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Wednesday, the big travel day, seems ages ago. I suppose the fact that one day was gratuitously skipped courtesy of the International Dateline adds to the distance.

That day started slowly. Because the hotel was fully booked, late check-out was not an option. We received a phone call at
7:30 AM asking for confirmation of mailing address from Rovshan, the Musician’s Union Pension Fund guy. He had noticed the Warrender Street address and said that direct deposit (which we thought was taken care of) was only possible beginning with the second payout. No change of address was possible over the phone—a letter or fax would be necessary (ASAP). After one visit to the lobby (internet access with printer available but no word processing program) I went back to the room to write and email a document from me to Tess. Then back to the lobby to receive and print this document and take it to the front desk for faxing. Finally, time for breakfast.

[There was a last minute, similar disappointment on Monday—some detail having to do with money that we thought was settled weeks ago and needed even one more last detail seen to…]

We went off to Beverly Hills having rented the Legoland car for two days. On the way to the Petersen Car Museum (!) we passed several showrooms for the fanciest sport cars. Heeding Willem’s cries of anguish, we doubled back, parked so that he could feast his eyes on Lotus’. Ferraris, Maserati’s, a very special Jaguar (only 5 made, $500,000 a piece) and his favorite, the Lamborghini.

We went on to the La Brea Tar-pit Museum—totally fascinating…Tessa had memories of seeing it first visit 25 years ago. We were back at the hotel around 4 for a final swim which was meant to make sleeping on the plane that much easier.

The short hop to the airport was made at 6 PM and we were soon at the check-in counter where we were told that due to some equipment problem (air-conditioning?, hydraulics?) there would be a delay. The plane finally took-off c.1:40 AM rather than the expected 9:00 PM. It is not surprising that we did not have a huge problem sleeping on the plane.

It was not until standing in line for customs that we heard about the latest London terrorist business. Obviously, the delay became less important in context of this news (our flight originated in London)…

Air NZ did not hold the connecting flights so we flew to Christchurch on the way to Dunedin (2 hours in the Christchurch airport). Out total travel time from the hotel to 47 Maori Road was twenty-five hours.

more catching up tomorrow…