Stowaways in the elevator

On the last day of the trip we went back to Auckland. Since there was still time before departure and as a saver you don't want to waste time, we spontaneously decided to visit Auckland city center. This is always a big risk for bargain hunters, as you cannot find out in advance where you can park cheaply or which attractions have the best price-performance ratio.

So we improvised. That went wrong at first because the first parking garage wanted to charge an outrageous 3 euros for half an hour. After all the cameras in the parking garage were viewed, it was decided that the risk of being discovered was too great. So get out of the parking garage again and look for something new. That worked out and at 3 euros for an hour it wasn't cheap, but it was the best you could get. Parking here is completely electronic. You have to enter the license plate and the place where you park, then present your credit card and enter the parking duration. Everything is then stored centrally. Since the parking spaces are naturally always full, it's immediately noticeable at the headquarters if there's a parking space without a reservation, then a camera is used to see if anyone is standing there without a ticket and you're caught. So not exactly a friendly living space for the bargain hunter. But what can you do.

The travel companion used the time when I was busy with the parking meter to ask a local what you should definitely see in Auckland if you only have an hour (we didn't want to spend more than 3 euros on parking). Luckily The person in question was also a bargain hunter and I thought that with a little trick you could get up the 380 meter high Auckland television tower for free.

All you have to do is say that you want to go to the sugar bar, which is located below the observation deck. Then you save the 42 NZ$ for the driveway. Per person

The bargain hunters were thrilled and the plan was immediately put into action. So first I confidently walked past the ticket booth for the elevator. When they asked where the ticket was before entering the elevator, the answer came as if from one mouth: “We want to go to the SUGARBAR.”

But it wasn't all that easy. We had to go to another counter. Then there was the young lady who asked about our reservation for the sugar bar. “We’re meeting Julia and Paul from Australia and they’re already here,” was the travel companion’s improvised answer. Unfortunately, everything here is also fully digital and the lady checked the PC and found that Julia and Paul weren't in the bar yet. But we could wait for them upstairs, although there was a minimum consumption of 40 NZ in the bar. The NZ Sparfuchs hadn't given this information, but we quickly did the math and found out that it was still cheaper to go to the bar than just make the journey and whether we would end up in the bar was still an open question. So we nodded understandingly and were taken to the elevator. Less than a minute later we took the express lift alone to the 49th floor. The sugar bar was there and the door opened but the tour guide was prepared and furiously pressed the “close door button” and so the door to the sugar bar immediately closed again. Then quickly pressed to 50 floor and the elevator started moving again. In the meantime I could already see us going down the elevator in handcuffs, but when the door to the viewing platform opened there were so many people there and we had agreed to split up in different directions.

Everything worked and after 15 minutes and still no handcuffs, we went one better and went 10 floors higher to the upper platform. You no longer needed extra tickets.

Then I quickly took the photos and then we went back downstairs and quickly out of the building. No, no one followed us. After 1 hour and 4 minutes we got to the car and then we got out of the city. Another successful campaign by the bargain hunters and we didn't even have to stick ourselves anywhere.