The people that know me or the people that met me while travelling know what happened next. But for you guys that don’t, let’s continue the story.
The day after I paid my spot for the visa I had to go to the embassy and hand over my xray. But when I got there what I saw wasn’t what I was expecting.
Hundreds of people where outside the building, it seems that I wasn’t the only one that had some trouble. A lot of the people were saying that they couldn’t paid but they wanted to pay there. Some where demanding their place because they already had the ticket. As I said last time, if you didn’t pay you didn’t have a spot confirm and the 1000 visas were gone in 14 hours (remember I told you I got mine after 10 hours).
So after 3 hours of waiting I gave them my xray and now it was time to wait AGAIN. By Monday some of the people I met were getting replies already, but nothing for me. Once again I was freaking out, checking and refreshing the page ALL THE TIME.
It was Wednesday, I logged in like I’ve doing for the past couple of days and I saw it, finally, my confirmation. I was going to New Zealand =).
So the count down began, just 20 days left. I had to make sure I had everything, plane ticket CHECKED; medical insurance CHECKED; visa CHECKED; money CHECKED. I packed EVERYTHING that I owned, I was leaving for a year but I had a feeling I wasn’t coming back (but shhh don’t tell my mum that). I had one massive suitcase and my 60L backpack, plus my smaller backpack with my laptop, super important to keep in touch.
My mum planned an amazing surprise party for me, she invited all of my friends and, OH MY GOD, I even had a bouncing castle (I love bouncing castle but lets be honest, who doesn’t?).
The time went by and the date arrived. I was so nervous and excited. My first solo trip to a place that I’ve been wanting to go for almost a decade. I knew this was going to change everything.
I said goodbye to my parents and my sisters, they were already arguing who was going to get my room. It was a direct flight, Buenos Aires – Auckland, just 11 hours away from starting my new life =).
I’ve got on the plane and on the sit next to me there was a girl, Lucia, a solo traveller that during her trip through South America met a kiwi guy that became her boyfriend and now she was going to New Zealand to be with him.
We took off and soon after that my dream flight would become a nightmare. It was raining outside and that gave me a weird feeling in my belly. We were up in the sky for a little bit when the turbulence started. I never being scared when it happens, I usually scared my sister when it does. But this time it was difference.
The plane was shacking badly, me and Lucia starting to get scared so we started talking and talking non stop. I remember graving the side of my seat with all my strength. And suddenly we saw something that freaked us out, it looked like a lighting hit the wing.
I kept checking the interactive map that shows you where you are. I remember thinking” I can’t believe I’m so close to my dream, this place I’ve been waiting since I’m 12 and I’m going to die on Argentinian ground”. So close yet so far away.
Luckily after the longest 2 first hours of trip, the turbulence stopped and I stopped being dramatic and enjoyed the rest of the flight.
With this plane, we took the Polar Route, basically the plane goes down to Antarctica and then back up again to Auckland. What was cool about that is that when we reached the southest point on one side I could see pitch black and on the other one I could see a beautiful sunrise.
The rest of the flight went smoothly and after 11 hours of sitting down we finally arrived to our destination.
That’s when it hit me, I was alone, on the other side of the world and whatever happened next, it was on me.
The beginning of a new chapter was about to start. So wish me luck.