The Long Journey Home

December 30, 2014

We woke up and took things a bit easy as our flight out isn't until 1:00 p.m.  We went in to Christchurch for breakfast at Vic's Cafe.  We had wanted to go when we were here over Christmas, but it was closed.  We had a nice relaxing breakfast, but I must say it did not compare to the one we had at Vudu Cafe in Queenstown.

Walking in the nearby neighborhood we walked past this alley in full bloom.  It was so beautiful that we stopped to take pictures.  We were wondering if they just naturally grew here, or were looked after by someone.  Then these two men walked down the alley and saw us taking pictures and told us that they worked really hard to get them to look like this.  So nice!

Then it was off to the airport to return the rental car.  First we ended up at the Hertz Corporate offices because the SatNav in the car brought us there instead of the rental return place... Who programs these things anyway???  

We had a nice flight to Fiji.  When we got there we found out that another flight was leaving for L.A. in an hour and a half, so we tried to get on that flight.  The lady looked up the flight, and said there were seats, but also said the flight had closed 5 minutes earlier, so she couldn't put us on it.  I asked if there was a supervisor she could call to see, because we were at a really small airport and there was still an hour and a half before the flight left.  She did not want to help us, and I almost cried...

Oh well, I am sure there must be some reason for it, so we had a long 5 hour layover there without the ability to leave the airport, BUMMER! We were all bored to tears and really antsy to get on our flight to L.A.  I must have walked the entire boarding area ten times.  Finally got on our flight and were up in the air, YAY!  Unfortunately we had forgotten to pack the Tylenol PM, so David and I didn't sleep at all!

We got through customs really easily at LAX and headed to our next terminal two terminals away so that we could check in.  We had planned on renting a car and going to the beach because we had a 7 hour layover, but unfortunately it was pouring down rain!  It never rains in southern California!

I was so tired that everything seemed funny to me.  We were standing in line waiting to check in and Danika was holding her Kiwi (the puppet she bought in Te Anau).  I borrowed it from her so that I could pretend it was watching people.  It has a head that swivels around.  I have really good peripheral vision, so I could look straight ahead and see people from the side walking by.  So I moved the birds head along with them so it looked like the bird was following them watching them go by.  It freaked quite a few people out and kept me very entertained!  Danika, of course, was embarrassed and kept trying to get me to stop, but I was having too much fun!  Besides, it kept a lot of people who were waiting in line entertained as well.

With all of this time to hang out at the airport, we decided to go exploring the underground passages that link the terminals so that you can go from one to another without having to clear security again. We were in terminal five, and the food there was atrocious.  So we explored terminals six and seven. We found a Wolfgang Puck's restaurant in terminal seven, so we decided to have dinner there.  It was actually quite good!

When we got back to our gate, it was almost time to board, so I headed to the restroom.  To my surprise, as I was walking, someone called my name.  I turned around to see none other than Vince Skahill, from my college days. He was there with his wife, Donna (also a friend from college) and they were returning from Mexico and headed back to San Diego.   I was shocked!  I always love to run into people I know at airports, and I usually look around just in case, but rarely does it happen. Of course it is going to happen when I have already been traveling for 30 hours with little sleep! However, I have to say it was a blessing. Our flight was delayed, and so was Vince and Donna's flight.  Our gates were right next to each other, and it was so nice to spend time catching up.  The time just flew by!

Before we knew it we were on our flight to Salt Lake City.  However, with our flight delay, we missed our connection to Missoula... Ughh!  Our bags were checked and we didn't have changes of clothes because we figured we would be home...  at least we had our toothbrushes in our backpacks! We arrived in Salt Lake at 11:00 pm and were given rooms at a nearby Doubletree.  The kids loved it because they gave us three rooms, one for David and I, and one for each of the kids, so they got their own hotel room along with fresh warm out-of-the-oven cookies.  Unfortunately there were no open flights directly to Missoula the next day, so we had to get up at 5 a.m. to catch a flight to Minneapolis, then catch a flight to Missoula.  

Everything went really smoothly and I was so happy to land in Missoula and be HOME after 45 hours of travel with very little sleep.  There really is no place like home!