Trouble in Paradise

As you may have already read about, I had a little "situation" at the Frankfurt airport, but if not, just to catch you up, basically I was told that I needed to either buy a ticket out of New Zealand at the airport, which I didn't have because I was planning on working out a visa when I arrived, or I couldn't fly. So, we went over to this travel agency and bought, I believe (though it was hard to make complete sense of it since the guy was talking to Anna in German) a ticket that was immediately refunded so I had to pay the guy 150 Euros in cash upfront to get the "ticket". I also had to sign something saying that I wouldn't try to fly with the ticket and was told not to show that piece of paper to NZ immigration. Sketch, but whatever. I needed to get there. I was flying Air Korea, and I could count the number of white people on the plane on one hand. The food was also kind of weird since it was not only Korean food, but airplane Korean food. Big bonus though, they had all 3 seasons of Sherlock on the plane TVs and I brought some trail mix so I managed. After 20 hours on planes, I arrived into New Zealand at 8 in the morning. I woke up a little before sunrise on the plane, and let me tell you, sunrises are way prettier at 35,000 feet. Got through security fine, almost too quickly, but not worry. The trouble I ran into later more than made up for that.

To start, I realized that I didn't buy a bus ticket from the Auckland airport to Tauranga, I bought a ticket from a bus station in downtown Auckland  to Tauranga, so I had to buy another bus ticket to get to that station. Once I got there, I still had a couple hours before my bus arrived so I walked around with my two rolling suitcases looking for food that looked both delicious but also cheap. Finding nowhere else, I just settled for McDonalds, which wasn't even that cheap, though it was pretty delicious. Unfortunately, there was an iron man taking place through Auckland that day and the stop that my bus would normally go to was on the iron man route, so it was moved to a different bus station. That message was written on my e-ticket, so I was aware of that fact. Unfortunately, I guess my bus driver wasn't aware of it because they parked across the street from the stop and I didn't see it. I was told this when I tried to board a bus that I thought was mine because it was actually on the correct side of the street but they informed me that my bus had already left. What. The guy did say that I could board the next bus at 5 and I could use my same ticket since it was the company's fault and not mine. This meant that I had to contact staff in New Zealand and let them know that I would be arriving much later than expected, so I guesstimated around 8.

There were two other girls about my age whose bus also missed them, so we all stuck together for the 4 hours before the next bus. It wasn't so bad since there were other people. And, funnily enough, one of the girls has a cousin who, get this, moved to Champaign, Illinois last year. She also happened to attend the university that was literally right next door to the DTS house I stayed at and she even knew this one girl that I'd met before. Pretty cool, I think. We went to this park nearby, browsed shops, and hung out by the pier to pass the time. We made sure to arrive at the bus stop a good half an hour before it was supposed to leave, and since the guy who we talked to before was there, he made sure we got on the right bus and let us on first. Due to a bus change and a roundabout route I ended up arriving at the Tauranga station around 9:30. It was pretty dark out, not many people other than a weird looking guy with a beard and a couple of other passengers waiting around, but no sign of my ride. I waited around for about 15 minutes or so, then decided I should ask to borrow a phone. The first guy, who I think is Italian judging by the language on his iPhone and accent (#Sherlockskillz. Jk.),  had no credit left for calls, so I asked a lady passing by next. She said she didn't have her phone but that her son, who was just getting off a bus that just came in might. He came over and he didn't have enough credit either, but the lady asked where I was from, and learning that I was doing a program in Tauranga and that I was from America and had no idea where my ride was at, she offered to I've me a ride, adding "that is, I mean if you trust me enough to get a ride from a stranger." Yes, yes I think I do. Better than waiting around the bus station at night. So she and her son gave me a ride to the DTS house, which was really awesome of her, and luckily people were at the house.

Kind of a hectic day, which I right away hopped into bed and ended, but I made it!