Tuesday was an interesting day……
Or, maybe it was Monday……or it could have been Wednesday……..
I’m not sure.
All I know is that in New Zealand, where I am currently traveling, my today is your yesterday. I have no idea where that leaves all of you…..wherever you are right now.
The first thing I have learned on my tour of New Zealand and Australia is that the time change between home and here as one travels over the international date line is really disorienting. That, in addition to the 16 hours of travel time to get here gave me a real run for my money in terms of orientation and common sense. Or, at least that was the case as I was negotiating my way through the Auckland airport on my first day…..Thursday…or whatever day it was….
And, it was only the first day.
I think.
Try as I might to get everything done exactly as I needed to have it before leaving home for a few weeks…on whatever day I left…..I missed on a few items…..
For those of you who don’t know, I am driving south through New Zealand from Auckland for a few weeks with some friends. We are ending up in Queenstown and will then be extending our fun in Australia for a few weeks.
Several months ago when I began to think through the driving route and methods of communication, I decided that I would unlock an old iPhone and then buy a New Zealand “sim” card at the airport in Auckland that would give me local cell service and texting capabilities while on my trip. That would also give us access to GPS and driving directions from one place to the next, which we would need. I’ve never done this before, but people do it all of the time.
How hard could it be?!
I also decided that I would outfit my United States phone with the international calling plan so that I could access voice mails if needed. AT & T was happy to help me with this.
AT & T unlocked my phone…super easy……I took it home and stacked it on the pile of things to take with me on my trip. The day before I left, I remembered to search out a power cord for the phone and put it on the stack of things to take with me. I tucked all of it into my suitcase and off I went on my trip on the appointed day.
When I got to Auckland at 5:45 am, I went to the VodaPhone (local phone service) counter…..
…..and purchased the “sim” card. The clerk put it in and then pushed the power button for the phone. He looked up at me and said,
“When was the last time you used this phone?”
I didn’t know…a few months probably. Why?
After all of the planning, unlocking the phone, and finding the power cord, I had forgotten to check to see if the phone was actually functional, charged up and ready to go.
…..sigh……..
“Well,” he said. “How much time do you have? I can probably charge it for you if you can wait.”
I couldn’t check into my Air B & B apartment until 3:00 pm and my friends weren’t coming for hours. So. OK. I could wait. No problem, and about an hour later, I was on my way.
Great!
With my phone charged, I headed to town on the shuttle. It was still to early too check-in. But, I knew this would be the case and had checked out a solution before I left. Around the corner from my accommodation were storage lockers for purchase. What I didn’t know was that the storage lockers were in the bus station…..kind of seedy.
Oh well! What choice did I have?
So, I went in, got some coins from the girl at the counter and picked my locker. The doors on the storage spaces were spring loaded. So, as soon as you opened them, they popped back shut. Unless, of course, you were holding them open.
Really?!
I picked a locker that was on the ground. Maybe that would be easier. I could roll it into the space. Because, otherwise, how is it possible to maneuver the continuous spring action of the door when you are tugging and pushing your suitcase into the space?
It wasn’t easy, but I did it and was feeling pretty good about it.
Until……..
I realized that the storage locker I had prepaid was not the one where my luggage was waiting.
Sigh…..
So, I unloaded my luggage from its current spot and moved it to the one I had paid for. It was on the top. How inconvenient. But, I wrestled my luggage out of one locker and lifted it up into the next, all the while fighting the spring loaded doors on the storage lockers. I locked up the storage space and went on.
After all that, I felt that I deserved to have a good breakfast down by the waterfront and headed in that direction.
I found a great breakfast at a restaurant with a relaxed pace.
As I was sipping my “flat white” and was beginning to relax, I thought I should check my phone to see if my friends had arrived. They were going to text me. I picked up my USA phone, which is the number they had and guess what!
No service!
Duped…..by AT & T. So now I couldn’t communicate with my friends and I also couldn’t communicate with my accommodation, who also had my USA number.
But, I am a problem solver.
So, I thought this through. OK. I can use my local phone, to look on the internet to access my Air B & B account.
No worries.
Of course, when I went on to the internet on my phone to access my account, I didn’t have my password. It was saved on my laptop.
Still…..no worries.
I’ll just change my password. I got all the way to the end of the process and because Air B & B didn’t recognize my New Zealand phone as a connection device, they wouldn’t let me into my account. I needed to receive from them an entry code either via text message or voice mail…..on my USA phone…. for which I had no service. And, because I had been using my New Zealand phone to do all of this, I was now down to 20% battery.
Uh Oh……
I then realized that I had locked my phone charging equipment in the storage locker.
I finished up my breakfast, trudged up the hill to the bus station, got my charging unit out of the storage locker, paid again for the locker…….because you pay every time you open the locker……… and went to the desk where I had gone 4 times to get change to feed the locker and asked for an electrical outlet to charge my phone. I plugged in my phone and guess what! The outlet didn’t work.
With 12% charge on my New Zealand phone and no service on the other phone, I decided I was done. So, using my New Zealand phone, I sent a text to my friends and told them to text me on that number when they got in.
It all worked out. I met my friends, got into the apartment and charged my phone. I am now about a week into the trip. And, I will say that my technology is now working out just great…..all except for the AT & T service. There is no hope for this.
So, on Monday……or Tuesday……or whatever day this is, I am signing off and hoping that I don’t run out of minutes on the “sim” card of my only working phone.
We’ll see what happens.
I’ll keep you posted……
…..or not…….
Travel With Betsy 
Leave a comment