March 14-16th: "they should all jump in the ocean and push!"

I once heard the comedian Lewis Black say, upon returning from a tour of New Zealand:  If the people of New Zealand want to participate in our world, they will all have to jump into the water and push their little islands closer to us!”  I agree!!!!

Wow, this is a long trip:  here is what it takes to get here:  first you get to JFK 3 hours early (because some of us are incapable of not getting to the airport way too early), then take a 6 hour flight to Los Angeles – that’s pleasant:  have a meal , watch one or 2 movies, relax…  Then you spend 4 hours at LAX at the AA lounge, waiting for the connecting flight.  That’s sort of pleasant too – have another drink, read about Auckland….  But it’s getting really late- in fact by the time the next plane leaves, it’s 2:30am in NY….  Which is so way beyond my bed time, it’s closer to when I generally get up.  Then you fall asleep on the plane – that’s actually REALLY pleasant by then..  first, we are lucky enough to travel in business class, which has nice flat bed, and secondly, by then we are so tired it hardly matters (well, it take that back it does too matter – and we managed to sleep quite well…).  So we slept for about 7 hours – nice, right?  Right!  But then you wake up and you realize – THERE IS ANOTHER 7 HOURS OF FLYING……..

Also, by then it’s something like 10am in NY, which is 3am in New Zealand, but the next day – so the time difference is really 17hours, but for your body, it only feels like 7 – except it’s more confusing…  Well, at least, I’m quite confused.  Right now, it’s Friday morning here (Thursday evaporated over the Pacific Ocean)  and a gorgeous morning it is, so I’ll stop complaining about the trip.

Here is a picture of our first sunrise in the southern hemisphere (taken from the plane), 

and a view from our balcony...  As I said, I'll stop complaining now....

 We are going to do some tourism now, enjoy the weather, and try to stay awake.  More later.