There's no place like home.....

When we arrived in Auckland @ 5:15am Saturday (USA time 8:15am Friday) and checked in at the Business Class Lounge for our 14hr layover, the attendant mentioned that the SFO flight from the night before had been delayed and was departing in 90 minutes.  She said if we were interested (and she could swing it), would we be interested in getting home 1/2 day earlier.....  hmmmmm....  14hrs sitting in the lounge [granted, free food and unlimited alcohol]..... or.... get home @ 10:30pm Friday instead of 10:30am Saturday.... 

It took us less than 1/2 second to jump on that opportunity !  So, while she attempted to get us on the flight and Tony scurried down to duty free to buy noise cancelling headphones (to replace the ones stolen when his condo was burglarized), I indulged in a glass of champagne and a bloody mary (in that odrer).  A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do ! 

Ten minutes later the Club attendant confirmed she could get us on the flight, I called our neighbor JoAnne to see if she could pick us up late Friday instead of Saturday morning, and off we went.  The security this time around was far more thorough than any we've been through in years.  Since we'd already been through the radar screening, they now have uniformed agents that patted us down (very thorough here too - none of the light touch with the back of the hand on chest area - full pat down like you see on COPS !) and then there were another dozen or so uniformed agents that literally took every item out of our carry on - EVERY ITEM. 

On the 12hr flight I painstakingly figured out how we would divide up our purchases for the declaration for customs.  I'd already done a spreadsheet with the items, their cost (and conversion to USD) so it was just a matter of grouping the items so each of us didn't go over $800.  When we got to passport control the agent said, oh, you only need 1 form (even if it's not the same surname) and threw one away.  I explained we'd divided our purchases so as to delare so needed the 2nd card, which he fished out of the trash.  We then claimed our luggage and headed to customs.  There was a customs agent directing transient passengers and those staying in SFO.  He asked if we had anything to declare - we said yes - he said are you bringing in foreign currency over $10,000 - we said no and he said... welcome home.... that was it - he never even looked at the list of items/amounts ! 

Zippity Doo Dah... that was it.... Rob & JoAnne were there to fetch us and were home by 11:35pm.

We hit the hay about 12:30am and by 6am Tony couldn't sleep anymore so he's now catching up on the Southparks he recorded during our 2 month absence !  

We're home !