In May, I bought a one-way ticket from Vermont to Auckland, New Zealand. That was the extent of my planning for my trip. I had nowhere to stay, no roadmap, no timeline. No plan, no expectations, no problem! The time between when I bought the ticket and when I was set to leave, people often asked me, “Aren’t you scared to be going to a country you’ve never been to by yourself?” and the answer was always the same “Of course I am. I’m terrified, but it wouldn’t be worth doing if it wasn’t scary, now would it?” I still stand by that. If it wasn’t, that would mean there’s nothing to lose and no room to grow.
I’m on my way to the other side of the world with a backpack, suitcase, and a camera bag. I don’t even know what I’m doing after my plane lands. I catch a bus into Central Auckland and get there around 8 am, but Airbnb my check-in isn’t until 3 pm. I know I’m not going to go sightseeing lugging all my bags around, so I end up in a little cafe where I get myself settled. I remember that my buddy Abel lives in Auckland and decide to hit him up just to see where in the city he lives. Luckily for me, he’s less than a five-minute walk up the road from the cafe. I drop my bags at his place and we make our way around the city.
