On American soil...

I made it back to America without to many problems. I had spent the day in Auckland with my Aunt and Uncle doing some last minute shopping and packing. I filled one whole suitcase with food and goodies to bring home to my family. I got to the airport around 6pm for my flight that was to leave at 9:45pm. When I checked my bags in, I was well over the weight limit. The limit is 23 pounds and they wont allow your bags on the plane if they are over 32 pounds. Well, at least one of my bags was over 32 pounds and the other one was really close. My Uncle told me that knowing my bags were going to be really heavy, I should pick a young guy at the counter and flirt with him and hope he is lenient. It was a young guy at the counter who checked me in, but I didn't have to flirt with him. He just put them through and told me that he hoped his supervisor didn't catch him. I was very grateful, thanked him, and prayed he didn't get in trouble for helping me out.

Our flight was delayed for over an hour while they tried to fix a door that wouldn't shut properly. While it was a nuisance to be delayed, I was very thankful that they fixed the door. We seemed to make up the lost time as we landed about 20 minutes late. As we landed the flight crew told us that if we hurried, we could get to Customs before another plane load of people that had arrived late. I am glad they told us, because as I got to the customs line, there were about 15 people in front of me. Only a minute later, I looked behind me and the line behind me had about 50 or more people. Those poor people would have waited for an hour or so.

Half an hour later, I had breezed through customs and was very relieved to make it out of the airport. Sam came and picked me up. We took the scenic route home and I loved seeing the beach and familiar places again. More than that, I loved having the time to catch up with Sam. After I got home and dropped of my bags, I went to a Bridal shower for Julia Van Dyke. Julia is Sam's sister and is getting married next weekend. I arrived pretty late, and made a grand entrance. But the best part was getting to see many of my friends and celebrating with Julia her upcoming marriage.

Today, I took things really quiet. I slept late, and then had a nap in the afternoon. I was trying to set my internal clock back to American time and get some much needed rest.

The airplane I flew back on

My Suitcase full of Food