Attention Family, Friends, Aquaintences, Stangers, and Enemies:

I am making a slight rearrangement to my travel plans. I will still be going to New Zealand, so the title of this blog will not be a completely misleading. I will however, need to save most of my exploration of that gorgeous country (I know it is; the AirNewZealand people said so) for another adventurous trip.

My original plan was to visit my friend in Townsville, Australia for a bit, then travel to New Zealand and take a tour of both islands. I wanted to go to Townsville especially, not only to see my friend but also because my Grandfather spent some time there when he was stationed in the Pacific during World War II. I wanted to see it. And of course I've heard such amazing things about New Zealand. Some say this particular trail on one of the islands is the most beautiful hike in the world. It promised to be an Amazing trip.

I, however, am ready to come home. I am not feeling entirely well. Afterall, I have been gone over a month, through a variety of continents, hemispheres and cultures. I have eaten food unlike what I'm used to (in all the countries) and traveled long distances in one day several times. I am ready for my own bed. I mean, I have gone around the world, or will have when I get home. So the subtitle will only be slightly off. It will actually be more like "Around the World in 34 Days" or so. It depends on when I get a flight out of New Zealand.

Right now I have a ticket from Cairns to Brisbane to Auckland, and a hotel in Auckland. There is a flight Wednesday (so I would spend one night in Auckland) to SFO. I have a ticket for that same exact flight, but in 2 weeks. They can switch my ticket, they assure me they can, but right now they are puzzling over how much to credit me. See they know they have to upgrade me, because I have fare "T" and only "U" is now available in Economy. The problem is, the AirNewZealand people have no idea how much my fare "T" was originally. They know the fare class but not the exact number. And my ticket is complicated because it is a round the world flight that I got through Airtreks in SF (which got me a great deal with tickets I can still switch - rereouted and changed the date on the Qantas one no problem). Airtreks works with people all over the world, though, so according to the AirNZ people my ticket was issued in London in conjunction with a flight to Auckland from London via Bangkok, which I never took. This confused the AirNZ people in Cairns, and they talked to Auckland, and they decided they should all talk to London, but they were asleep. So right now I am on my way to Auckland myself to straighten it out and get on that Wednesday flight, or at least the Friday flight. There are no Thursday flights. All part of their plan to stall you and get you to spend more money in New Zealand.

And did you know everyone on the plane has a different weight limit on their bags? How can you run an airline when everyone on the flight pays a different fare and everyone has different weight restrictions? It would get too complicated! I found out about the bags in Japan. They have very strict weight limits at Narita Airport, something about the runway length or pollution or heck you give it a guess. Anyway, I was checking in at Chine Airlines and they said "Your bag is too heavy." I told them it was the same weight as in London when I got on the plane to Japan and they had assured me I could take all my belongings back. She replied that I must be mistaken, as British nationals had a lower weight limit then that, though it was higher then the weight limit for the Chinese (we were going to Taipei) which was higher than for the Japanese travelers (which was the country of origin). I responded that I wasn't a British national, I was an American and had originally packed my bag in San Francisco. Well that solved everything, as the US weight limit was higher still and I was well under that. So I guess if by coincidence a plane worth of Americans came to Japan and all wanted to go to Taiwan at the same time the plane would be unable to take off.

Ok that is my rant for the day. The moral is, always get good tickets you can switch, especially if it is a long complicated trip, and always tell the airplane lady your country of origin. Yes, it is always a lady. Oh, and make sure they realize that your tickets is not really one way, that it is merely one direction, and that you do plan on coming home eventually. They get nervous with people who have no plans to return.

Now I am heading straight to bed as I have an early flight. I will try to write from Auckland, but I'm not sure if that will be possible. At the very least I will post from home by next week, saying I have arrived safely and posting some final thoughts. Maybe my parents will post comments to this entry giving my plans if I can't post, because I will certainly keep them updated by phone. Thanks for all your thoughts, prayers (Hi Grandma!) and postings.