The Longest Day – 10 January, 2008

The title says it all. Our day began with another rainbow, this time over Christchurch as we sat down for breakfast with our host Michael. Over breakfast he gave us the best directions to the airport, we found out he used to do photography, the room we stayed in used to be his studio, and he shared a few photography tips with Hayley. With all our belongings gathered in the car we said goodbye and followed Michael’s directions, getting to the airport with no difficulty. At check-in we said goodbye to our bags until U. S. Customs and then made our way to our plane for Auckland.

In Auckland we would have a five hour layover, therefore we made plans to meet up with Graeme again. As we disembarked the plane Graeme called to let us know where we could meet up with him outside the terminal. Finding Graeme we threw our carry-ons into the boot and headed off for some lunch. The first place we tried, near the airport, had a limited menu because the kitchen was closed, it was in between lunch and dinner hours. Our second stop, Frolic, located near One Tree Hill we made just before their kitchen closed for the afternoon hours. With a plate of pasta and a piece of chocolate cake in our stomachs Graeme took us up to the top of One Tree Hill to give us one last look around the city. What is funny about the name One Tree Hill is there is no tree atop it now, an angry man cut it down. Reacquiring our bearings we have come full circle, starting and ending our time in New Zealand here in Auckland.

Back at the airport Graeme waited while Hayley and I paid our departure fees to leave the country, something we later overheard someone jokingly refer to as a fine for leaving the country. We made our way upstairs to the food court area where we would meet up with Graeme’s wife, Vanessa, and their two kids. For the next hour we hung out, lounging around. At 530pm we said our farewells and Hayley and I made our way through immigration and security. Knowing we would not eat for a few more hours we decided to grab a quick burger at the Burger King inside the secured area. I know, it is a shame to claim our last meal in New Zealand was a double cheeseburger and a whopper, but it is basically all we had for options.

On board our flight home, in the air just off shore to the northeast of New Zealand I took photos of the sunset we were leaving behind. Once above ten thousand feet the in-flight entertainment was activated. Hayley and I opted for different choices—I with “The Simpsons Movie” and “The Shawshank Redemption,” Hayley with “Into the Wild” and some games of Tetris and Solitaire. Fading in and out of sleep we kept track of our flight status on the screens in front of us utilizing the flight tracker, something that was very fascinating. We reached an altitude of 39,000 feet and the outside temperature reached a bone-chilling 56 below Celsius, just some useless, yet intriguing information to share. As the sun rose for the second time, only this time over the Pacific, we dined on a hot airline breakfast of scrambled eggs and pancakes.

With our seat backs and tray tables in their full upright and locked positions we touched down shortly after ten in the morning on U.S. soil. As we taxied to our gate I powered my cell phone up to send out text messages to the family letting them know we were back in the States. However, every time I went to start a text I was interrupted with an incoming text. My sister Andria, someone I text message with almost every day except while I was out of the country, was excited to have me back in the country and sent me eight messages for me to read upon our arrival—she wanted to make up for all the texts we were not able to share while traveling abroad by sending me, in her own words, numerous “frivolous text messages.” As we deplaned my dad called and I told him I would call him back after we cleared through customs and got settled at our departure gate. We then gathered our bags and stood in line for more than a half hour because of an apple. With neither Hayley nor I being tremendously hungry and eating the apple I properly reported it on my declaration form. This led to our requirement of going through the agriculture line. The end result was the half hour wait and Customs took the apple. Hayley, while in line, told me she would have told me to just throw the apple away—now she tells me.

Once cleared through Customs we dropped our bags to continue on their journey home to Oklahoma, found the shuttle over to Terminal Seven, passed through security and found that our flight to Denver was delayed. Following a bathroom stop to satisfy the need to brush teeth and hair (Hayley) and down some Starbucks, we got switched to a flight that would leave earlier than our original flight. Having gotten situated in the airport it was time to call my Dad back. Looking at my incoming calls in preparation to call my dad back, it was weird to see his call had come in four hours earlier then Graeme’s call back in Auckland seventeen hours prior. I called my Dad back while searching for a place to eat and talked with my sister Mary and my Mom. After checking in with everyone we stopped and ate lunch again. To answer the question everyone has been asking, it was better than the first time we ate at LAX, we are not still LAX-tose intolerant. And it was comforting for Hayley to get pink lemonade, a lemonade that was NOT Sprite.

With satisfied bellies we checked the departures screen, our original flight was now scheduled to depart earlier than our changed flight. Armed with that information we got switched back to the original. While waiting Hayley got to call her parents for fifteen minutes, making her overjoyed, she knew she was home. While on the phone with her parents they told her about the tornados in Wisconsin the other day. She mentioned that Graeme had told us about them earlier this morning, yet in reality he had not told us for a few more hours thanks to the anomaly of the International Dateline travel. It was quite humorous when I explained it to Hayley later. Her call was cut short so we could board our plane. On board a nearly empty plane, another long lost comfort of home was found when the flight attendants served up pretzels. Hayley was doing the “Snoopy dance” again. You see, for three weeks she has been unable to have pretzels to snack on because we could never find them in New Zealand in a snackable size. The only pretzels we could find were sold in a huge box, which was more than what she needed.

Airborne for Denver and in the window seat this time, Hayley took pictures of our second sunset of the day, this time over western Colorado. Landing in Denver was really sad because at 530pm it was dark out. If we had stayed in New Zealand it would not get dark for another four to five hours.

In Denver we received another dose of American travel I have become accustomed to, the information of our plane being delayed. With an extra hour to kill in Denver we searched for food, traveling to the A, B, and C terminals in hopes to find a nice sit-down restaurant. We were hoping for a sit down restaurant with a waiter or waitress to assist us instead of having to order at a counter and then carrying our own food to the table. With no luck in the sit-down department we settled for a quick Sbarro-like Italian place.

Following a brief wait after dinner we were back in the air for Oklahoma City. We both took the opportunity to sleep on the one hour flight. Arriving at our home airport, Will Rogers World Airport, in Oklahoma City we gathered our bags and my car Sunshine and homeward bound we went.

Back at home we checked the snail mail, I downloaded our long day of pictures, I did a load of laundry, Hayley watched four episodes of “Friends,” and we both checked our emails. Now, after a 37 plus hour day here on 10 January 2008, seven meals, two sunsets and a rainbow I am going to bed.

Cheers to all for staying with us,
Bobby and Hayley