Well, it's a start..

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March 2nd 2013

Published: March 9th 2013

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Egregius

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You know you had a good goodbye party when..

Alrighty then!

So I'm starting a travelblog, so that I can keep both the people on facebook as well as the hardcore non-FBers informed...and I'm doing it in english because of the non-dutch part of the FB group 😊

So, where do I start? At the night before my flight on February the 28th, in which I skipped sleep on purpose, and only started packing at 1 AM because I'm me (and had to clean up a lot)? On the morning of the flight, where I started losing my sanity, and started getting stressed, because, you know, 6 hours to pack might not be enough when you consider the possibility of staying away for a year (max)?

Maybe I can skip the goodbye from Schiphol, with some last minute niceness and me just being zenned-out all the way through (btw: thanks Chun for fixing my seat!)? Let me get to the flight: 11-12 hours, but very very comfortable. Considering Singapore Airlines was the cheapest (800 euro one way...ooph), the chairs with built-in TVs (weird pop-up system when you don't have a chair in front of you) and programs/movies on demand was cool. Also: it was an adventure in

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Can you believe this is the first picture I took this trip? Tip: put your camera in your handluggage instead of your backpack.

itself: flying over Europe by day, the snowy Caucasus mountain villages in the evening, the dark mountains of midnight Afghanistan, the sprawls of India (lots of lights), and eventually the hordes of ships and islands near Singapore.

Also: Singapore Airport is amazing. With the little trains between terminals, the butterfly garden, free internet, and relax areas.

Ahhh, and then finally, after 3 hours in Singapore and another 10 hour flight, Auckland. Slept few hours on the plane, so I could fix my jetlag in Auckland, as I was arriving at night. Of course, the hostel didn't respond to my enquiries wether they were open at night, so I didn't have a bed reserved. I did know a number of adresses. Which I eventually all visited throughout central Auckland, with a backpack, on a sweaty friday night, since every place was full, and my intended hostel wasn't open at night. Eventually a sympathetic hostel receptionist allowed me to sleep a few hours in the kitchen (and he had a point that even if I would find a place, with a 10 hour checkout at 4 AM it was hardly worth to pay for a night).

Afterwards, even though

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No free hugs :(

they never replied and weren't open at night, I got a place at my originally planned hostel, until I met with the person I've now stayed for almost a week with. She has a car, I have gas money. We make a great team >:P

So far me and Nerida (pronounced differently from the Greek Nerida) have gone to Piha (beach on the west-coast of the island), Auckland museum (we'll be back; it's free if you pretend to be from Auckland), a fire-show from a french group (which amazingly didn't set the dry hill on fire; there's been a drought for a month now), waterfalls in a rain forest and Pasifika, a maori/pacific islander festival (those pictures will come later).

Anyway, 134 pictures!

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