Alive and Wellington

We made it.

In retrospect, the trip over here was a lot like childbirth (from what I gather, anyway). It wasn't particularly pleasant, but the hard parts seem to fade from memory pretty quickly and we've got something pretty neat to show for it.

I'll spare you all of the details, but the trip really could have been worse. The flight to LAX was the hardest as the kids were wide awake. Quinn got bored, then vocal. Both kids crashed for a long time on the long flight to Auckland. Oh, and the guy who booked our flights was at least two hours off on the travel time; 10 hours and 40 minutes of flying will only get you to Tonga. It was more like 13 or 14 hours, but there were lots of other kids on that flight and the outstanding flight crew really helped out by letting us use a roped-off area of the plane as a nursery. I'll revisit the fact that this country is overflowing with common sense and courtesy which I find quite refreshing.

The low point of the trip occurred when we had to retrieve all of our bags to go through customs in Auckland. That means that Amy and I had to split this between us (plus Quinn, of course):



Anyway, we had very little time to make it through customs before our last flight, and they have a policy that anyone running late for a flight is asked to head straight to their gate with all of their luggage instead of checking in again. The only issue is that the domestic terminal is over half a mile away. I can't say enough about how well my wife and daughter handled this. Amelia ran the entire way hopping like a bunny, never getting the least bit upset (she cried for less than a minute during the entire trip; in return, I will buy her a pony).

From there, it was all downhill. We met one of my future colleagues on the next flight and it turns out that she went to med school with one of my best friends from residency (Kirk, it's Amy Johnson). Small world and all.

I expected Wellington to be pretty. It's gorgeous. Pictures really don't do it justice. The coastline reminds me of Hawaii with beautiful water and waves crashing over steep rocks. The hills around town are indeed very steep and the houses cling precariously to them. In typical Wellington fashion, the houses right next to ours are completely below us so that I see my neighbor's roof when I look down out of my window. The views from our house are really something.

I'm realizing that there is absolutely no way to cram everything I want to say into one post, so I'm calling it a night. Suffice it to say that we are quite happy with everything so far, and we'll tell you more soon.