To recap: we got stuck in LA because we missed our connecting flight because of a snow storm in Detroit. The next day we toured LA, because what else is there to do for 24 hours?
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| Me, Jen, Callie, and Stephanie (photo from Callie) |
That night, as we were sitting in LAX eating our Burger King (yum!), we heard about the earthquake in Christchurch. We didn't know the scope of it yet, not really. But we would have been landing just as it happened, so we were incredibly thankful we got delayed!
At midnight, we got on the plane to fly to Brisbane, Australia. It was a loooong flight. About 15 hours I think. Luckily we had a large collection of movies for our viewing pleasure!
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| Details of our flight from my screen |
It was the biggest plane I had ever been on. There were nine seats across the plane, with two aisles. But my favorite part was the Aussies. They are so funny. The safety briefing was hilarious. Every little thing we got, from the headphones, to the blanket, to the sugar, had something funny written on it. And I found this especially funny:
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| The V Australia puke bag |
When we finally landed, it was a day and a half later. For a while we thought we weren't going to be able to get to Christchurch, because they were only letting in residents. But since we were living in Lincoln, they let us on the flight.
So we had 10 hours to hang at the Brisbane airport. This was the nicest airport of the lot that I ended up seeing. It was open and friendly. Best of all, there were plenty of couches in remote areas so we got to take naps!
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| BNE airport |
I looked pretty gross after being in the same clothes for so long, including two nights sleeping.
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All I can say is whenever you are flying across the Pacific, pack a change of clothes in your carry on! At least I had toiletries though.
We did see a cool rainbow outside, and some pretty sweet clouds. We went photo crazy, and more than a few people laughed at us, but what can you do?
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We boarded our third flight about an hour after we were supposed to (typical of our trip). Halfway through the flight I woke up and saw thousands of stars outside! I first noticed Orion, and then could see so many. The southern stars are so different from the northern hemisphere!
When we finally made it to CHCH, there was someone waiting from Lincoln to pick us up. The van happened to be parked near our plane from earlier:
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| Last plane and first sight of NZ! |
We were all amused to see that they do indeed drive on the left and have the steering wheel on the right side of the car. I finally made it to my tiny dorm room around 3am Thursday morning. I technically started traveling Saturday at 3pm. Long trip!
In the morning I organized much of my stuff. I gathering quite the baggage tag!
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| My many-times-wrapped baggage tags |
It was good to finally be at Lincoln. So it was with some surprise that I found out the classes would be delayed for two weeks. Friday night, after less than two days here, I found myself in the airport again, to fly to Auckland!
I've seen my share of airports! And just if you're curious, security in Aus and NZ is so much less insane than the US. There's no taking off of shoes, or jackets, or going through a see-through metal detector. I even had water in my water bottle somewhere, and they were cool about it. They checked it for me, and let me have it. In the US I probably would have been arrested or something. At least body searched. Everyone over here is incredibly nice and helpful. I seriously haven't met a single kiwi that was unkind.
I think they are all happy because it's so beautiful all the time.
You are so ADD.
ReplyDeleteaww thanks emily!
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