage of the trip - which showed things like airspeed, altitude, position, distance and time (both travelled and remaining) outside temperature...etc - was really quite interesting (that part of the journey was about 10500km by the way if any of you wanted to know). 

 

Anyway so I made it back to Auckland...and the first thing I remember from back there is 5 different people asking me if I was visiting NZ and how long I was staying and all - so it seems that even people in my home country can't tell I'm a Kiwi.  Everyone seems to think I'm American.  Also I met 3 people from Bluey's hometown including one who is on an exchange at Waikato Uni. Didn't really get to talk to them cause we were in different parts of the line, but still was unexpected.  Anyway so I got through passport control and then went on to baggage claim and customs where again Dad's policy of declare everything meant I got waived practically straight through.  My uncle was waiting for me just outside that area and after looking at the line of people waiting for domestic baggage transfers (it really was huge) we decided to skip that and take my suitcase across ourselves.  After handing it on, we stopped at Mc Donalds for breakfast #2 (not typical breakfast things but oh well - bluey can probably guesss what I had there ;)) and then half an hour later I boarded the smallest flight of the trip home (a 20 seater) for another slightly turbulent flight (but at least we had warning of it with that one). 

I do have photos of a few of the planes I was on, but not all or many since most of the flights were at night.  Mum and Dad were both at the airport, so after picking up my suitcase we headed back to Dad's where he made breakfast #3 (got to try vegemite at last).  

Overall this trip has been an amazing time and I know I will never forget it.  I'm actually keen to repeat it in the future hopefully - and in the meantime I think I'll always be torn from now on - between NC and NZ.  I really am so glad I went tho and I hope its not too long before I get to see Bluey again :)