Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Glad I Could Contribute To Your Tourism Industry New Zealand

Well had a great flight on Air New Zealand, a very very professional airline, with some great entertainment.  I found myself playing a lot of "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" on my tv console, couldn't get passed 16,000 thousand tho.  I'de rather earn my million the hard way tho anyway.


Felt great to be in a new place, but before I even experienced actual New Zealand I ran into an unfortunate issue at the airport.  Ill get straight to it.  As my bags passed thru customs scanning I was called over to the security officer.  Not knowing what the hell was up, they pull one red apple out of the bottom of my backpack. It was then and there where I knew this was not my night.  The apple had been in my back for the past 4 days and I COMPLETELY forgot about it. It was buried all the way at the bottom underneath all my paperwork and laptop. Since you are crossing international borders you must declare all goods/foods that you have, something that I was well aware about, especially since I took about 10 minutes to fill out the form on the flight over.  That one damn apple, which for the record I thought I had already eaten back in Sydney, turned out being the most damn expensive apple I ever bought, and the worst part about it, I never got to eat and enjoy it.  

Since I had not declared it and their was strict regulation on it, I was fined $200 New Zealand Dollars.  I tried to explain my case, but the rule strictly states even if you make an accident or forget, like I did, you are still responsible.  I clearly understood all that was going on, and understood the reason behind brining international foods into new countries. Yep, I made a mistake and I wasn't about to get out of it.  Thankfully there is a bit better of exchange rate here, about $142 US but damn not the way I would like to start my journey here in NZ.  

Like I have said before in these sorts of situations, yes, absolutely brutal now since travelling and money can go a far way, but later in life Ill earn that money back and it will all me a long time memory. I can assure you, that when I travel the world again, this sort of instance will never happen again so there is always something to learn out of every bad situation. It reminded me a lot of that time in Prague where I got fined on my way out to the airport for having the wrong ticket, I think that fine was a bit more.

Super unfortunate but can't let it piss me off for much longer, what's done is done.  Hopefully that money contributed to the tourism industry and better airport facilities.  

Thank you very much red apple.

Going on my second day here, have had a great trip so far.  Will make my way up to the tip of the North Island tomorrow, the journey is well underway

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