NZ FAM: Day 1

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Woke up at 6am (so I slept 6 hours), but still felt tired. Had breakfast and still had 4 hours left so I watched some more Glee. Arrived at Auckland airport and we met up with Jay (our other Contiki staff traveler). We quickly determined who the other FC travel agents were who would be travelling with us on this FAM trip. As we all gathered in the terminal for our next flight to Christchurch we noticed a large group of young people all scattered about. Everyone seemed to know atleast 1 or 2 other people but it wasn’t as if they all knew each other so there wasn’t too much mixing or mingling at this point. Met Fiona Campbell who helped arrange the FAM for Flight Centre as she came over and introduced herself to us. Eventually as we boarded our next plane everyone was seated beside someone else who would be on the FAM so we all started making introductions and discovering who came from what city, SFO, LAX, who had spent stopovers in SFO, etc. It seems as though we all travelled the furthest as those who were all closer to the west coast didn’t have a whole extra day of lost travel time that we did. This Air NZ plane was really small and it was only a quick 1 hour flight. As soon as we got there, I was the first one through the security gate and met Murray Scott (better known as Muzz) who would be our guide for the next 7 days. We introduced our team and chatted quickly about his plans for the day. Once the group got together, we got onboard our Contiki coach and met Kevin (our driver). They drove us straight to the Bealey’s Hotel so we could quickly shower, change, leave our bags and gave us our first option for the day. We could either stay at the hotel and have a free afternoon to use for sleeping, etc or the coach could take us into town at 11am and then again they would take another group at 1:45pm. It seems as though almost the entire group was keen to ditch our bags and go into town at 11am. We got our bearings for the small town and Muzz gave us our brief history and intro to Christchurch. First thing everyone wanted was food! Before we even walked around everyone headed to the first pub Muzz recommended. We were spread out across 3 large tables but everyone mixing and getting to know one another quite well. I was given an opportunity to treat the group for drinks, etc so since everyone was buying pitchers, I picked up a round of drinks for everyone. Eventually with full bellies and feeling weary from lack of sleep, we all headed out in different directions to see what Christchurch had to offer. Unfortunately, it was quite cool and rainy out so it wasn’t the best day to sightsee. Got to know Marissa from Vancouver, Lili from Edmonton and Laura from Victoria as they walked around with Jay, Rachel and myself. They were so excited at the sight of a Flight Centre! The main square in Christchurch was cute with a beautiful old church. Jay played on a giant life-size chess board with a local and he got beat twice. First thing we all noticed was a giant countdown to the Rugby world championships so we knew we would be hearing a lot about rugby on this trip. We went in some tourist shops and continued walking. Walked into the beautiful campus of Canterbury University. It was beautiful and full of such old buildings. It was then that what Murray had said started sinking in. This town was really full of old English settlers and it did feel like being in England. Walked through a trendy market, then through some botanical gardens but we ended up needing to go inside to get warm and dry so back into another pub we went. This time we were in a sports bar called the Holy Grail. It was an amazing bar which I can imagine would be pumping if there had have been a rugby match on. Had a few pints until it was pick up time from the coach at 5pm. We all got dressed for dinner at the hotel and we met up for drinks in the lounge first. I had heard that “Flighties” were known for being crazy but some of them were already smashed before dinner and were wearing mustaches for no reason; even the girls! It was too funny Murray chatted with us Contiki crew and bought us a beer to discuss our plans for the trip. We told him our plans and he mentioned that he had a few surprises of his own for everyone. He mentioned the surprises to us but told us to keep it secret to add excitement for the agents. We then realized in talking to Murray how lucky we were to have him as a guide on this trip. Murray is actually the operations manager of Contiki NZ and he no longer guides tours, but was doing this as a special request for us. At this point, the pint was making me very weary and so tired I could hardly function. For dinner, we got a special treat and the owners came over to meet our group who were super friendly and hospitable. Also we got to eat with 2 former members of the “All Blacks” NZ Rugby team. They were father and son. I didn’t get a chance to speak to them as they were seated at the heads of the tables. I ate a yummy roast & potatoes meal for dinner, had a rum and coke and crashed as soon as we were done eating. I was in bed by 8:45pm. Slept like a baby till 4am and then woke up and couldn’t sleep again. So frustrated from the jet lag.

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