Question: First of all, welcome home! It sounds like you had quite the adventure coming home. What happened?
Answer: Well as you know, Qantas canceled the return leg of our flight. Not the entire flight, mind you, just the leg from LAX to JFK. So instead of staying with Qantas the whole time, we had to transfer to American for the final leg, which is the worst possible way to chase a transpacific flight.
Q: Ha, I know! But you did make it back in one piece, right?
A: Kinda. Jeff learned a small but important lesson: do not joke with baggage handlers. They will smile, they will laugh, but they have no sense of humor. They will send your bags back on a different carrier, and you won’t see them again for two days.
Q: Yeesh, what a nightmare! So tell us, how does it feel to be back?
A: I’ll be honest with you, it’s a tougher adjustment than I expected. The city is larger and gritter than I remembered. The place seems to have lost its spark, you know? Large swaths of the place are disappointingly familiar.
Q: Well sure, New York has a steep learning curve, even for natives. But how is it being back in the U.S.?
A: The days flow differently. In Wellington, I’d wake up in the morning to twenty emails and those were the emails for the day. I’d answer them and there would be none until the next day. Google Reader would overflow, but once the feeds were read, they sat silent. I’d spend a couple hours working in the morning, and then everyone left work and went to bed. The afternoons were mine, all alone, disconnected from the United States, entirely free to enjoy New Zealand. Kind of what it must have been like when people left work back before cellphones were invented.
Q: Let’s back up a few steps, what part of the return were you looking forward to?
A: Lots of things! I mean, New York City… c’mon… when you’ve been away for awhile, you start seeing the place in a whole new perspective. Of course I was looking forward to seeing my friends and family. And you appreciate how the city really is the restaurant capital of the world, and how there’s always something to do—not that I’d do too many things, but there was always the potential.
Q: So how’s the food?
A: Expensive! But tasty. Not as tasty as I remembered, but it’s still good. I just have to remind myself not to covert back to NZD or I start freaking out. The vegetables aren’t as fresh or cheap either. But it is nice having my good baguettes back.
Q: And how about your friends? It must be great to see everyone!
A: Oh, it certainly is! I definitely missed everyone being on the other side of the world and all, but at the same time I got very used to Skype and IMs. And for my friends in other cities, nothing really changed. Being back, it seems like there’s so much more effort involved. The city’s huge and I just don’t have the patience to sit on subways forever. I don’t want to go to the Lower East Side and spend an hour and a half getting home. And Brooklyn? Out of the question.
Q: So do you miss Wellington?
A: I do, very much. I set for the trip what I thought was a binary goal: fall in love with Wellington, or gain a renewed appreciation for the city. Both happened, and I’m really not sure how to reconcile that.
Q: If nothing else, isn’t it freezing cold over there?
A: Yes, it is, and it certainly is nice being back in warm weather. It’s 80 and sunny here, while Wellington is suffering through their winter. I remind myself that every day over there is 50, windy, and rainy. Still…
Q: You really just miss Pat, don’t you?
A: This interview is over.
