Next port of call: Boston

It’s an almost 12 hour flight back to Los Angeles, but thankfully, we’ve upgraded to business class, so we’re all able to stretch out and be comfortable. They also feed us very well and have a great selection of movies to pass the time. Peter and Mark watch “The Iron Lady” and both loved it. I go a little less high-brow and watch “Crazy Stupid Love” with Steve Carrell, Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosing, Emma Stone, a really great performance by Marisa Tomei. It’s actually a really funny movie and I enjoyed it much more than I thought I might.

I doze a little bit and the flight goes by remarkably quickly. As soon as we land in Los Angeles, we head to a hotel on Redondo Beach where we spend the day getting our sea legs back: resting, napping, biking, walking along the city piers, and finally eating a great and very filling dinner at Samba, a Brazilian restaurant where they offer a huge salad bar (with all sorts of salads, vegetables, soups, rices, etc) as well as an all-you-can eat selection of grilled meats that servers bring to your table on long spears and slide to order.

We return to the hotel and say our farewells to Mark; his flight back to Chicago leaves at about 9:00 am, so he’ll be up earlier than we are. As I mentioned in one of my first posts about this trip, Mark was the one who first brought up the idea that we make this journey to New Zealand together. He also made all of the travel and lodging arrangements, and was very generous in helping make this wonderful adventure a reality for us. Thanks so much for everything, Mark – we had an unforgettable visit to the other side of the world, and absolutely treasure spending the last two weeks with you!

Our flight back to Boston doesn't leave until 1:00pm, so Peter and I have time to walk over to the city pier and have a good old fashioned American (read: too big) breakfast at Polly's on the Pier. The portions are huge, the coffee is hot, and the local crowd is fun to watch. 

We pack up and grab a cab to LAX. Once we board, it's just under six hours to get back home and I pass the time reading and watching a few episodes of the Mary Tyler Moore show on my iPad. 

My giant hand holds a tiny glass of wine.

It's cold (just above freezing) and very windy back in Boston, but the fresh air feels good and it's great to be home.