ADD

So many things rush through the brain. Scattered mental notes peeping out of half-opened mental file cabinets. All organised as neatly as a tornado could put them. Speaking of weather, I hope I can plan my wardrobe accordingly. Transitioning from winter to summer is going to be interesting. Either I risk a heavy load or suffer the cold. But how cold does it get in Taipei? I've heard a 'very cold' from some sources. Does it compare to Okinawa? Only 11 days until I leave. So busy. Hair appointment, testing, Christmas Day, work, clean, pack, clean, Christmas tree, clean. My room's a distraction; organised folders of unorganised thoughts. What to do on the airplane; in the airport. I hope I can shower in Sydney; I hope it won't be hard to find a place for privacy, and I hope I don't get mugged or cheated. What else, what else...Got my Japanese gift snacks. Check. Need to bring a number of books to peruse through though. I hope I don't go through over the baggage weight limit. What a 10-hour layover. What to do. Such long waits. I wish I could bring a friend. I think God wants to prepare me with 24 straight hours of travelling.

Tempus fugit, et cetera

So far, I've managed to avoid counting down the days. It's already December. The more I think about this trip, the more I get used to the idea- and I don't want to. It's much less fun to not anticapte the excitment because you've become bored of it.

Shopping for a travel laptop bag is frustrating. I think it's because I'm packing too much. Yes, I've decided to bring my laptop for my long layovers and to upload my pics after I've stuffed my memory card. I expect to make a few videos if possible. I won't have it during the retreat though; at least I plan not to use it during it. I expect to be busy enough that I won't even think about it. I pre-packed my new bag to see how things would fit, and it made me look like a turtle. A longer bag might be good, but I'm a bit impatient to take the time to shop around all over the island.

I've over $1,700 gone from my bank account. That's just airfare alone. Okay, think good thoughts now...

So, life's okay right now. It's a bit of a limbo for me, but I am not disatisfied with it.

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.

It must sound almost plain silly to be writing about every, little detail or thought that comes up concerning this trip, but I do have to ease and remind myself that this is a rather big thing for me no matter what others might think of the situation. I need to let these bottled thoughts out in the most comfortable way I can.

I'd been ringing travel agents for two months already, and that thought of "what if the prices go down? Should I wait to buy the tickets then?" keeps popping up everytime I hear $1500 to $1600 quoted. It's November now. I gave a call yesterday and they quoted me a good fare- but then said that the seats were full for the flight crucial for my arriving in NZ on time. I'm praying God will allow a seat to open up for me, provide some way, or lead me in another direction (i.e. maybe skip the pre-Hearts roadtrip to Christchurch and just fly into Christchurch the day of HA). So this has been the worrisome anticipation of late. With over a year and a half of looking forward to this trip, plus a lot of planning and booking for post-arrival activities, it's going to hurt big time if I don't get to go this year. Please, God, provide a way for me. Thank you, Lord. (see above post)

Budget plan, thus far

The goal is to still keep under US$2,500.

Airfare, roundtrip: ~$1500
Travel insurance: $100
Visa processing: $20
Hotel in transit: ~$60
Airport fees: ~$90
NZ departure fee: $30
--------------------
$1800


Hearts Aflame fee: NZ$390
--------------------
~$270


Cook Strait ferry: NZ$195
Petrol: ~NZ$100
Accommodation: ~NZ$110
Food, misc.: ~NZ$60
Horseback riding: ~NZ$50
--------------------
NZ$515 (~US$335)


Total: ~$2405

$2500
-2405
====
$95

I was hoping to have over $100 left over for extra miscellaneous money and gifts to send home but hopefully some of my over-estimation would contribute to that.

Recent shopping excursion, update

I cringed at the $57 reciept; I know, silly of me, but I did get some good stuff and things I needed.

Bought myself a cool, hard-back, hemp string-bound journal and more ink gel pens (^_^). Believe it or not, it took me 15 minutes to decide which journal to get as there were a few others that caught my eye. I finally settled on a hand-sized one with a replica of Chinese scroll art called "Listening to the Bamboo," by Wen Cheng-ming (you're wondering how I knew that; it conveniently said so on the back cover page). I liked the Chinese concept of "virtues" of the bamboo: "resilience, humility, and uprightness; a spirit that can be bent by circumstance but never broken". So it was this one over a hand-sized, scarlet imitation leather bound one with a magnetic clip or a standard-sized one with a replication of medevial art conveying the four Gospels. I decided on something more simple-looking but I was still really attracted to the others. I should think this will be put to good use.

Oh, and I'm reading Gulliver's Travels again. It's probably that cosmopolitan spirit influencing me to pick up such a book, but it's nice to have another read through something you read when you were younger. However, it's this time round that I finally picked up on some of the insanely strange things Swift wrote about...of which I won't go into detail.

I never told anyone this, but I finally fixed my favourite rosary with hemp string. A good thing to have on a 24+ hour trip.

Update: Still haven't heard back from those off-base agents. Maybe they're still finding some deals for me, I'm hoping in good faith. I was told to still check out the American travel agent on base (one that I had a relatively negative experience with), but I fortunately know someone who is good friends with someone that works there who might be compassionate towards this poor working student and not make me feel like a total idiot. Going to check them out tomorrow.

Also, I asked Dad about my going to NZ, and he conveyed the following message without clearly saying "yes": he wasn't going to object but as long as I'm footing the bill 100%, he is inclining toward the okay zone. Cue sigh of knowing that that's how my father is.

(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
====
$465 ~ US$

Shameless vanity

To further spruce this already visually appealing blog, I've added a travel map to the bottom of this blog. You can see where I've already been and have lived. I've managed to mark all the places I've touched ground on, save for a few preliminary markers (the "places I want to visit" ones) whose status will change to "have visited" after actually visiting them. A dotted trail leading to the South Pacific will be added very soon. Much happiness, thank God.

This is the first time I've used this online map so I'm giving it a chance. It may look cool now but time will test its usefulness. I wish it'd show alt text on mouse-overs. ('Course, with Internet Explorer being a pain in the confounded posterior, the map causes my layout to go screwy for IE users. That means the map is probably at the bottom of this page instead of at the right where it's supposed to be. That is why you use Firefox, people. /shakes a stern finger.) Although IE 7.0 came out, and improved enough to display my page properly, I still favour FireFox. Cue sagely nod.

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.