Holy emergency Batman!

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Christchurch has won the award for most exciting city yet. Two hints: medical attention and firemen. And yes, I’m fine. And no, some beautiful Kiwi fireman didn’t whisk me away to make all my dreams come true.😞 Let me start by saying that as morbid as this sounds, I have always wanted to hear the phrase “Is there a doctor on board the plane?” And after 28 years and more sky-miles than I can count, I finally got to hear it. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to see some man have a heart attack or some pregnant chick go into early labor on a flight. Just a small emergency, requiring minor medical attention. Well, I got it. Some poor woman, while being helped up the front by a flight attendant simply fainted. I mean she just fell right over outside the bathroom. And that is when I heard that long awaited phrase paged over the PA system. “Is there a doctor on board?” It was like I was in a movie. Flight attendants magically produced pillows and blankets and an oxygen tank for the woman and indeed there was a doctor on board (although if I had to guess I would say he was either a podiatrist or a proctologist judging by the looks of him). Unfortunately, that was about the extent of the excitement. She eventually got up and was helped back to her seat and I went back to the new playlist on my iPod. But still, life goal, fulfilled!

The next exciting event that occurred was a little more inconvenient. I had gone to sleep quite early as I had to get up at 6:30 to catch the tranzalpine train. I was snug in my bed with eye shades on and earplugs in when suddenly, I heard my roommates alarm go off on her phone. It buzzed, and buzzed and buzzed and I thought “For the love of God! Why isn’t she waking up?!?! Am I going to have to smother this poor girl with my pillow?” I quickly realized it wasn’t her phone but somehow, in my sleep induced haze, my next thought went to “Is this wake-up call? That seems kind of rude to be blaring out into the entire room.” Right, lack of sleep, jet lag, dehydration, whatever. I was tired. At this point I had, finally, removed my ear plugs and realized there was no way a wake-up call could be this damn loud. I cracked open the door to my room which looked out into the communal TV room. Just then, a page came over the intercom “This is not a drill, please vacate the building” Well, shit. I went back in my room and told my barely English speaking roommate that the fire alarm was going off and we had to get out. I grabbed the essentials, my passport, my credit card, and my iPod and she and I headed out with the rest of the sleepy eyed hostel, and a few drunks. I don’t actually know what happened, nor do I care. But I spent from 1:50 AM until 2:00AM shivering outside with a hundred other backpackers. Luckily, I fell right back out as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Oh yes, Christchurch has some nice stuff in it as well. Botanical Gardens, cathedral, art museum, city square. All that was good too😊

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