Wanderlust

Well as you know there is a little bit of snow on the east coast. On Friday the 22nd we were informed that our Saturday flight from San Francisco to DC was cancelled. We scrambled to book hotels and new flights. Most people were able to get a flight for Sunday, but I was one of the few people that could not get on the flight so I was booked to leave San Francisco on Monday morning. After traveling for 20 hours from Wellington to Auckland to San Francisco on the 23rd, we gained a day and arrived in San Francisco at 7:30 AM. We all dispersed and were on our way.

We tried to take advantage of our unexpected layover, but we were exhausted from traveling and many of us did not get much sleep on the 13 hour plane ride. After dinner and a movie on the plane, I was able to sleep for a little until I was woken up by the flight attendant talking to the woman next to me. I opened my eyes to find the barf bag up to her face. Not want you want to see with 6 1/2 hours left. Luckily she fell asleep and didn’t vomit next to me (who knows what happened when she went to the bathroom though).

After getting settled in our hotel, the first thing Amber, Lizzie, Chloe, Theresa, and I did was head to In-N-Out Burger to see what the craze is about. It was good, I will admit, but I don’t really see what all the hype is about. It just can’t compare to Fergburger. We then took a train into the city and met up with Sam, Dan, and Sang. Then we just walked around half conscious trying to stay awake forcing ourselves to live by this time zone. The first 24 hours are the most crucial for adjusting in order to minimize jet lag.

(Side note: New Zealand is 18 hours ahead of East Coast time)

On Saturday we also found out that all of the Sunday flights would be canceled as well. I was grateful that I was booked for Monday because when everyone tried to get a new flight all of the Monday flights were full. Many people could not get on another flight until Tuesday. Who would have thought that our 3 hour layover would turn into a 4 day excursion. Sunday morning we switched hotels and dropped our luggage off because we could not check in yet. We went back into the city, walked through China Town and ate lunch in Little Italy. I had marghereta pizza for lunch and it was delicious. We then walked down to Pier 39. From the pier you could see both Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge, but unfortunately we did not have time to go to either one. I also finally found some sweatpants to buy because apparently sweatpants aren’t a thing in New Zealand. I look like an obnoxious tourist now but at least my legs are warm. Despite popular belief, yes northern California experiences winter too. We might not have been in the middle of a blizzard, but it was cold and windy and I have been living out of a suitcase full of summer clothes.

After the pier we headed to Ghirardelli Square, which was adorable. Ghirardelli Square has the original chocolate shop with an amazing menu of sundaes and shakes. I got the Ocean Beach salted caramel sundae, and it was the best sundae I have ever had. On our way back to the hotel we stopped in China Town for dinner, but I was too full from the ice cream to eat dinner.

The travel problems never seem to end. When we got back to the hotel we could not check in because the hotel reservation was under Lizzie’s mom. We had to change the name of the reservation to check in, but we couldn’t do that through the hotel we had to go through Expedia. Due to the time difference everyone in Lizzie’s house was asleep and we couldn’t reach them. It took a while, but we finally figured everything out and went to our room and collapsed.

Monday morning Chloe, Theresa, and I headed to the airport eager to escape San Francisco. We were overwhelmed by the amount of people in line to check in and get cleared by security. I think I got too use to New Zealand airports which are so relaxed, small, and friendly, which also kind of describes everything about New Zealand. In America everyone has a bad attitude and is always in a rush. You can tell just by the way the security workers talk. They seem annoyed and frustrated whereas the airport workers in New Zealand are so friendly and make conversation with you while you wait in line.

Chloe and Theresa were on a different flight so we parted ways after security. This blog post is brought to you from the plane. I’m trying to keep a relatively normal sleep schedule so I can’t fall asleep. I am in a middle seat which is not ideal, but I’m just so happy to be on a flight that I don’t care if I sit on the floor at this point. Someone did ask if she could switch seats with me so now I’m in an exit row in the middle. If you read my earlier blog post you know that I was in an exit row on the way to San Francisco. I was so excited because last time they gave us any food or drinks for free for being in the exit row (perks of signing your life away in the event of a crash); however, I was very disappointed this time that we don’t get free snacks again. I don’t know what’s up with Virgin America because the movies and TV shows are also not free again either, and they tried to make me pay to check my luggage. Anyway I have more leg room in the exit row so I’ll take it.

Today we went to ASB Sport Center in Wellington. This is a community rec center, but high performance athletes also come and train there. As we were arriving we saw the All Blacks 7’s team leaving.

