We are home!

So you can't blame me for waiting 2 days to blog about coming home. We were in NZ for 27 days and gone from here for 30. That's 3 days (give or take a few hours) in transit!
The flight to LA was rough and Chris and I had the worst seats in the middle of the middle. I didn't sleep and watched Super Bad, Stardust, and The Darjeeling Limited. It really wasted that bad. I didn't feel as awful as I did on the long flight over.
Once in LA we came through customs quickly so we went to try and get an earlier flight - or layover in ATL would only be 40 minutes. We found out our flight had been delayed and we would miss our flight to Knoxville. It was the last flight in. We got standby tickets to an earlier flight and got seats at the last minute.
Everything was fine after that. My mom picked us up and we stayed up chatting past 1 am!

Yesterday we put away clothes and organized things. I haven't slept good since we got home and I hope to tonight since I have to get up at 6 for work tomorrow.

The Last Week

We only have two more days left here in NZ (pronounced enzed). We have been taking it easy. I have read The Time-Traveler's Wife, The Lovely Bones and Mister Pip. All were good books. I have played a lot of Nintendo DS. I getting worn out on "Safari Island". I need my character to fish but fishing is boring so mostly I annoy the other animals.
Chris and I went and met his school friend for lunch today. It was really nice. We are getting ready to go out with Justin and Julia for dinner and drinks.
Tomorrow we are going out to lunch with is parents and having our last tea (dinner) together.
I have started getting us packed to come home. We have a lot of fragile items and heavy things so it takes strategery to pack. I have 2 1/2 of the four bags done and if I can manage to get our two large ceramic pieces into the last bag, we will be good to go.

We leave here at 8:30 pm on 12/30 and arrive in Knoxville at 11:30 pm on 12/30. It boggles the mind.
I only hope I can sleep when we get home. I know I will want to drag everything out and show my mom. I will also probably beg Chris to let Snoopy in the bed with us. She will snuggle me or try to choke me one. And we have to keep her away from the luggage because she loves to damage suite cases. I think in her mind if we have no luggage then we just won't ever leave.

I am ready to get back to work but dread the first day. I know I will want to see everyone but I bet I will have a lot to do. Will you all be mad if I close my door and ignore everyone until lunch?
Also, I think everyone needs to bring there walking shoes because if we are still doing that weight loss thing, we have to hit the lunch walking again. I am trying to convince myself to get up at 5:30 am so I can do two miles before work. I know that would really drop the pounds.

I haven't weighed myself since I got here. My clothes feel the same but I look softer. I don't think we have eaten that bad - not compared to what I eat at my family's. But I haven't had all my dancing. We have tried to walk for about an hour the last few days since we have been back in Auckland.

Anyway, I will be seeing everyone back in Kville real soon.

About Our Trip

Jen and Chris will be traveling to New Zealand from December 1 - December 30.

Chris is a native New Zealander but has not been there since 2002. This is Jen's first trip to Kiwiland.
We will be visitng Chris's family and friends in Auckland, as well as touring the country. Jen is a nerd and very excited to see Middle Earth.



View Larger Map

We leave Knoxville at 7:30 AM on December 1st and arrive in Auckland at 6:30 AM on the 3rd which is about noon on the 2nd back in Knoxville. Our travel time is roughly 29 hours with the flight from LAX to Auckland coming in at 12 hours and 41 minutes.
We are flying on Qantas.