Last flight for awhile?!

Finally... I have flown across the Pacific, hopefully for the last time for awhile. I have landed permanently (?!) and the wedding is six weeks away. This time, I flew from the Midwest of the US, so the flight was longer, but it actually went better. I had to get up at 3:30am in the Midwest, and went to sleep on the plane. I had a stop-over in Phoenix, which was a bit confusing, since the airline only gave me one boarding pass, but had to actually use the same boarding pass to board a second plane. From there, I had a 12 hour layover in Los Angeles. Luckily, my bags were checked through so I didn't have to deal with them, and I have a friend in the area, so we had a wonderful time taking the bus to Santa Monica and strolling along the beach. After spending the day in Santa Monica (and I was lugging my carry-on with me the entire time), I was tired and went to sleep on the plane again. I woke up for an 11pm (California time) dinner, watched Toy Story 3 (fell asleep during it, but resumed it later), and an episode of 30 Rock. Being so tired was definitely helpful in tolerating the long flight, since I slept through most of it. On previous flights, I had been miserable trying to sleep but unable to get very comfortable. When we landed in Auckland, it was 5am and still dark. I was hoping it would get light before the plane departed, since I had a window seat and wanted to see New Zealand from the air. Unfortunately, the plane took off in heavy clouds, rain, and darkness, and sunlight only greeted us when we rose above the thick clouds. I saw nothing of New Zealand but the inside of the airport and thick cloud cover. I'm inspired to go back, but as I've learned more about their weather and water temperatures, I'm glad to be in Australia. The cloud cover didn't really dissipate until we got close to Sydney, and I was greeted by lovely fall weather and my future bride. This all went a long way towards making me feel like I was home.