The trip so far
Wednesday, 15 December 2010:
Flight 1: Minneapolis (airport code MSP) to Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW)
Flight 2: DFW to Los Angeles (LAX)
Flight 3: LAX to Auckland, New Zealand (AKL)
Flight 4: Auckland, New Zealand (north island of New Zealand) to Christchurch (CHC, south island)
18 hours on planes, 10 hours in airports waiting for flights, and still a long way to the Pole.
That got me in on Friday, 17 December 2010 in local time. That is, I am across the international date line, so it's one day "later" here than back in the States. Time zones (and the date line) are things that seem initially simple, but the more you think about them, the more complicated they get, until all of a sudden it makes sense again.
So here in Christchurch, it's 5 hours earlier in the day than it is in Minneapolis, Menomonie, or Madison, but it's also a day later. Or that's 19 hours later...