Epic Vacation Wrap Up

Our return to St. Louis from Auckland went quite smoothly. The flying time from Auckland to Los Angeles was only 12 hours and 25 minutes, which seemed short compared to the 15 and a half hours we flew to get from Los Angeles to Sydney. It was a more difficult flight for me in that we left Auckland at 1:00 in the afternoon, so I wasn't a bit sleepy. The time was passed by watching movies. I will say that flying Business Class on those two long flights was the bees knees, though. It will be hard to fly in coach on overseas trips in the future. Here we are leaving Auckland, still smiling after 30 days of 24/7 togetherness.

American Airlines Business Class

Many people have asked me which country I liked better - Australia or New Zealand? It's a hard call, because the people were so very nice in both countries. But I would say Australia for the wildlife - it's hard to beat seeing kangaroos, parrots and cockatoos out of the windows of your house. New Zealand takes the win for scenery, however. I can't remember a drive where every single turn brought exclamations of, "Wow, look at that!"

Over 3,500 photographs have been downloaded onto my computer, and it is taking a while to sort through them, throwing out the ones that are bad and doing a little correction on the ones that need it. But what a fun way to relive the trip. I can't believe how much we saw, all the things that we did, and the wonderful people we met on this journey. I summarize the adventure by saying that I had really high expectations for this vacation, and they were all exceeded. You can't beat that.

two thumbs up!