Sandesh, whats gonna happen to you - My Travelog on NZ

My trip to New Zealand.. A journey to remember...


Here I was sitting in my flat in Melbourne at 12 AM mid-night or rather early Sunday morning, preparing some slides and presentations for my official trip to Wellington.
I had some ironing and packing left to do which I though I would do in the morning before starting off at about 11:30AM to board the 3PM flight to Wellington.
I was done by about 12:30, and went straight to bed.
Then all of a sudden, a possible divine intervention (I'm sure it was) made me think, where have I kept my tickets! And I reluctantly and tired wake from the bed to find the ticket, and had a glance to see some number printed big & bold. It read...9:30AM Sunday. I was like.. What! I opened my eyes wide to realize that my flight was actually at 9:30AM and not 3PM!!
Goodness gracious me! I had clothes to iron, a bag to pack and here I am at 12:30 AM all tired… and just realizing that I had to leave my home by 6AM to catch my flight, which means I need to wake up by atleast 4 to finish off my final packing and take bath and get ready! I was completely disgraced at myself.. Saying.. "Sandesh, what's gonna happen to you…"
And believe me that was just the start of it..


Next day all went fine, was actually the first person to collect the boarding pass! And the flight takes off on time.
The flight was scheduled to land by 3PM in Wellington, the weather outside was... Well… White! I could only see the clouds and noting else.. It was same for the last 15 odd minutes, almost 0 visibility. The captain announces that the weather is bad and hence may not get a permission by the ACT to land, and it was 3:05, I see outside it’s the same.. and all of a sudden.. Boom! The flight just drops altitude and wobbles left and right.. Then, probably the pilot takes a sharp U turn, the flight was slanted totally on one left side, I look outside, I see torrential rain and storm and my hearts beating real fast and the flight is still shaky, wobbly and rough. I'm just beginning to notice the sea below.. It looks too close to be true. Then far off I see small hills and houses on them.. They are almost at the same height as the flight.. I look at other passengers thinking will they have the same expression as those actors in the Discovery showcase depicting the moments just before a crash. I am living that same experience, but I see no expression on them… But the flight is fast approaching the water… Then, it was just few meters above water… I had my prayers in my mouth… Are we going to crash land into water? Has the pilot lost control due to the rain? But he sounded old and experienced... Will the water be freezing.. And again here I was sitting saying… "Sandesh, what's gonna happen to you…" And this time, I literally meant that. Anyways, all of a sudden I realize the plain has already landed on the runway. What a relief! The runway is actually right on the shore of the sea. Such a huge sigh of relief. It was a nice little airport on the sea side, so very Tsunami prone.. But what ever.. It’s a beautiful country, with stunning view of a cosmopolitan modern city landscaped with tall buildings that’s right next to a bay that's dotted with beautiful country houses on a lush green hillocks. All this captured in a single photo frame.


Anyways, continuing with my tryst with destiny, I reach my hotel a nice five star one which I had booked over phone. I go to the reception and hand over to the pretty lady out there my booking confirmation number. She asks me to swipe my card to hold the funds while I stay. I incidentally was supposed to be carrying the company's corporate card, but due to some issues it hadn't arrived till the date I travelled. So I was forced to give my own personal card. The lady swipes it and the payment is declined! Tries again, again declined. I then hand over the other debit card I had, and that too is rejected. The lady there was like.. "Sir, I'm sorry but we need get this working to hand over the room keys to you!" There I was standing in this island country where I was a complete stranger and knew no one. "Sandesh, what's gonna happen to you…" Then it suddenly flashed to me.. Has it been declined because it is a debit card and I didn’t have sufficient fund in my card account! I ask the lady there to provide me with Internet access so that I can transfer some funds to my card account hopefully that should fix the problem. The lady kindly obliges and provides me Internet access and once I did the transfer the card finally worked! I saw the sigh of relief from her end as well as she too was probably tensed on how to handle this issue. After all this, guess what, she was not actually very kind to provide me the Internet access, she actually charged $12 for just over a minute of internet access! But hell.. It atlease relieved me of a major embarrassment.


But otherwise, it’s a great place to live a nice quiet life. A city that’s so close to nature.. The city shuts down by 5 and deserted by 7. People get back to their homes that’s either on a hill top or in a huge farm with sheep's grazing & hens pecking and kids playing with their dogs. This is the place where cattle's outnumber people 20:1 & this is such a problem that the government collects tax for Animal farts! Yes! This is to control the carbon footprint left behind by methane in animals burps or fart! This is New Zealand.