And the day has come! This was the final day of our epic journey through four countries: Australia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and New Zealand. We were traveling home.

Day 78, Friday, November 22: Flying home

A long day of travel was ahead of us. The last leg of the 21 flights of the trip was from Christchurch to Auckland, then from Auckland to San Francisco, and from there finally to Seattle.

We were up by 7:30 am. Buffet style breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant. Lovely conversation with a couple from Ohio sitting at the next table, who were just starting their New Zealand trip. Then a shuttle bus took us to the Christchurch airport in 20 minutes. It was 9:47.

No airport fuss. From the start of checking-in and getting our boarding passes, through security, it was only 16 minutes. We could keep our shoes on. Liquid cosmetics and electronics could stay in our carry-on luggage. Everything was so efficient.

Boarding for our Air New Zealand domestic flight to Auckland started at 11:40. In the aircraft, the young woman sitting next to Steve had a lovely conversation with us, and a young couple behind us with their two very young dauthers were a pure joy (no screaming babies, no raised voices – you know what I mean if you ever been on a flight with babies and seat kicking children).

We landed in Auckland at 1:15 pm. From the domestic terminal, instead of taking a bus, we chose to walk to the international departures area. We spent about 50 minutes in the Air New Zealand lounge (we were flying business class), then boarded the United Airlines’s flight to San Francisco.

But, wait a minute, it wasn’t that smooth this time. I showed my passport and was good to go, but Steve was randomly selected for an additional security screening that took about 11 minutes. Fortunately, we didn’t need to worry about not having a place for our carry-ons in the overhead space, because we were in the plane so late – we were in United Polaris business class (just like on our flight to Melbourne, on September 6).

Good food (dinner: mozzarella, grilled salmon with roasted red potatoes and sautéed edamame, green salad, vanilla ice cream; breakfast: avocado toast, croissant, fruit salad), movies, and some sleep time.

From Auckland, we took off at 4:03 pm, local time, and landed in San Francisco at 6:20 am, their local time. (There is a 21-hour time difference between New Zealand and the West Coast of America.)

The curiosity of this flight was that during it, we gained time. Traveling west you lose time (like when we flew to Australia), traveling east you gain time. That’s an effect of crossing the International Date Line. We left Auckland on a Friday, and arrived in San Francisco on the same day after being in the air for more than 11 hours. Yes, it’s felt like time travel.

In San Francisco, when we went through the passport control, because I’m a resident alien in the U.S., they fingerprinted me (again, just like on every return flight to the U.S.). This time, something didn’t add up on the computer screen for the officer, so I had to go to a separate “special” room (Steve could accompany me!) and wait until they checked whether my fingerprints were indeed mine. Ha!

But no worries. We had plenty of time (for this kind of fun). It turned out that our flight for Seattle was delayed by an hour. Not very good when you just want to be at home. And guess what? Even though we were flying first class with United, we were refused the use of their lounge. Apparently, they have a rule that you must be flying 2000 miles in first class in order to enjoy their lounge. And the San Francisco to Seattle flight is only about 700 miles.

Anyway, finally we were seated in the aircraft by 11:11 am. Even got a small salad during the flight (Steve got the last pork sandwich).

We landed in Seattle at 1:35 pm. The taxi drive home was quick. At 2:30 pm, we walked through our front door. After our exciting travel, it felt good to be safely back at home.

After 78 days in 4 countries, 40 accommodations and 44 different beds, we were finally going to sleep in our own bed.

In our efforts to adjust to our local time zone, we were able to stay up until 7 pm. We knew that in the upcoming days we would need to unwind from travel, and reflect on our unforgettable journey. (And rake, for many days, the countless leaves that fell from our maple trees.)

This has been a fabulous trip. I was happy to share our experiences via blogposts while on the road, and the last few days from the comfort of our home. (There are 53 so far, including this very post.) I know there will be a time in the future when I will go back and share some more details of specific places. Stay tuned for more trip related posts.