This blog is coming in a little late this time, mostly because of mid-semester break and all the unexpectedness that came with it. A few weeks ago, myself and a few friends I found here made the decision to travel to Australia for a week during school break. While we were planning the trip, everything seemed to line up perfectly. We found plane tickets through JetStar for relatively cheap, we found a free car we could use to drive to the airport in Queenstown, and we even met a nice couple on our Fiordland trip who offered us accommodation on the Gold Coast for an amazing price. Unfortunately, as the trip grew closer, our “perfect plans” started falling apart.
The week leading up to our departure, we found out that the transfer car we reserved to get to Queenstown was no longer an option. Frantically we began to look for any other transportation that wasn’t already booked out. We were able to find a rental car online, and booked it immediately, but the next day we got an email telling us that the car was no longer available. We were extremely confused by this as the website allowed us to reserve the car, enter our card information, and then gave us confirmation of the booking. We called the place several times only to be told they were “too busy” to talk to us, and we should “call back in a few hours”. We did this multiple times before we gave up just as confused as before. All three of us agree that it was probably the worst customer service we’ve ever received, so for any future travelers, beware of the Jucy car rental company. At the last minute we were able to find a bus into Queenstown, but it was the day before our flight which meant we would have to spend the night in Queenstown. We booked the bus tickets in a hurry, and resolved to try and find accommodation when we got there in a cheap motel, or if worse came to worse, spend the night in the airport.
We arrived in Queenstown around seven at night on that Friday, and set out for a place with some cheap food and free WIFI so we could look for a place to stay. After a few hours calling every motel and hostel in the area, we realized that because it was Easter weekend everything was completely booked. This was unfortunate luck, but we had the airport as our backup plan. At least we thought we did. It turns out, that in New Zealand airports actually close down for the night. As someone who lives near a huge international airport, this had never even crossed my mind as a possibility. At that point, we were tired, angry, and seemingly homeless for the night. Luckily, we found a nice cab driver who took us to a 24/7 McDonalds near the airport and we set up camp. McDonalds isn’t the type of place I ever thought I would spend more than ten minutes in, let alone eleven hours the night before a flight with all my luggage around me. I can honestly say it was the worst night’s sleep I have ever had. Booths that smell like stale French fries are not meant to slept on, but at least we were warm and out of the torrential rain. After a really, really, long eleven hours, we made our way to the airport and practically collapsed at our gate, tired but excited to get on a plane and maybe get a decent nap. Again, we were unprepared for another wrench to be thrown into our plans.
Ten minutes before we were set to board, our flight got delayed for an engineering problem. An hour after that, it was delayed again, and the people scheduled to be in the gate after us were boarding for their flight. Another hour passed, and there was still no update from JetStar about what was going on. After the night we had, this was unacceptable. One of my friends went online to see if there were any updates to our fight, and saw that it had been pushed to 9 pm. Almost eight full hours later than it was scheduled. Immediately I knew that this did not bode well, I had a feeling that the flight was going to end up being cancelled. Eventually, we were kicked out of the gate, and made to go back out of the secured area and wait until an hour before the flight to go through security again. We were pissed. We ended up with a ten-dollar meal voucher that we spent on the unhealthiest food we could find and ended up sipping crappy lattes to pass the time. At around seven thirty, my premonition came true, and the overhead speaker announced that our flight had been cancelled. We made our way to the JetStar service desk ready to argue our way into free accommodation for the night, (there was no way we were going back to that freaking McDonalds) and found that if we wanted accommodation we were going to have to fly out that night to Melbourne and stay there. We instantly agreed, all too tired to resist a free hotel and a warm shower. We arrived in Melbourne a few hours later, exhausted, and finally crawled into bed, ready to get some sleep after being awake for more than thirty-six hours, praying that the start of our vacation would only be a few more hours away.