Going, going...

I bought my SYD-AKL tickets. Definitely going now.

However, I'm waiting on a better flight departure time before I buy my OKA-SYD tickets. I did make a reservation to depart, but if I buy that now, I'll have a layover of 10 hours. What am I going to do for 10 straight hours in the wee airport of Taipei? Sure, go out and explore, but I don't have the extra money to do that and I can't quite risk getting into some sort of predicament. I thought about reading several books, pouring over Sudoku puzzles, maybe napping somewhere safe, but let's just pray that the better flight out opens up for me. I'd really like to go to Mass in the afternoon before my flight out, or at least attend an early morning Mass, if possible.

EDIT: Unfortunately, something bugged me to buy the early flight out, so I will have that 10 hour layover in Taipei. No worries; God provides.

(tentative) NZ travel itinerary

I need more interesting titles. Watch, later on, I'll be in the middle of my journey with the light-bulb effect and change it.

Made more plans. It's quite exciting to discuss a roadtrip with friends, especially during holidays and when your destination is a Catholic retreat. But let's not get carried away yet- premature joy in moderation.

We've considered flying to Christchurch from Hamilton but the costs with Air NZ is at least $100 more than driving. Although I could do more research into better fares with other airlines, I prefer hitting the road; it's more of an adventure, in that rough sort of way. Plus, we'll have a chance to budget on the go and hopefully save ourselves some money.

We'll originate from the Hamilton area then take a ferry across the Cook Strait from Wellington to Picton. A stop at a youth hostel before or right after landing might be possible- rest before the retreat was said to be most wise. From Picton we'll then head straight to Christchurch, hopefully not too late for registration.

Coming back should be less of a rush. With no time crunch to beat, we might mosey our way back up to the North Island, and being tourists of the South Island, soak up some Southern Hemisphere summer sun provided the weather allows such. I have no idea what we'll do exactly (yet) but that's the beauty of real touring. We'll somewhat retrace our steps and enjoy the views.

The cost of driving, we've estimated, is nearly as much as more than the Hearts Aflame rego fee. Luckily, with three people travelling together, expenses will be split in thirds. The following is a break-down of one's share of travel expenses in NZ$:

195 - Ferry
100 - Petrol
110 - Hostel
60 - Food, misc. funds
====
$465 ~ US$

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.