(Last of a Series)

Twenty one days, eleven flights, eight countries, six time zones.... It was a great trip, but I had done what I set out to do, and I was excited about heading home. And because of delays in U.S. Customs, if I hadn't qualified for wheelchair assistance, we would have missed our connecting flight in Los Angeles and the trip would have been extended. The final leg may have been the worst of the eleven flights. But it was taking me home.

It would have been great to have traveled with my wife. But though she encouraged the trip for me, she herself hates to fly. And besides, she was busy those three weeks making sure I came back to a nice home. I wasn't in on the planning; what I came home to was a complete surprise.

While I was gone, she had the whole house re-carpeted - downstairs, the stairs, and upstairs. Several light fixtures that hadn't worked properly for years were now fixed. The bathroom was re-floored and the walls were re-tiled. The living room furniture now included a grandfather clock - chimes and all - that my mother had given us six months prior but we had never found a good place to put it. She also found a place for an interior waterfall from my mother.

Though not as obvious, she had taken care of the exterior lights as well. The front door lights now function, and the garage door motion lights now detect motion. Evidently, over the years, a swarm of bees had been dwelling in our garage wall, and chewed (or buzzed or whatever bees do to wires) through the wiring. All of that is now replaced.

Due to the wonders of the International Date Line, September 17, 2009 lasted 40 hours for me. It was 8:00, but I was tired. I was hungry because American Airlines believes that all food should be marinated in several pounds of sugar before serving, and I preferred being hungry to eating a cup of sugar. But more and more, as I toured my own house, I found a new adventure every time I walked into a new room.

In three weeks' time, Cathy had taken care of several household projects it had taken me a decade to ignore.

(Twenty Fifth in a Series of 26)

When the tour guide found out I lived in Maryland, his first question was "Do you follow the Nationals or the Orioles?" Though he was wrong on both guesses, his question impressed me as requiring a vast amount of United States geography for a New Zealander (quaintly called a "kiwi"). It didn't stop there: he knew the Phillies to be then-defending World Champions, and his favorite team was the St. Louis Cardinals. And he follows American baseball on one televised game per week on New Zealand television.

But there is a passion for New Zealand sports as well - most notably Rugby. The New Zealand national Rugby team plays under the nickname of the All-Blacks. I'm fairly certain that such a nickname would be impermissible in America, though the nickname refers to the uniform, not the players. (The national soccer team is the All-Whites for the same reason.) The All-Blacks apparently play in a three-team league with Australia and South Africa. To say a "passion" is an understatement. They were calling for players to be replaced for having lost four of the last eight tests.

New Zealand talks about Australia much the way Ohio State talks about the University of Michigan - they don't like them. When I asked about it, they tend to describe it as a "friendly rivalry." The trash talk appears the same. But that is where the similarity ends. They stand behind each other when they play somebody else.

To one better versed in American sports, Rugby can be interesting once you catch the flow of the game. Cricket is incomprehensible. But New Zealand basketball has some interesting quirks:

• The basket appears about 8 feet off the ground (10 feet in US). It is a freestanding structure with no backboard.
• There are six players on each side. There is no dribbling, only passes and shots.
• Quarters are 15 minutes long with no clock stoppages.
• Baskets are one point each. Fouls are resolved with an unobstructed pass or shot from the place of the infraction.
• Teams alternate who gets the ball after each made basket. Play starts from the court's midpoint, not the end line.

(Twenty Fourth in a Series of 26)

The country's land mass is fully comprised of volcanic activity, yet it is perhaps the most beautiful country I have ever been to.

The timing of the trip was strategic. It would include both hemispheres. Saint Petersburg is 60-degrees latitude above the equator (roughly equivalent to Juneau); Auckland is 40-degrrees latitude below the equator (roughly counter-equivalent to Winston-Salem). I wanted no part of dead-winter in either extreme. I needn't have worried. For dead-winter lows in New Zealand are about 35 degrees.

Since it never actually freezes, the landscape outside the city was pure green, even in this most early stage of Spring. The views from high up in the mountains - or more accurately dormant volcanoes - are wonders all their own.

The hotel room resembles a two-bedroom apartment more than it does a hotel room. In addition to having two bedrooms (each with its own bathroom), the suite includes a full and furnished kitchen, a full-sized refrigerator, a dishwasher, a microwave, and a washer-dryer unit.

