Kia Ora, or welcome, to New Zealand! Our exuberant group of 29 had a twelve hour flight from L.A. to Auckland, the capital city of NZ. From there we had another short flight to Wellington, on the southern tip of the North Island. We left MN on May 12, and arrived May 14. NZ is 14 hours ahead of MN! On the long flight I was really sick but somehow I made it through.I met Maria, a friendly woman from Auckland. She was on her way home from vacationing with her mother in Vegas and CA. My At one point after hearing me complain about my headache she offered to give me a head or foot rub, because, "Sometimes you just need one" she said. I thanked her for the offer but didn't accept. I was tempted to, but she was across the aisle from me and I didn't want to upset the exceptional flight staff. Whether it was due to motion sickness, my throbbing head, or the beer I had mistakenly tried to drink (thinking that it would ease my headache) or a combination of all three, I threw up. After I nearly tripped out of the bathroom a flight attendant asked me if I was alright. I assured them that I was fine and stumbled back to a sympathetic Maria. I told her what happened. She told me to push the button for the flight staff. I tried to protest but she immediately hit her own button. She assured me that it was their job to take care of us as two women practically came running. I asked them if they had something for my eyes to block the neon lights from the TV screens on the backs of all the chairs. (I had long since turned mine off). Not five minutes later they returned with an eye mask. I thanked the flight attendants and Maria and tried my best to doze off. It proved to be difficult because sitting next to me was Daniel, a fellow student, who kept coughing and was sleeping with his head dangerously close to mine. I glanced over at Maria, who was now cheerfully sipping a glass of white wine and had her eyes glued to the screen in front of her. This was my first international flight and Maria’s a pro compared to me. She knew all the tricks to flying long distance: make friends with the person across the aisle, take your shoes off, pass the time with movies, and most importantly; don’t be afraid to ask for help!
When we finally landed in Auckland the airport was plastered with signs about the H1N1 “Swine Flu” virus. Considering I had about half of the symptoms listed, I decided not to say anything about how I was feeling. The last thing I needed was to be quarantined after a twelve hour flight. As we all walked through the airport Maria handed me her business card and told me to call if I ran into any trouble. I was very grateful. From there we had a one hour flight to Wellington. We finally reached our destination: Downtown Backpackers. It’s a nice hostel on the corner of Bunny Street. The weather was gorgeous and our professor Brian who’s a Kiwi (New Zealander) told us that we should take advantage of the clear skies while they lasted. My friend Donnarose and I took off with our cameras to explore downtown Wellington.
So begins our month-long NZ adventure!
Donnarose, my travel buddy :)
yay! Can't wait to read more!
ReplyDeleteYou are a great writer!
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