Leaving on a jet plane.

Well, perhaps surprisingly, I made my way halfway around the country with little incident. None of my flights got cancelled or delayed, I didn't lose any of my luggage or important documents, and I didn't even get charged for my overweight luggage (though I did get a stern talking to by a U.S. Airways woman about how my extra pound of stuff was going to hurt the backs of the guys loading the planes....).

I even had a buddy once I got to LA -- Jamie, another USAC student from Ohio. We were on the same flight o Auckland, and braved the various airports together.

The most difficult part about all the flying was dragging my luggage around the LAX and Auckland airports. I made the mistake of not getting a luggage cart in LAX, because I thought I was going to have to get on a shuttle over to the international terminal. Turns out Air New Zealand now operates out of the same terminal as the domestic flights, so I ended up wheeling my mountain of stuff for what felt like miles (but was probably in actuality a lot less) and getting quite sweaty. I didn't make the same mistake in Auckland, however, which was a good thing because we did in fact have to walk roughly 10 minutes from the international to domestic terminal.

I was so happy to finally touch down in Wellington after spending over 24 hours in airports and aboard airplanes.

But, I will give Air New Zealand this -- their flight was the best I've ever been on. I had my own personal TV, with a wide selection of movies, TV and games to occupy myself with. You go, Air NZ!