The lovely people called travel agents

Allow me to reiterate these soothing words of advice: no question is a stupid question (insofar as the questioner is one who is of humble ignorance). The only stupid thing to do is not ask questions when you're not completely sure, especially for things that involve a lot of money.

Now that I've reminded you of such advice, do remember that if you're a first-time solo traveller and you're talking to travel agents who live off the commission of getting you to pay for a trip, do try not to be bothered by some of their condescending tones of annoyance and impatience to get you off the phone if you ask a lot of "basic" questions and don't sound like you're fully ready to buy from them. Eventually, you will learn how to sound like you will, even if you don't readily mean to, that way they might sound a bit more helpful with your questions. If you're not in a rush and you have sufficient amount of time to plan ahead, call their office before making a personal visit- it will save you time, gas, and it won't give them an idea of how you look. Of course, jotting down questions and anything else that causes concern is a good idea. However, if you're like me, your quickly-written notes can sometimes resemble things worse than chicken scratch that by the time you need to quickly reference them, they've been completely translated into an alien language. Take the time to clarify them, and even if you look a bit rattled while talking to an annoyed agent in person, be sure to make yourself understand situations. Do not let their snotty looks of amusement from your conversational blunders get to you. If you do come across such, do not feel sorry for yourself but regret their lack of Christian charity and give them a smile and thanks, for those who lack such virtue really don't know what they're missing and an opportunity for you to be humilitated gives you twice as much glory.

Consider yourself blessed if you come across a very understanding agent that knows what it feels like to be a nervous "first-timer" and renders you the dignity you deserve when you have to deal with one of the most complicated and merciless industries known as the airlines.

With anything else in life, never forget how it feels to be a vulnerable newbie.

Flight Itinerary

I gave one travel agent (OWT) a call and made a tentative reservation. I also phoned a local travel agency off-base (HIT) but they quoted a fare of about US$1,700. I was hoping HIT would find a better fare for me since they did indeed do that last year, but I'm hoping they will soon before I bite the bullet and confirm with the American OWT. (In all honestly, I'd rather support HIT because OWT can sound pretty snobby, like a lot of American agents.)

I still need to give my friend a ring before I can confirm any flights, though. Unfortunately, the time I need to fly is during the peak season (December-January) so it's going to be something short of Divine providence to get a reasonable fare since they're fluctuating in all sorts of directions.

So far, according to OWT, it seems that the most inexpensive way to head to the southern hemisphere is with China Air and Air New Zealand. I'll be departing from Okinawa, Japan; transiting through Taipei, Taiwan and Sydney, Australia; and arriving in Auckland, New Zealand.

Departure:
December 26, 2006
China Air (round trip, approx. $800)

• OKA - TAI (1.5 hour)
• TAI - SYD (9.5 hours)

December 27
Air New Zealand (round trip, around $600)

• SYD - AKL (3.5 hours)

Return:
January 15, 2007
Air New Zealand

• AKL - SYD

China Air

• SYD - TAI
• Overnight stop-over, tentatively at the Miramar hotel (and as grand as that sounds, I might later opt and confirm in favour of the Holiday Inn, which is closer to the airport- yeah, I know. Why not indulge? Because of the reason that Holiday Inn is closer to the airport in case anything happens, and I'm not sure what the exact price is to stay overnight at either hotel since the agent wasn't being very sure about it. Plus, if anything does goes wrong, I might not care which hotel I'm staying at. We shall see, though).

January 16

• TAI - OKA
  

Total airtime: 14.5 hours per direction


HIT presented very similar flights, with the exception of the SYD-AKL leg, in which Qantas will be the hosting airline instead of Air NZ.

Of course, all fares are subject to change, but the itinerary will be very much the same with either agent.

To bring or not to bring

My laptop. It's not as slim as some most-recent models but it's a good 14" widescreen of relative compactness. I was thinking of blogging on the road, but I don't know how much I'd use it. Plus, being in NZ is going to require an adapter (easily acquired), but that shouldn't be a problem. The problem is just unreasonable bulk.

This idea is slightly worse than the mp3 vs. CD player one. Oyi.

There are internet kiosks in some of the airports I will be transiting through, but what about on the plane? What if an idea comes up while I'm sitting in the cabin getting restless? What if something really cool (or bizarre) arises while I'm on my laptop and I want to jot it down on Notebook? Whatever happened to the good, old, real notebook? (You know, the one with paper.)

