Jer was very taken with this mixed media political graffiti in Christchurch.
Jer was very taken with this mixed media political graffiti in Christchurch.
Set the alarm for late (7:00), still didn’t lever ourselves out of bed until later, and made it into the breakfast room 5 minutes before they stopped serving breakfast. 2 cooked breakfasts as before, except Jer skipped the eggs, on account of not feeling completely better. Checked out, left our bags, and headed out to the Arts Centre, in hopes that it would offer better wares than the ultra-tack tourist shops in the city center. It did. Grabbed one final item from an ultra-tacky tourist shop, then headed off to the airport. Got to the airport, tried to switch to an earlier flight, but were thwarted by the unhelpful and unfriendly check-in lady. Got to our gate, with the PA announcing delayed and cancelled flights. Air NZ is fine, maybe better than average, when you get in the air, but they are terrible on the ground, at least in the Christchurch airport. Pampered by the efficient, reliable, flexible airlines in the US, we were very nervous about making our flight to LAX.
Fortunately, the problem that was messing up the other flights did not get us, and our flight left on time. Hung out briefly in Auckland, then aboard the plane to LAX. Jess slept fairly okay per the plane, but Jer did not. Plane was very dry, Jer spent the whole time drinking water then running to the bathroom. Since he did not sleep, Jer watched the in-flight movies; “Wonderous Oblivion” is pretty good, “13 Going on 30” is not. Dashed through LAX to make our flight to JFK. Jer slept some on this one, Jess did not (per the plan). Both enjoyed “Dodgeball,” though it might not stand up to a second viewing. Landed in JFK, got a cab home, forced ourselves to stay awake long enough to eat dinner, then fell into bed. Jer slept well and woke up refreshed and free of jet lag. Jess did not, and was still somewhat out of sync days later. So much for the plan.