New York!

Incredible 24 hours! This will be fairly brief because it's 10.20pm and I haven't really had a proper sleep in almost 48 hours.

Last night on the plane to NY we had a King's Kids experience: when the trolley came around with beverages, we thought let's have a wine and sleep. The attendant gave us the 2 bottles and said that'll be credit card, thank you! Embarrassed, we changed the order and gave her back the wine, not wanting to throw away a lot of cash just for a bedtime drink; she gave them back and said, "don't worry, these are for you!" Then she took them back and said "Wait, I'll get you some wine from First Class." She was soon back with two tumblers full of very nice red - Nice!!

Today had a huge, busy, full day with our hosts, Carl and Ann. Took a train, then the subway to 42nd St, then headed down to St Peter's, the church at the centre of the Ground Zero rescue effort. Spend a quiet age walking through, looking at all the remembrances and momentos to lost family members, lost rescue people, heroes of all sorts. It was a very deeply moving, emotional, sacred time. Then we walked down to Ground Zero, all surrounded by non vision fencing, with construction work going on everywhere. There was one spot where there was a big gap in the fence, away from the main area; I was rooted to the spot for a very long time and once again the tears and the prayers came; a privilege to remember all those people, especially the Australians who were lost.

We walked for ages around Manhatten, down along the river front, onto the Brooklyn bridge, then around to the Stanten Island ferry, across to the Island, back again. Back to the subway and then the train broke down! Then all the trains became stacked up, including the one we switched to. A trip that should have taken 10 mins max ended up taking almost an hour - just like home!!!

Gotta go to bed now or I'll fall asleep before I make it!

LFA International airport

Lovely flight - so much room in Premier Economy, lovely food and service. Graham sat next to "Dave", a very wealthy man and between the two of them, nighttime wanders and chats, etc, they were on first name terms with Barb, the flight attendant who did most of our stuff.

First blooper! Our travel agent said we could have our bags checked through to NY but Air NZ wouldn't do it; so we have had to drag them around most of the afternoon and then pay $30US to get them on the next flight!

However, we've finally got rid of them and are waiting for the NY flight. Also found a charging station for the laptop and a local wireless provider for not too many $'s. One more flight to go and we'll be in The Big Apple.

Fush n Chups

Great flight across the Tasman. I was desperate to get a piece of fruit when we got here, but all we could find was airport type junk food.

Spotted the chapel, so we read Psalm 84, prayed; Graham prayed for some fruit.

When we left, the first shop we came to had lovely fresh fruit salad! Go God! Graham's comment: that was a fruitful prayer! Sorry, folks!

At the Airport!

We're at the gate lounge, got rid of our luggage successfully - always a nice feeling!

Guess who got the whole security search? Frisk search, checked for explosives, etc etc! You know, they have to make sure they check all the innocent-looking grandmas! :)

Boarding in about 20 minutes! Graham is well, praise God!

Yay!

Lots of love,

The Wandering Gilmores

Here's our Itinerary for the Trip!

We leave Wednesday 29th April and fly to Auckland / LA / NY, arriving about 34 hours after we left home! We’ll stay with friends who stayed in our home when they needed accommodation in Sydney about 5 years ago.

On Sunday 3rd May we fly from NY to Charlotte, New Hampshire to stay with an older couple who were our 2005 housesitters. This is a beautiful part of the country, judging by pictures we’ve seen.

Wednesday 6th May we fly to Atlanta to stay with a lady who we met with her husband on a 2003 Alaskan cruise. An older couple, he was an ex-footballer, Superbowl winner, etc and he died 18 months ago, so she’s really looking forward to our visit.

Friday 8th May we fly to Ft Lauderdale, Florida for a 2-week cruise up the east coast, finishing in Quebec City. Two highlights amongst many: a day on Prince Edward Island (Anne of Green Gables) and sea kayaking off the coast of Nova Scotia!

Thursday 21st May we fly from Quebec City to Knoxville, Tennessee to attend a 3-day Southern Gospel festival in the Smokey Mountains at Gatlinburg: this is the main event we’ve structured the trip around.

Monday 25th May we fly to Seattle to stay with friends who lived in Oz for 6 years.

Thursday 28th May we’re off to Hawaii to stay in a timeshare on Waikiki Beach owned by the NY couple!

Thursday 4th June we’re home!