The sink water had no spin at all as it drained.

It was far more relaxed in Auckland than in the other cities. They said it was safe to take walks in the city at night. I believed them once I saw women walking unescorted. As I walked past a law office [In New Zealand, a Lawyer is called a Solicitor.] sandwiched by two adult shops, I came to appreciate the concept of zoning ordinances in America.

They speak English in New Zealand, though the last letter of the alphabet is Zed. They drive on the left side of the road.

It takes three hours to fly from the far-eastern coast of Australia to New Zealand. There is a two-hour time difference between Sydney and Auckland. They are separated by 1,300 miles. People have attempted to canoe the span, and some have actually made it. Nobody has yet attempted to swim it.

The agenda in New Zealand will be light: a tour of the glowworm caves, a day hiking through a rainforest, and a visit to an Antarctic museum.

(Twenty Third in a Series of 26)

We left Cairo at 7:45 pm on September 10, and landed in Auckland at 12:50 pm on September 12. Of all days, we spent the entirety of September 11 in the air.

My boarding pass for the Dubai-Sydney leg read "Seat 83K." I'm not sure I ever saw a higher row number for an airplane seat. Airplane aficionados may know what an "Airbus A380 Jet" is. Those who prefer big planes over puddle jumpers owe themselves a ride on such a plane. The back row was Row 88. It was not an exceptionally long plane, but it was constructed as a double-decker. The first row on my level was Row 53. The total seating capacity exceeded a thousand passengers.

A few days earlier, while waiting at the Prague gate, we had been selected for an option to upgrade to Business Cla$$ But the flight to Cairo was short, and we declined the $90 upgrade fee. But during a ten-hour connection in Dubai, the prospect of sitting up to 14 hours in Row 83 made a look-see into an upgrade seem attractive - depending on the price.

An upgrade actually seemed hopeful. The flight was overbooked in Coach, and several passengers (randomly selected) were about to receive free upgrades. Surely in flea-market territory, I had the bartering skills to get them to accept some level of upgrade fee that was preferable to them over free. Mentally, I set $300 as the threshold.

Evidently I wasn't really in flea-market territory. The cost of this upgrade alone would have been $3,850 - more than the total cost of the entire trip around the world - had I not declined it.

The flight itself, operated by Emirates Airlines - as well as the service - was exceptional. The flight length exceeded 13 hours, yet there was only minor discomfort. Possibly in keeping with the Emirates' attempts at a western image, the attendants were heavily made up with cosmetics. The resulting appearance was that of porcelain dolls. But they were remarkably attentive to every passenger's request. And there was plenty of leg room even in Row 83.

Curiously, we re-met the Row 82 passengers during a tour of the Glowworm Caves in New Zealand.

(Twenty Second in a Series of 26)

Welcome to the United Arab Emirates, home of... I'm not really sure what it is the home of. The United Arab Emirates is noteworthy because... I don't know that one either. The currency in the United Arab Emirates is... I forget. Until I got to the United Arab Emirates, I wasn't even sure how to pronounce it (EMM-ritz). But Dubai provided some very spectacular sights - even just from the plane.

Just from looking out the window, we could see a thoroughly modern skyline rambling right up to the seacoast. It appears to be a great vacation resort. United Arab Emirates is located on the far-east corner of the Saudi Arabian peninsula. It is plain that oil has made them wealthy; it is also plain that they have chosen to imitate the western $tyle of development rather than the $tyle of its Arab neighbors.

Once inside the airport and for the first time since leaving America, we hear English spoken without a local accent. And it would be the last clear English we hear until we would return home.

We spent 10 hours in a Dubai connection. The airport is modern and huge; it appears to have about 200 gates. But mostly it is clean. The 10-hour wait was not a burden. I almost hated to leave Dubai. The airport operates a full schedule for 24 hours. There were waiting areas with lounge chairs for people who needed to doze off as they waited. For more relaxed waiting, they had two hotels inside the security area, though we did not check into them.

For one brief morning, coffee became available again. Naturally, it was at an airport Starbucks. The courtesy shown by the workers was a welcomed relief from the general rudeness of Egypt.