Once again, blogging has helped me put it into perspective. Some of the nice and seemingly convenient devices in life can sometimes turn out to be unreasonable for the budget-wise. I should consider moments of ennui as opporunities to doodle as well or maybe work on my hemp knotting and origami techniques. There are heaps of things to do away from a computer and heaven knows - heck, I know - I need a big break from it and I should take this 3-week retreat/visit as the perfect opportunity.

I might need heaps of paper though...

Music

Waves of overflowing decibels: one of the indulgences we human beings enjoy. We all know that sometimes the silence can be loud...or the boredom resounds with silence that if you're gonna sit in the economy side of an airplane cabin, you're going to need something to keep you mentally preoccupied. Besides a good book and a great opportunity for prayer, music is the next best thing to remedy that travel boredom. So far, I've a number of albums I would like to wash over my ears to pass the time but therein lies a problem: how am I to conveniently carry it? It's easy, you say, get a mp3 player- maybe an iPod, everybody has an iPod because to the average consumer, mp3 is synonymous to iPod. Yeah, but iPods cost more than they're worth in use and there are other comparable non-Apple brands. Give me a decent, generic, (SD) expandable, single-battery charged device any day...er, as long as it costs less than an iPod, which needs to be charged via USB or a seperately bought power source because the battery is internal and inextricable.

I admit to be a frugal girl; I haven't bought a mp3 player. I still have a trusty CD player and a number of choice albums, but should I managed in the "old" way by lugging around a small CD case and a 2-AA battery player instead of buying a decent mp3 player just to eliminate the bulk? (It would be a nice gift, though.) Plus, I don't really want to possibly ruin my CDs on the road.

When I put it into perspective, I might just end up with the CD player. Oh well. Some things have got to give and you have to humble yourself enough to face reason and make do.

Limbo

So far, I plan to meet up with a kiwi friend before heading to a Catholic young adult retreat called Hearts Aflame for 10 days. For over a year, I've been pining to go and for several months I've saved up $2,500 to fund my trip (that's how much I've budgeted, at least). Now, it's 3 months prior to the start of the retreat and I'm getting a bit more restless with calling travel agents and praying I get a fare that is merciful on my small wallet. I'm also a bit nervous, but that's to be expected. I might feel a bit less bothered if I could fully purchase and confirm some good flights, though.

Another reason why I'm slightly stressing over the trip is not because of mere nervous travel anticipation but because I also want to visit the University of Waikato in hopes to possibly study there if it be God's will. I would be discerning spending over US$26,000 a year as a tight-budget foreign student and putting my trust in God's providence and the local people other than my family. My mother also wants to visit the country and the uni as a concerned, prudent parent (and probably in part to discern my suggestion of having the rest of the family migrate to NZ). The cost of her visiting as well is going to stretch our family's already thin wallet and it's all because I want to go to school overseas. So it's really guilt that's adding the stress. I had only budgeted a trip for myself.

So far, I have the following to consider for the trip:

• Airfare, roundtrip (as of today, approx. $1,450)
  
• Travel Insurance
• Australia transit visa, roundtrip
• Hotel stay
• Airport fees
• Miscellaneous fees

• Hearts Aflame registration fee
• Miscellaneous budget-tourist expenses
• Emergency money

And if my mother came along in January:

• Her airfare, roundtrip (approx. $1,250)
  
• Travel Insurance
• Transit Visa
• Hotel stay during overnight stopover(s)
• Hotel stay in NZ
• Car rental and insurance
• Gas, food expenses
• Miscellaneous expenses
• Emergency money

Both of our expenses total out to safely, but nearly bordering, US$3,000 each. Just for a short stay. I'm praying God will let me visit New Zealand on a reasonable expense somehow. But after discussing the costs of Mom's travels, we're considering that it might be better financially to visit the uni with her in February, when the fares are seemingly more feasible.

At the moment, the planning stage is in limbo and all I can do is pray that the fluctuating airfares will be in my favour by the time I'm ready to confirm and pay for them. In the meantime, a few phone calls to the aforementioned kiwi are in order, and then things will be able to progress.

Untitled.

I feel personally obliged to record the preparations, events and such of my journey toward Aotearoa. At the inception of this blog, I’m currently residing in Japan under the sponsorship of my military father. The status of my existence is a working student, seriously contemplating a major turn in my life. Such a decision rests considerably on this tentative journey in discernment of whether or not I am meant to head in this direction I have in mind. With the help of therapeutic blogging, I hope to leave a literary mark as a memory of the pursuit to travel an ocean's distance away from my family to a country I only know of from literature, music, images and a friendly local’s point of view.

From the essence of a young Catholic woman of one score and four months, with the verve of a nurturing cosmopolitan, here are my humbly stated personal thoughts and account of events.