I’ve spent five hours surfing the internet and chatting to Alina here. They rebooked my flight after I missed it due to the delay at Auckland. Not much to say about here, they gave me USD$19 to spend on some food, which was nice. There isn’t much to do apart from sit around once the security stuff is done, I did the explosives test yet again with a full-on check through my carry-on things.
Despite loads of security, everyone I’ve seen has been very friendly. I talked to the customs guy about why Pluto isn’t a planet!
I watched Little Miss Sunshine, Kenny, and Man of the Year on the way over. The movies are on pretty small screens and the controls are pretty old school, there must be more modern versions out there on newer planes.
The flight from Auckland eventually left at something like half-past midnight. Our plane was broken or something, apparently nothing unfixable since I’ve made it as far as Los Angeles. I missed my connecting flight like everyone else, but Qantas have been good at rebooking people onto new ones.
My rebooked flight has an associated five hour wait, and there isn’t all that much to do here apart from internet and food. I did get given USD$19 to spend at a restaurant here, which I will do since I’m getting a little peckish and American Airlines don’t feed their passengers I hear.
Tomorrow in Boston is supposed to be 2degC, quite bearable probably.
My trip has (not) started with a delayed flight. We were supposed to leave at `9:40 but now it’s going to be 21:45. The lady assured me any connecting flights would be rebooked, which matters since my flight through to Boston doesn’t exactly have a lot of wiggle room. It would be rather a pain if my trip started with a missed flight! They have started giving out free water, orange juice and biscuits. The type one gets in flight unfortunately.
I’m not excited yet, more nervous than anything else I think. The hassle of going through numerous security checks doesn’t help, though at least in NZ the people are friendly. I hear this doesn’t apply to American security.
The weather appears to be mild in Boston, only 1degC tomorrow. This should make it possible to wander around with pretty normal clothes, rather than a big jacket which I don’t have.
I’ve had an excellent trip through NZ the last week. The only person I missed seeing was Tom. Hiring a car was the best thing I’ve done for a trip like this, rather expensive but worth it for getting about and having freedom. A whole bunch of people are likely to come visit while I’m there. Julie is gong to be in Canada, as is Simon so they may visit. Laurie said he’d come over, despite never visiting me in Canberra. There are also a bunch of people who I can contact when I arrive, who are mates of people I know.
Wonderful Auckland International Airport. As I sit here next to a food machine people are leaving Gate 10 in droves. Apparently the flight has been delayed further to a departure time of 23:00, rather later than the scheduled time of 19:40. Instead of leaving I’ve so far chosen to sit and surf for something like NZD$10 an hour on my shiny new macbook pro. As an AIA shareholder I’m a little disappointed, though I’m sure there are bigger forces at work…
This isn’t exactly the start I was hoping for on my big trip to the USA. I did expect to go through security multiple times, which I have. I did expect large queues, which I got. I hoped to get away without anyone checking how much my road case with two laptops weighs, which is did.
In my absence Canberra has been inundated with an awesome hailstorm. ANU has closed for the next few days to clean up the mess!
I’ve just spent three days in Sydney at the Aus-VO Summer School learning about the programming language python, and the capabilities of the ‘virtual observatory’. About 50 people sat in a room, all with laptops in front of them and tapped away, with breaks for nice food in between!
There’s no backing out now, I just got my J-1 visa to go to the USA for a year! It hasn’t actually arrived in the mail yet so I don’t want to count my chickens, but Harvard-CfA here I come!
