s e v e n i s a j o u r n e y

So, we are back, safe and sound, from our US trip. Over the next few days we hope to put up a series of posts detailing the many adventures we had (including a few unexpected adventures after we returned home).

The start- Wednesday August 20th.

It was a long, long Wednesday. We had a 6:40AM international flight from Wellington. Which meant being there 2 hours early. Which meant getting up at 3:30. Ugh. We then flew to… Sydney- yes, kinda going backwards there- for a 5 hours layover. As we don’t have NZ passports yet and had not arranged visas we were not allowed out of the airport. We went over to Customs and asked if we could just get out for a few hours to get some non-airport food. Now, to their great credit, they seriously considered letting us out, but we only had 3 hours until the next check-in. That is not much time to escape an airport and eat. I am pretty sure if we had been looking at an 8-hour layover they would have probably let us through. I do respect officials who are willing to be flexible and helpful!

After that was the long-haul to SanFran. The United 747 flet rather old and dingy. No in-seat entertainment, there were only ceiling-mounted flickering CRT televisions to watch- if you paid for the headsets. Thankfully we managed some sleep. I must give credit to all the various federal employees in SanFran, they were uniformly polite, friendly, and efficient. We got through all he border procedures without difficulty, and made our way to the US Air terminal for the final leg. Once again, a full flight (every plane the whole trip was packed). This was also our first exerience at “now you buy your food and drink.” Thankfully we managed to get soem snack-boxes before they ran out, and they contained enough nutrients to prevent any unfortunate cannibalism incidents. We made it to Philly, met my parents, and got driven to their place for much-needed sleep.

Time of transit- 32 hours. Uggh. Long trip. And due to the magic of the international date line that was all on Wednesday.

Thursday the 21st and Friday the 22nd-

A bit of rest, recovery, and shopping. The Delaware weather was very un-August-like, we were getting lovely cool non-humid weather. Walks were taken along rivers and in local parks. We went to BJs Price Club for some shopping (and we regret not bringing the camera, properly explaining the horror of a 20L tub of pork rinds to really requires photo evidence). These relaxing days really helped us get over the jet-lag quickly, and prepare for the main event on Friday- my grandmothers 88th birthday!