Austrailia - New Zealand - final post

Mar 19 - The Return Home

Our last day of this adventure was a travel day.  We awoke early, say around 6:45.  We packed up the last of our clothing and toiletries and headed toward the airport with Wilma and Leonard.  We arrived roughly three hours early as suggested.  We waited in line to be checked in and obtain luggage tags.  We tagged and weighed our luggage and sent our two bags on their way.  Our next task to to begin our trek through 'Checkpoint Charlie', aka the security checkpoint.

Wilma and Leonard were right in front of us as we made our way toward the checkpoint.  Just as they passed the person I call the 'gate keeper', Robin and I were directed to a different line.  The assumption we made was that it was a new line that had just opened and would therefore be quicker as there would be no wait.  WRONG!  Although the wait was not long the hike there was over a quarter mile.  We went down a level, around a corner, across the terminal, around another corner, around another corner, and there it was, the single lane checkpoint.  There were only a couple of people in front of us, and they did not take too long.  However, we both had small pairs of scissors in our carry on.  The security people were very courteous and nice about it.  She even asked if I had a particular need for the scissors, inferring that since they looked like medical scissors (they were) I might be able to keep them.  Not thinking quickly enough I said that I just used them to trim my beard.  So she kept them.  No worries, I can get another pair.  After about a five to ten minute journey through the security line plus another couple of minutes of travel time we finally made it through the checkpoint.  Wilma and Leonard thought we had been detained or delayed - again.

The thirteen plus hour flight was uneventful.  The flight crew on the American Airlines flight from Sydney really took care of us.  The two other flights, one from LAS to DFW, and one from DFW to KCI, were shorter, but we were crammed into oversold 737's.  The layover in Los Angeles was two and a half hours, where 45 minutes of that was getting through US customs, where they only looked at our passports - via camera.  Our Dallas layover was also over two hours, but it went rather quickly.  We arrived at home around 8:30 in the evening, only a short 24 hours after we started in the morning.


Observations:

Cruising:
You can take a cruise to travel from place to place.  The good part of that is you don't have to unpack and repack each time as you are traveling in a hotel.  The bad part is that you generally only have a day or part of a day to enjoy where you are.  There are a few places you will travel that a part of a day is more time than you need to actually see the sights.  In other places it is not nearly enough time.

America vs New Zealand / Austrailia:
We found everyone we spoke to while away to be courteous and helpful.  Even the security agent at the airport seemed concerned that I might NEED the scissors.  And speaking of the airport there was no immediate crowding around the gate when boarding began.  People stood back a little and waited for their boarding group to be called, a far cry from the American airports where there is a major surge toward the gate and you must wade through the crowd when your group is called.  Finally, there was no tipping.  Tipping is an American travesty.  Service was still good though.  However, most restaurants have changed their menus be be on line via a QR code.  The down side to that is if you don't have good internet access you may not be able to see the menu or it might take a very long time to download.  You can always ask for a paper version.

All in all it was a good trip.  Where it is always good to get away to enjoy a vacation it is always good to get back home.

A few of my favorite photos:

Sydney Harbor Bridge

Sydney Opera House

My favorite sunset

My favorite landscape

My favorite travel partner


My final thought is this:

Life is an adventure.  Enjoy it and make the most of it.

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