Thursday April 13 (Napier) & Friday April 14 (Napier to Chicago)

Thursday

I really need my upcoming break as it has been a very stressful seven weeks since we were told that our tenancy was to be ended on May 19, before I return home! I have been so busy looking for places but there are not enough rentals for the large number of people who are looking. I have had viewings cancelled, been to viewings but obviously not even considered. I was facing the possibility of coming home to nowhere to live. However, this morning, talk about last minute, I heard we have been accepted for a rental and Grant will be moving in on May 9, together with Seb! So now I can relax and look forward to a lovely trip! 

Of course all this means that I have also been packing all my stuff away for the move! A friend has a large rumpus room so I have left a lot of stuff with her, including my six boxes of books, lol! My car is full of stuff and the rest is in boxes and crates!

To say it has been frantic is an understatement and I had so much to do at times I did not know what to attack first, lol. Seb was very helpful, sleeping in my case and, when it was packed, he claimed it as his! I took over twenty photos but this is the only one were he looked at me, lol, he knows!!!! This evening and overnight a cyclone has blown through and left 18,000 people in Hawkes Bay without power, thank goodness that did not include me. 

Friday

Today has dawned sunny and calm, thank goodness. I farewelled Seb, I will really miss him and the morning snuggles he loves to give. A friend took me to the airport and she was meeting her son off the plane I was to fly out on, I taught him and have not seen him for years!!

Then it was on to Auckland airport again ready for my next trip stateside! I am on a real tiki tour this time, Napier to Auckland to Houston to Chicago (1 night) by air. Chicago to Washington (1 night), Washington to Savannah (5 nights) to Orlando (6 nights) to West Palm Beach (5 nights). Then across to Fort Myers, hopefully stay with a friend, then via Tampa back to Washington and on to Rockville to stay with friends before heading back to Chicago and then home!

We had a couple of very heavy showers and from the lounge we saw a beautiful rainbow. As we left the gate, pretty much on time, there was yet another passing shower and the sun was shining! The flight to Houston was fairly full.

I Watched Rogue One, then, during and after dinner, I watched Fantastic Beasts. Two very different movies but I enjoyed them both! I also watched Doctor Strange, which was a bit strange but it was also interesting. Benedict Cumberbatch was excellent, he appears to excel in roles that are weird and wonderful, lol!

I did try to sleep and was dropping off when I heard quite a load voice, it was to woman across the way giving her husband some instructions! The cabin lights were off so it was our "night time" and a wee bit annoying. I just could not get to sleep after that!

We landed on time in Houston and it was a pleasant spring day very similar to Auckland when we left. It was a good flight, in spite of several areas of turbulence which carried on for quite a while but were not severe.

Passport control was fine,  lots of lanes were staffed and no more than 3 or 4 people queuing at each one, I commented on this and was told that we were lucky we were in before the rush, phew!! The bags were available as we arrived and when we went through the final step we were just waved through, lol, the guy did not even take our entry cards, that is a first!

I got chatting to a woman in the United Club lounge, she lives in Tampa and is going to NZ late October early November so I gave her a few pointers.

Well, well we had to wait a while for our flight for Chicago as the plane was late coming in. The flight was full but they did, a great job and we were only ten minutes late leaving the gate. We made our way to the take off runway then stopped, the  pilot came on the intercom and told us the route had been changed due to some bad weather so we needed to return to the gate  and take on more fuel! An adventure round every corner, lol

United just cannot catch a break, lol! People had onward connections from Chicago so they were being offered the opportunity to get off if it would be better for them, but there were no ground crew available so anyone with checked luggage could not get off. I have to say the flight attendants were great and dealt with it all with humour and understanding. Two customer service persons came to the gate and were doing their best to advise people. A few people did jump ship so that lightened the load a little!

We finally took off about 4.45 pm we should have been away by 3.15! Because the door had been open they had to go over the safety briefing again, lol!

We initially headed straight for Chicago but the headed in a more easterly direction so the bad weather must have been over northern Arkansas and/or southern Missouri. At the same time we climbed from 34,500 feet to over 38,000 feet! We ended up heading directly towards Cincinnati.

I finally made it to the hotel at 9.30 pm, one very long day! The desk clerk was really nice and gave me an extra hour to check out, I did not even ask! Then it was time to sort out my gear for the rail trip to Washington, have a shower, make a cup of tea and check in to FB. It was Saturday by the time I finally got to bed!