Overload

It seems ridiculous that one who's living in a foreign country for a year, would choose to spend one of her weeks of vacation going back to her home country. You would think she would spend all of her free moments exploring this great countryside. Unfortunately, I've never been one to make complete sense in my decision making processes (at least to others). Consequently, this American bred girl chose to spend 19 hours on an overnight flight to visit friends in the states while living in New Zealand. If you must know, there was some method to my madness. A close friend is moving to England in the fall and since she couldn't come to see me, I chose to visit her. Okay, I said there was "some", not complete, method to my madness.

The interesting part was that I chose (not on purpose) to fly right after the recent bomb scar at Heathrow. Multiple coworkers interrupted me throughout the day of my departure to inform me what was allowable on the plane, usually changing on an hourly basis. This was preceded by an early morning phone call from my mother to inform me of the recent events. All help was appreciated. Yet, for all the hype, I got through just fine, even with my laptop in carry-on luggage. No clear plastic packaging required. They even gave oversight to my 24kg bag (23kg being the limit for international flights), simply slapping a "heavy" tag on the outside with no request for compensation.

Details of the trip are trivial to this tale, except to say that it provided necessary reconnection with friends whom I've not seen for seven months, a chance to visit my old place of employment, and an opportunity to catch up on some necessary beauty treatments. It also gave me a jump start on my tan for the upcoming spring and summer months here, courtesy of the consistent 80 degree weather. I do love a Seattle summer. More apropos for this tale are the American differences I noticed after living in New Zealand:

1. They have Mexican food. Okay, this may not seem like that big of a deal, but after living in two American cities with large Mexican influences, it's really hard to go without a good basket of chips and salsa, a chimichanga, and a margarita. Don't despair, I had plenty of the salt-laden ethnic food during my week to get me through the next 5 months. A more appropriate statement would be to say that American cities have a wider array of ethnic food. True, it's unfair to compare Seattle, a city of 500,000, to Hawera, a town of 9,000, expect when it comes to the gentrification of my tastebuds to New Zealand cuisine. I miss ethnic diversity.

2. Driving is done on the right-hand side of the road. This only becomes apparent if you've ever put all your concentrated driving effort into learning an opposite system. I can't tell you how many times I thought an accident was impending when my friends drove into a gas station on the right-hand side of the entryway. It's probably a good thing they never let me take a chance behind the wheel while I was home.

3. Tax and tip are not included. It's very hard to go back to performing public math at a restaurant after you're used to paying the amount that's at the bottom of the bill, no more, no less.

4. There's a lot of traffic in the US. I think I passed the same number of cars in my 68K trip from New Plymouth down to Hawera as were in one line of traffic backed-up at a stoplight in Seattle. One thing is for sure, when I move back, I'm taking the bus.

5. American airports aren't as forgiving with excess baggage weight. When I arrived on Friday morning to fly back to New Zealand, I realized my bag was heavier then when I left. The person working the ticket counter informed me under no circumstances (ie payment for excess weight) would Air New Zealand allow me to check a bag over 23kg. Even though I knew this was false (see paragraph above on 24kg bag), I obligingly took my luggage downstairs, purchased a box, and repacked my bag to meet weight requirements. I will gratefully admit the ticket counter person did let me come straight back up to her, bypassing multiple people in line, to finish checking in. Ironically, when I transferred to my domestic flight within New Zealand, my main piece of luggage still over the 20kg domestic limit, I received no grief or request for monetary compensation. A "heavy" tag was simply slapped on my bag.