Our breakfast is provided for us once again at the Bushfire Flame Grill here in the Pacific International Hotel. (My one and only complaint about this hotel is that I could only access their free wi-fi while in the lobby area.) Otherwise, it had extremely comfortable accommodations.
This morning is probably the last time we will see one of these places...
We departed the hotel at 9:30 a.m. and made our way to Cairns International Airport where we will board an Air New Zealand flight at 12:40 p.m. (a five hour flight) heading to Auckland, N.Z. Upon leaving Cairns, we immediately set our watches ahead three hours (Auckland time), therefore arriving in Auckland at 8:25 p.m. (Thursday, 3/27)
At the Cairns Airport, we said goodbye to Jim and June, the couple from New York, who will be staying in Australia for a couple more weeks to visit their son and his family who live on the western side of Australia.
Vicki and Bruce, the newlyweds from Michigan, departed our hotel very early this morning for their final excursion in Australia--a hot air balloon ride watching the sunrise. Their balloon tour operator delivered them to the Cairns Airport just after we arrived there. What a great honeymoon they have had in the land down under!
The airports here are just like the cities....filled with lots of Asians. The intercom announcements in the Airports are repeated in several different languages beginning with English, followed by Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc.
We departed Auckland at 10:45 p.m.(Thursday 3/27) on Air New Zealand bound for Los Angeles via an overnight flight of 13 hours, crossing the International Date Line along the way.
After being inundated by Asians for 19 days on this tour it was very noticeable that there were hardly any Asians on the Auckland to Los Angeles flight.
We arrive at Los Angeles International Airport at 3:00 p.m. (Thursday 3/27)! Oh boy, I am totally whacked out from all the air travel and the time changes we have been through!
We arrived on the Hobbitt Jet.....
...but we know we are back in the States when we see these planes at LAX!
We are taken to our hotel, the Embassy Suites Los Angeles, located in nearby El Segundo, Ca.
We attend the Manager's Reception which the Embassy Suites provides for its guests nightly 5:00-7:00 p.m.
Following the reception and saying goodbye to all of our new friends, our fellow tour-mates for the last 19 days, Donna and Norma decide to take advantage of the nice indoor pool here at the Embassy Suites.
Donna calls and orders pizza to be delivered to their suite. Thanks, Donna! BooBoo is all over that too!
Wow! What an awesome adventure this has been! I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity to travel to Australia and New Zealand. Getting to share this tour with my sisters, Norma and Donna, and my friend Jeanne, was an added bonus! The only thing I can think of that would have made this tour any better would be to have had Tom (my Sweetie) along with me! I am indebted to him for letting me travel while he is stuck here at home going to work every day.
Tomorrow---Home Sweet Home!
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