I'm in New Zealand!

I am here. The views I saw from the plane were the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen, and we've also seen some absolutely amazing views from the ground. Unfortunately my iPhone, which is doubling as my camera, died pretty early on the trip, so I missed all that. It is charging, and great pictures will come. The weather is perfect. The sun is brutal, although we were warned about that; after having lunch outside and strolling around downtown, I'm already pink! Good riddance to my ghostlike appearance.

The trip was not really that bad. From the moment the cab picked me up to the moment we arrived at our lodging, it was 32 hours of cab rides, a train ride, three plane rides, waiting in airports and strolling around Queenstown while our apartment was being cleaned. The flights were fine; the NYC to LA leg on United was what you'd expect -- we had to pay too much for too little in the way of snacks, and we were given a movie and some shows we could watch, but no choices. The big Air New Zealand leg, from LA to Auckland, was quite different ... two pretty good meals, with free wine, and a pretty awesome personal console on which we could pick from a very wide variety of movies, TV shows, albums and even video games. So I wasn't bored, to be sure. I saw "The Blind Side" and "A Serious Man," played "Tetris," watched some "30 Rock" and a bad show called "Better Off Ted." Plus I brought a book of crossword puzzles and a couple books. I was prepared.

Now we're all showering and taking a little break before we hit the town tonight. We have plans to hike tomorrow, skydive Saturday and go kayaking and jet boating on Sunday. I'm so excited! It's going to be an awesome trip.

One of the issues some people have with the required International Experience is that it can conflict with recruiting. Just as I was about to leave LA, I got an e-mail that I was invited for a phone interview with PBS, and the suggested time was this Monday. I had to ask for a two-week postponement, but they were accommodating. I wonder if other recruiters are less so.