Yes, 45 hours. That’s what happens when you come home from a place that’s 21 hours ahead. Seems only fair, we missed January 1 by flying to Sydney so we got a nearly double length February 1.
Woke up on the ship for the last time. Final packing, cleared New Zealand customs, took bus to airport. We did the airport’s virtual cache while waiting until we could drop our luggage, then have lunch and head to the gate. I decide to buy a salad for “dinner” on the plane.
That’s when the excitement started. The first announcement, “It’s too hot to board the plane,” didn’t seem too alarming, but repeated announcements felt increasingly dubious. Eventually June departed to get ready for her 8pm flight. Then the gate crew handed us New Zealand entry cards “just in case” as they admitted that it was a 50/50 chance the flight would be significantly delayed. Eventually we cleared NZ customs for the second time in the day. Had to claim our luggage and go back to international check-in.
I got a message that I was booked on a flight in less than 2 hours. Popped out of line to check in. Another Portlander tried the same and — yes! — all 3 of us were rebooked. Got out of that line. Back through security to the gate.
Boarding was delayed because so many people had been added late to the flight that they had to load more food. Eventually we boarded. Left the gate. Got as far as the runway. Then back to the gate for the engineers to look at an air conditioning issue. Eventually we took off (and landed) over 2 hours late.
We’d originally booked the flight from San Francisco to Portland which had been for about 1030 arriving at 1230. With the new flight we were rebooked to a flight at 1 arriving at 3. Needless to say, we landed after the 1pm flight departed. Oh well, we know there’s another flight at 5.
Went through customs (our 3rd time of the same calendar day). Gotta say that Global Entry paid for itself today! Then we retrieved bags, exited, and went to the rebooking desk to get on the 5pm flight. Only 2 seats on the 5pm flight, but 3 of us. After various phone calls by the agent who realized the travel saga we’d ensured and advocated nicely for us, all 3 of us received boarding passes, with mine ready first.
Once I had my boarding pass in hand, I hear a voice calling my name. Admittedly I was quite tired, and the voice came from someone I hadn’t seen in nearly 30 years … but I have to admit that I initially didn’t recognize my first cousin. She was on a different flight from Asia that was delayed 4 hours so was also at the rebooking desk. Nice to catch up briefly and take a picture. We’ll have to chat to *really* catch up.
We passed through security, completed the San Francisco virtual cache, spent our meal vouchers and then it was time to head to the gate for what turned out to be a pleasantly uneventful boarding.
Although the tradition is only at the beginning of a trip, it seemed fitting to close a painful travel day (but fabulous trip!) with a Portland airport carpet picture.
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