Down Under January 2014 | Making a list and checking it twice

Christmas morning in Santa Cruz. Annie is resting her chin on my knee, waiting not-so-patiently for her morning walk. It's beautiful here in Santa Cruz: cool at night and warm during the day. It's not shorts and t-shirt weather for me, but lots of people are enjoying the warm by dressing down. It's been a week of lists: daily grocery shopping and Christmas dinner prep to-dos. Margaret is finalizing things for 11 guests; I'm thinking about getting away soon! We leave on Saturday, so I've got all the usual things to do.

The best news this week, is that we got a very cheap upgrade on Air New Zealand. We were given an opportunity to "go one-up" a week or two ago. It's a bidding process: put in your bid and see how you do. Despite our decidedly "poor" bid, and a second email encouraging us to bid up, we both got seats in Premier Economy (alas no business class for us) in the upper deck for $300. That will make the ride a whole lot smoother!

Breakfast time. Then off to West Cliff Drive for a beach walk.