At the sports center we learned how to play netball, which is the most popular women’s sport in New Zealand but all genders and ages actively participate in netball. We also played touch rugby. It was fun to play the sports we have been learning about.

On Wednesday and Thursday we had the chance to visit Sport New Zealand and New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU). At Sport New Zealand we learned about their mission to make New Zealand the most successful sporting nation. They try to achieve this by focusing on community level sport. One of the representatives was originally from the UK, and it was interesting to hear about how they combat childhood obesity and sport participation. In the UK they do not show fast food advertisements on children’s networks and there is no candy on the shelves in check out lines at stores. New Zealand is the most active nation but the 8th most obese nation so it is fascinating to hear about how they balance that.

We have arrived in Wellington, the last stop on our trip. I will definitely miss it here (not looking forward to going back to snow), but it will be nice to sleep in my bed again and see my friends at school. Today we met with Rick, the community manager of Wellington Rugby. He gave us a tour of the Hurricanes’ training facility. Similar to other Super XV teams we met with, the facility was small, and they employ a small staff. It was interesting to compare this to NFL teams in America. NFL teams have large facilities and a ton of employees, including sleep specialists. The Super XV training facilities in New Zealand seem to be modest just like the Kiwis themselves. These teams prove you can achieve a high level of success without a large budget. 

Rick is the first speaker we have had of Maori descent. Most of the other speakers have been Pakeha (European descent) and are not true Kiwis. Most have been from Australia or the UK. It was nice to hear the perspective of a native Kiwi and see his opinions on race relations. We have gotten mixed messages about whether race relations are amicable or not, but Rick confirmed that there are positive relations between the Maori and Pakeha.

As the community manager, Rick works at the grassroots level making sure the coaches know what they are doing and the kids are having fun. Coaches attend training so they understand how to teach the game and how to adapt teaching styles for different players. I think this is a great idea. I have had many coaches that are just parent volunteers. They attempt to coach, but they don’t even know the game themselves. Making sure the kids are having fun and enjoying the experience makes the kids want to continue to stay involved in rugby.

Amber, Lizzie, Kaila, and I got up early to attempt to go skydiving and of course it was cancelled again, this time because it was cloudy. I told them I refused to leave Queenstown, the adventure capital of the world, until I threw myself off of something. We went out searching for another adventure, but nothing was open at 7 am. After some juice and tea we headed to AJ Hackett Bungy to see if they had any openings for the morning, since we were leaving for the airport at 2:00. I walked in, went up to the desk, and asked when the next opening was for bungy jumping this morning. The lady was shocked and asked if I was ready to jump right now, and I said yes. Then she said there was a trip leaving in 40 minutes that we could go on. After a lot of convincing I was able to get Amber and Lizzie on board with the plan to do the Nevis bungy jump. The Nevis bungy is 134 m tall and the largest bungy jump in Australasia.

After a 40 minute drive, we arrived at the bungy which consisted of a little pod dangling from a wire between two mountains. We got our harnesses on and rode in a little cage, that can only hold 6 people at a time, out to the pod to get ready to jump. Surprisingly, I was not nervous, (Amber was scared enough for the both of us) just excited. We jumped in order of weight, from heaviest to lightest, so I was the last one to jump from our group of 11 people. Unlike the shorter bungy jumps that detach you from the cord at the bottom of the jump, ours pulled you back up to the pod after you jumped. After the second bounce up we had to reach for the green strap that was tucked into our left ankle cuff and pull it to the left, in order to release a pin and detach our feet. If you did this properly you would swing to a seated position and be pulled up like that; however, some people (including Lizzie) could not get the pin out and were pulled back up still hanging by their feet.

‘Lose Yourself’ by Eminem (my go to pump up song) came on when I was getting ready to jump, and it was perfect. I was in the zone, jamming to the song and wasn’t scared at all. When I waddled out on the ledge, I briefly looked down and before I could think about it, they counted down and I just jumped. You can’t really describe the feeling but it was amazing! I was able to release my feet, and as soon as I got into the pod, all I wanted to do was jump again.

Lizzie and I started the day bright and early at the luge which was basically real life Mario Kart (except for the fact that she wouldn’t race me and was driving like a grandma). It was a lot of fun and from there we headed off to skydive. After registering, getting to the jump site, seeing everyone one else jump, and waiting for a total of 2.5 hours, we were about to get ready to go when they cancelled all jumps for the rest of the day due to wind. Feeling upset and defeated we went back to town and booked another jump for 7 am Monday before our flight to Wellington.