NEW ZEALAND (I)

TRAVEL DATE: 4TH DECEMBER TO 14TH DECEMBER

(10 DAYS)

So the popular question and of course what this entry is about: How's New Zealand? 

On the scale of 1-10 on how fun Zealand was, it'd be a....... 6.5 haha.

Out of the 10 days, I honestly only remember enjoying 1-2 days. Tops, 3 days. The rest were like... hmm, okay so so mmmm yeah alright. I mean, NZ no doubt is a beautiful place and I think I would have seen it much differently if I wasn't with a tour group. I was travelling with my family so being with tour group is like a safety blanket to them; no risks, safety guaranteed, and maybe convenient. 

At airport toilet taking a selfie while old granny checks me out,  "daaaayum guurrllll" hahahaha

I like how I could charge my phone this way on plane

We stopped over at Sydney for transit to get to Auckland

When we've reached Auckland, I was indeed blown away by the things greeted my eyes. Th grreeeeeens, architecture of buildings, the open air, the sky, I got lost in the beauty in everything I saw. It then strikes me how Haji Lane or Tiong Bahru are always trying to create something when New Zealand achieves the authenticity so effortlessly without a care.

Travelling with tour this time reminded me why haven't I been travelling with my mom for so long cause I simply hate being with tour group. Not because of the people on tour but.... the entire thing is just so exhausting and draining. I don't get how it is a holiday when we are always rushing from point A to point B. Waking sooooo early that we don't actually have enough rest. Each day we feel worse than before. Does it make sense to be resting much lesser on holiday than when we work on the weekdays back at home, that is a problem don't you see?

Don't ever try asking me names of places cause I'd only mention if I do. Otherwise, it means I don't like the place enough to even bother remembering the name hahaha. It's so unnerving for me that we had to start our tour the moment we landed in Auckland. We didn't even get to go to the hotel to check in and freshen up a little after such a long flight (estimably 10hours plus minus).

With tour, it's always quantity over quality. They think that the more you see, the more worthy is your trip; something that I definitely don't agree with. Each place we stopped at, we had only 10-15mins to see what more enjoy. 

So how can it be worth it when nothing is experienced but only seen? Get it?

We went to tour the district where all the richness reigns. The houses were all so so beautiful, also expensive looking of course. I can totally imagine those MTV Crib shit going on in there. Like bowling alley in the basement, bar at swimming pool, tennis court, indoor courts etc. It's such a privilege to have no land constraint and have beaaaaaautiful houses with big backyard for kids to play around and run about. 

I didn't manage to capture most of the houses in still but I think I took a video! I'll be compiling the videos together for vlog but that's gonna take time soooooo I'll just be showing y'all the photos of the trip bit by bit first till then, I hope the video will be ready. I foresee a long and draggy NZ entry that's why I wasn't even really eager to get started on haha. 

We were told about the rose garden during the itinerary briefing which got me and mom totally excited. We were imagining beds and beds of wonderful flowers, blooming gloriously. We picture it being totally breathtaking and amazing.......... and........ yeah above was what we saw. I didn't even bother taking lots of pictures hahahaha. 

FINALLY WE GOT TO GET TO THE HOTEL TO FRESHEN UP BEFORE DINNER.

We checked in at about 4plus 5 so I had time to doll up and feel pretty for dinner hehehe. 

Dress from Minkpink. I absolutely love this brand. Now we all can actually get the Minkpink goodies at Made by Lauren Jasmine cafe at 47 Amoy Street!!! It's so exciting cause I can now physically try on the clothes and not risking the online purchases heh heh heh #awesome

I was in horror when the second meal in Auckland was again...... THAI. 

During lunch, it was like a own-time-own-target kind of thing, so we (my family) decided to have Thai just in case the other days were all gonna be filled with Western food. AND AND did you know padthai that I had for lunch cost $19.80 ........................... IKR. I was literally whuuuuuuut when I saw the menu. Yeah. And little did we know our tourguide actually planned a Thai dinner for us waaaaay beforehand and we couldn't say no. Yayyy Thai in NZ #coolbutnotcool

There weren't a lot of see cause most of the shops closed pretty early...... like 6ish 7 if I ain't wrong. Just super early. And guess whaaaaaaaaaat, I saw WINDSOR SMITH SHOES. I wanted to buy it so so bad. I tried a few on and somehow they just didn't look as nice on my feet. Maybe I'm critical, maybe I've ugly feet.... idk. In the end, I didn't buy. It was about $129. Haven't confirmed if it's cheaper to buy it there or online but yeah. IT'S OK NO REGRETS IRINA. I like it but I didn't like it enough. My aunt was so confident that I was gonna get it but Irina's self control just proven itself.

And then, we decided to drop by the supermarket. You'll see I visited a lot of supermarkets during this trip hahaha cause supermarkets are awesome!!!! It's filled with foooood and it's much easier to hunt for stuff than stores on streets. I love how they've this self checkout machine! It's so convenient and smart. Luvvvviiiit.

And then Irina went to casino with the aim of tryna understand how Jackpot works and the conclusion is... it's stupid. I just don't get it. How can people sit there for hours, like come on there are better games out there, really. Irina ain't bitter cause she lost money but Irina really doesn't get it.

OK. This is the end of New Zealand part 1.
More to come and I hope the posts get better too.
My day 1 was evidently as meh as this entry haha.


AND AND MERRY XMAS GUYS
HAVE A GOOD TIME AND BE SAFE
HEH HEH HEH

Irina gonna go have some ice cream now. This eve seems to be slightly depressing.

NEW ZEALAND (II)
NEW ZEALAND (III)