Finally here :)

After 24 hours of flying and 8 hours of waiting at multiple airports, we have finally made it. We are in New Zealand. The first flight from Frankfurt to Abu Dhabi was quite pleasant even though we managed to get the most unpopular seats, without windows and not by the aisle. But it was bearable for the six hours. The menu then cheered us up and when the food was served and we realized that it tasted quite good, we were both satisfied and made ourselves comfortable. The flight went by quickly and suddenly we were in Abu Dhabi. Besides the fact that it smelled extremely like the Far East at the gate and I could only breathe through my scarf, our stay there was quite uneventful. And the second flight from Sheikhland to Chinaland (Hong Kong) was quite entertaining. Jonas especially enjoyed our two fellow passengers sitting across from us and preferred the seat in the middle over the one next to them. In essence, we both just slept through the flight and suddenly we were in Hong Kong. Here we had a 6-hour layover and first went in search of food. Jonas naturally wanted to try the local cuisine right away and I was persuaded to have a delicious plate of fried noodles with shrimp. Unfortunately, after my first bite, I realized once again that this was a bad decision... anyone who knows about my experiences with Asian food, especially Indian cuisine, knows what I mean. So I settled for two small spring rolls while Jonas happily devoured his plate and half of mine. Tired and exhausted, we dragged ourselves through the Asian souvenir shops at the airport, stocked up on emergency chocolate, and found a place to rest. While I preferred a cozy bench, Jonas lay flat on the floor and fell asleep immediately... to the amusement of some Asian children who happily hopped around him. When it got a little quieter, I finally managed to close my eyes for an hour. When we finally continued on our third flight, we were glad to finally be sitting on the plane. Added to my grumbling stomach and our fatigue were screaming children, snoring Indians, sniffing and blowing Asians, incapable flight attendants, and a brightly lit plane on a night flight!!! Our joy was limited, but we were too tired to be upset about anything. Our enthusiasm came back instantly when the plane started its descent and we took our first step off the plane. Fresh air from the other end of the world blew in our faces. We were finally here! My joy quickly faded, as we still had to go through passport control and customs at the airport, which I had been terrified of for nearly 11 hours on the plane. To my great disappointment, a nice, young man greeted us at the counter and simply asked us about the duration of our stay. No difficult questions in English, no hostile glances, no presenting of documents that I held tightly in my hand, and no dangerous dogs at customs sniffing my backpack and growling at me because they may have found a crumb of German soil or something else. When we took our first step outside the airport, the moment was finally there, from now on, I didn't care about anything!!! Well, almost... when we first couldn't find the first bus stop and wandered around the other airport, and after a relaxed bus ride, couldn't find the second bus stop and wandered around again, our nerves were tested once again. Finally arriving at the hostel, we went to sleep at 2 o'clock in the afternoon and didn't wake up until 6 o'clock the next morning. After all, we had some sleep to catch up on :) My first night at the hostel was quite uneventful since we had booked a twin room for two nights. The room was very functional with a bed, a dresser, and a trash can, the bathroom only moderately clean and young people passed out everywhere. At this point, I didn't yet know that it could be much worse and that I would long for this little idyllic hostel.

In the next few days, we leisurely strolled through the city and explored Auckland. Jonas found his new "favorite pub" where beer only cost $5 during happy hour, and I was glad to just be able to sit somewhere and enjoy the new free time.

Since we had only booked our hostel for 2 nights, we had to find a new one, because we hadn't considered that the banks are also closed on Sundays here and we have to set up a bank account to apply for our tax number for work. So we continued to a new hostel right in the city. We were just about to check in. Since we were way too early, we had the option to continue strolling through the city or join the dark, dreary, unmotivated backpackers lying on the floor in Jonas' cellar, aptly named "Deprikeller". We preferred Jonas' "favorite pub", after all, it was happy hour again. And here we are now, and I'm writing our first blog post that you've all been waiting for while Jonas calmly drinks one beer after another. And I'm already looking forward to my first night in a 10-bed dorm at the hostel!