Hey, let's go to New Zealand, it'll be summer there! They speak English. There are lots of odd birds. Let's take bikes. But it'll be hilly. And windy. I've heard things like the stars in the night sky are different, the phase of the moon is opposite, the venturi effect of water draining from a tub is reverse. .....
At noon, we find ourselves standing alone at Seatac airport, surrounded by 3 stoutly taped cardboard boxes. Inside, we have somehow managed to stuff 2 bicycles, a Burley trailer, clothes, bike gear, a computer (thank you Lauren!), guidebooks, maps and plenty of trinkets for the natives. It had been the usual hectic pack-em-up and closing shop ritual at the home front, and we are still not sure that Ruben-the-spunky-ginger cat didn't get packed as well. But, we kept the boxes under the required 50 lbs. each and wished them luck at checkin as they moved slowly down the conveyer belt and into the void...
The CANADAir jet, plus tailwind, scoots to LA in a brisk two hours and it's a stroll over to Thomas Bradley Int'l terminal in time to join a long line of travellers, eager for the next leg of our journey; an Air Pacific flight to Nadi, Fiji, which is somewhere between Hawaii and New Zealand, and surrounded by a lot of Pacific Ocean. Tucked into two backrow seats by the colorfully dressed, cheerful Fijian flight crew, and fortified by free wine with dinner, we drift off, babes in the arms of Tawhiri-matea...
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