Do I look like a terrorist to you? The Delta queue attendant thought so and she wouldn't even take my word that I'm working in Dublin. As if not even potential terrorists have the right to live in Dublin. The solution to this problem was providing her with an Irish bank card and a business card, however convincing the US immigration officer took some more work. I was held for further investigation in the 'staff only' office of the US customs and questioned by a Californian lady who once visited 'the dot' so everything was hunky dory. Thankfully Abdul Aziz Ahmed Iswed Laden didn't give me the explosives for this flight, but now I know the correct immigration answers for the next try.

Click on the picture for packing list

11.10 am Dublin – Atlanta 2.55pm / Delta Airlines

Lunch: Chicken pesto
Snack: Pizza Quattro formaggi
Movie: Mission Impossible 3 (2.5 stars)
Book: Kafka on the shore

At least by clearing immigration in Dublin we avoided the long immigration queues in Atlanta. The only thing I had to do here was to collect the luggage to claim it and then put it on the transfer belt to get routed automatically to LA.

4.58 pm Atlanta – Los Angles 6.28pm / Delta Airlines

There was no food served on this flight and there was nothing worth mentioning. I can rant a bit on how stupid, ugly and unfriendly LA airport is. We arrived in a terminal and the only source of information in the terminal was the baggage conveyor belt. It took me about half and hour to figure out that the terminals are divided according to the airline you're flying on. Around the airport there are signs with the airline names and you need to go to the airline terminal. This sometimes means taking a bus to the airline terminal, and again the buses are according to airline. Easy, once you know what you're supposed to do, but I've never been in an airport that operates this way.

While waiting at the standby desk I met Magda Adams and as she seemed approachable enough, I started talking to her. It happened that she was Irish and she arrived in LA with the flight I would have flew on if I didn't buy the Delta ticket. Fortuna trying to prove her repents. However, this isn't why I'm honouring this feeble humanoid, she deserves a mention because she inspired me to start playing the "I've got a boyfriend" game. All you need for this game is the ability to count. When you start talking to somebody for the first time count how many sentences it takes her to tell you that she/he has a girlfriend. Ms. Adams, whose only physical appeal was her gothic look, came second in this game managing approximately 20 sentences before mentioning her boyfriend. Sometime they really go out of their way to mention their boyfriend, I wonder whether I've got "I want to fuck your brains out" written on my head. [Face it, sometimes that’s true, but then most of the time you wouldn't have the courage to face her anyways.]

9.40pm 18th August Los Angles – Auckland 5.10am 20th August / Qantas

Movie (on demand): Thank you for smoking / Review (4 stars)
March of the penguins / Review (4.5 stars)

Half way through March of the Penguins the person sitting next to me introduced himself and asked me where I was heading to. After polite introductions I learned that Fredrick, 57, from Wyoming, was heading to Antarctica for the next six months to work as a maintenance and support handyman in McMurdo Base - the American Research Centre. This is the seventh year he's one of the 3,000 people who work in Antarctica.

He explained that the conditions aren't as bad as one usually imagines and that nowadays there are modern facilities for everybody living there. He stressed that they try to have the minimum possible impact on this fragile continent. They make an effort to recycle everything and those things that they can't be recycled, like human waste, get frozen and sent back. He also explained that when they need to build a new facility they reuse one of the existing places or else remove a building and replace it, in order to keep a low footprint on the place. Fredrick explained that sometimes researches present their research to the other people working in the research station and amongst the latest research they're studying the ways marine mammals keep up with Antarctic temperature, ozone layer research and the impact no daylight in winter has on the thyroid condition which affects people working in Antarctica. The pony tailed bearded American was flying to Christchurch because this is the closest place to reach the American research station. Curiously on the plane there were also a group of people from part of the USAP – United States Antarctic Program. [These cheats stole this year's penguin logo from the Linux guys. And by the way I managed to get a business seat on the flight you Auckland - so much for your intellectual pursuit with the Antarctic Santa Claus!!]

The New Zealand immigration is weird. It doesn't matter whether you're Escobar's successor or a North Korean smuggling nuclear weapons, as long as you don't introduce any meat, fish or fruits in the country. You'd better not mess with these people because I saw dogs sniffing apples from backpacks.

8.30 am Auckland – Christchurch 9.50am / Jet Connect - Qantas

Arrived at last!