When I entered the plane in Dubai yesterday, I expected the take off wouldn't be something I'd have to wait for all that much. However after waiting forever the captain informed that there would be delay of another hour or so, due to the fog. Now since the flight is super long without that additional sitting and waiting already this sure was not nice. Arse torture to the max.
Finally the flight commenced and like for the first flight I was lucky in that in the three seat column we were only two and so didn't have a middle man. On the other hand I had a guy in front of me who constantly managed to things more complicated for me, by adjusting his seat dropping his pillow and keeping lights on when everyone else was sleeping. So I didn't manage to sleep during the flight. If my memory doesn't betray me here, I think that klm wins in terms off comfort and somehow I could sleep without any problem.
Luckily I had checked in for my last flight in Dubai, and so didn't lose time for that in Sydney but how else could it be. Again the flight was delayed. When I boarded I was asked to provide a valid return ticket, which I did. This time I was surrounded families with children. The flight was much shorter and I had to fill out an arrival form which I was unsure about because of the visa thing. When I arrived I checked mails, because I sent a mail in Sydney, but there was no answer except from the nz post, saying they believed the parcel arrived. So I sent another mail to immigration saying I'd wait at the airport till I'd hear from them. However the area before customs didn't even have toilets so I waited until everyone else was done and then asked a customs officer. She looked at my papers asked someone and then asked me to walk through control and wait on a bench. A while later another officer showed up and told me he'd give me a regular visitor's visa and I should check back with immigration the next day how things stand. Since I didn't want to do the checkup again as the immigration officer I had mail contact with told me I'd have to, I told the officer that. He then said he didn't believe that was the case, checked back with immigration and then gave me the visitor's visa.Then I booked the cheapest hostel I could find, going by the name of haka lodge. Looked for a bus to the center and then walked for another eternity to the hostel which turned out to be really nice with a garden and generally nice atmosphere.
I also had a nice slightly quirky roommate. I then went to the next supermarket and decided that I was lazy so bought chips, fruits and 'scorched almonds' simply because that sounded awesome.
She wanted to sleep early and I was tired as well, so that's what we did.
I woke up at 6 am but thought hey if the supermarket here opens at 7 am that's not such a bad time to get up. I said goodbye to my quirky roommate and planned to go to an electronics store to buy a usb power supply since I forgot a part of my charger for the phone. However my Spanish/Madrid heuristic (just keep walking at some point you'll find what you need) didn't work out. My day netted me the power supply and a sunburn, but no SIM card. I wanted to extend my stay at the hostel, but too late - booked out. So tomorrow I'll switch to twice the price for less quality according to reviews. Still no news about the visa.
Luckily I had checked in for my last flight in Dubai, and so didn't lose time for that in Sydney but how else could it be. Again the flight was delayed. When I boarded I was asked to provide a valid return ticket, which I did. This time I was surrounded families with children. The flight was much shorter and I had to fill out an arrival form which I was unsure about because of the visa thing. When I arrived I checked mails, because I sent a mail in Sydney, but there was no answer except from the nz post, saying they believed the parcel arrived. So I sent another mail to immigration saying I'd wait at the airport till I'd hear from them. However the area before customs didn't even have toilets so I waited until everyone else was done and then asked a customs officer. She looked at my papers asked someone and then asked me to walk through control and wait on a bench. A while later another officer showed up and told me he'd give me a regular visitor's visa and I should check back with immigration the next day how things stand. Since I didn't want to do the checkup again as the immigration officer I had mail contact with told me I'd have to, I told the officer that. He then said he didn't believe that was the case, checked back with immigration and then gave me the visitor's visa.Then I booked the cheapest hostel I could find, going by the name of haka lodge. Looked for a bus to the center and then walked for another eternity to the hostel which turned out to be really nice with a garden and generally nice atmosphere.
I also had a nice slightly quirky roommate. I then went to the next supermarket and decided that I was lazy so bought chips, fruits and 'scorched almonds' simply because that sounded awesome.
She wanted to sleep early and I was tired as well, so that's what we did.
I woke up at 6 am but thought hey if the supermarket here opens at 7 am that's not such a bad time to get up. I said goodbye to my quirky roommate and planned to go to an electronics store to buy a usb power supply since I forgot a part of my charger for the phone. However my Spanish/Madrid heuristic (just keep walking at some point you'll find what you need) didn't work out. My day netted me the power supply and a sunburn, but no SIM card. I wanted to extend my stay at the hostel, but too late - booked out. So tomorrow I'll switch to twice the price for less quality according to reviews. Still no news about the visa.
Walking through Christchurch I learned two things, first people here actually give proper directions (unlike in Spain, where people send you to random directions) and second that Christchurch is still considerably damaged from the earthquake and very much in progress, oh and yeah there really are loads of churches here.
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