Finally D-day

I got in the car all nervous, feeling butterflies fluttering in my stomach. I seriously thought this day would never come but here I am, in the car heading to the airport. Today was the day I leave for New Zealand.

My mom was nervous about my decision from day one. I was pretty sure that she didn’t understand why I am going all the way to New Zealand for some internship when I already have a full time job, even to this day. I didn’t think she would be very supportive of this endeavor but now that I am thinking back on it, she was the one who hovered over me every step of the way. Even now, she’s worried that I would starve on the plane. Me. Her fat daughter. Her at-least-60lbs-over-weight daughter. I could probably starve for the whole week and still be as healthy as a horse. Nonetheless, she is the prime example of the Korean idiom ‘bite all ten fingers and it will all hurt.’ It means that no matter the different level of affection a parent might have had for their children it will hurt all the same if any of them got hurt. I always thought maybe my mother preferred my younger sisters over me all of these years. After all, I have broken her heart and disappointed her in so many different occasions. Today, however, I see that I am her daughter even so. She stood outside of the TSA window waving her hand, until I couldn’t because it was my turn to take off my shoes and subject myself to a full body scan for the sake of my country. I confess. That sight made the tip of my nose tingle. Just a little bit.

Now, I am very bad at waiting for something. I am a very impatient person. I think whole lot of traveling is composed of waiting; the very activity I hate the most. It’s ironic because I actually enjoy the plane ride itself even if that’s just another form of waiting.

To kill some time, I bought a book. I’ve wanted to read Life of Pi for a while now so that was the book I chose. Then I made sure I had enough battery in every single electronic device I own. Then I made sure I had enough content in all of those electronic devices to entertain me throughout the 12 hour flight I was expecting-fully knowing that I would be watching movies on the plane the whole time anyway. Even after all of that, I still had an hour to kill. I occupied that hour stealing a glance at the cute guy that was sitting maybe four seats away from me. I regret to inform, even that did not make the waiting better.

It was 8:45pm when I sat on my assigned seat. There was a couple with a toddler to my front, a nice old man to my right and two young –ish girls to my left. I mention the couple because I found out about the sky couch through them. So Air New Zealand plane has this cool thing where passengers can turn their seats into a couch. There is an adjustable foot rest attached to each seat. Three seats in a row, it could turn itself into a mini bed! And that was exactly what the couple in front of me did. Between one parent and the toddler they had three seats, and the other parent was sitting in a different section but still not entirely separated from their group. The one parent and the toddler were able to sleep comfortably on the airplane seat-turned-makeshift-bed. I don’t know about the parent but the child seemed extremely satisfied with the arrangement. For myself I watched three movies, just as I expected to do, and then dozed off here and there with Vienna Teng playing in the background. That was a weird kind of experience. I would be slowly dozing out of consciousness but still awake enough to tell myself ‘oh that’s Hope on Fire. I like that song’ and even sing a long a couple sentences.

The flight was a long one but I eventually got to Aukland. Aukland airport was much bigger than I was expecting. Despite leaving San Francisco about fifteen minutes after the supposed departure time, we still arrived to Aukland about half an hour early. I have no idea how that’s even possible but thank goodness because if we didn’t arrive early, I would have missed that connecting flight.

I was slightly nervous about customs because I knew I had few questionable items in my luggage. The big bag of nuts was one. The big bag of turkey jerkey was the other. So I got to the customs area, where they had “bioscanning” devices all set up (it was basically just an x-ray machine). They seemed to be cracking down hard on bringing in potentially harmful germs into New Zealand so I answered all of the questions as truthfully as I can. I told them about the big bag of nuts and the big bag of turkey jerkey. The nuts were perfectly fine but the turkey jerkey had to be left there because it was turkey jerkey. According to the customs people, if it was beef it would’ve been okay. Hmmm. Just my luck.

Then I stepped out into the lobby. I look at the time, and it said that I still had an hour and half to go. As soon as I stepped out onto the lobby, the first thing I saw was a cell phone place so I stopped by there. I even played the part of the wise consumer and did the whole price comparison thing with two different brands. After all, I had all the time in the world right? Well my boarding time was at 7:45AM and by the time I left the cell phone place it was 7:00am exactly. So I stopped by another kiosk to buy an adapter. Well now I know that I bought the wrong frickin’ adapter and wasted $17 NZD. Additionally, to buy this adapter I spent whole fifteen minutes just waiting in line. By the time I got to the domestic transfer baggage drop area, the flight attendant says that it’s too late for me to drop off my bag. She tells me that I need to take it directly to the gate to guarantee the bag getting onto the plane in time. She also tells me that the domestic terminals were actually outside of this part of the airport, and ten minutes away by walking. I freaked out. I look at the time and it is 7:15 AM. So I drag my two suitcases and a backpack out of that lobby, and into the outside world called Aukland New Zealand. Oh my I walked so fast that my calves were burning by the time I got there. I got to the domestic terminal around 7:30, and dropped my bag at their bag drop area. Thankfully, no need for another security check. I got onto the flight safely and soundly, and on we flew to Blenheim.

Everything from there on, it was ridiculously easy. The shuttle bus driver was already waiting for me, holding up a sign with my name written on it. Also, I was clearly the only Asian girl traveling alone in that plane so I bet it was easy for him to find me. In any case, he found me within two minutes of me getting off of the plane, so as soon as I got my bags we were off to the hostel that I was supposed to stay. 

It was strange, looking out the window from the bus. At first glance, it seemed like there were nothing different from home. Then speckled in the midst of all of those home-like views, something foreign suddenly pops up. Driving in the “wrong” direction of the road was definitely one of them, and the fields were actually green - just like how it is supposed to be. The strange accent coming out of these people’s mouths sounded almost like foreign language to me. I had to keep reminding myself that they are actually speaking English. It was weird. I felt so out of place and kind of lost. Then suddenly I see. The green vineyards stretched out miles and miles ahead. That was home. I found a piece of California in the middle of New Zealand; a little piece of home. It was majestic but at the same time comforting. I sat back and relaxed my tight muscles. I even gathered enough courage to strike a conversation with the driver. He turned out to be far too busy to keep a conversation going; quite literally the phone was ringing every minute but I didn’t mind too much. I just kept staring at the vineyard. Really, what could be better than a little bit of comfort?