The Magic Bus

Upon arriving un Auckland, I checked in to Auckland Central Backpackers - a hostel I read about in Lonely Planet as I was en route to New Zealand from Fiji. The hostel was described as having "more than 500 beds with a network of sightseeing and job-seeking contacts at one's fingertips." Perfect.

I decided to devote a day to figuring out the plan for the rest of New Zealand. The country has so much to see - beaches, glaciers, fiords, tropical forests, mountains, volcanos, lakes and rivers, evergreen forests, thermal hot springs, underground caves, farms, cities. To make the most of my 18 days here, I booked a ticket on "The Magic Bus" - a hop on/hop off bus that circulates New Zealand.

The best part of the Magic Bus is that I don't have to do any work. My first driver said that he had circulated NZ over 500 times, been to Milford Sound 192 times, and was better than any guidebook. So he further helped me refine my itinerary and figure out how many days to spend in each place.

The other best part about the Magic Bus is that it makes it really easy to meet other travelers. A lot of people at home asked me if I was nervous about traveling alone. (Or if they didn't ask me - gave me the funny look.) Traveling "alone" is really turning out to be a piece of cake and really fun!

The general age of long-term travelers seems to be 18-35 - though I've met some outside that on both ends. There are a lot of people like me, who saved money for awhile and quit their jobs. Most of the "older" (above 25) backpackers are also traveling alone. Then there are people who are finishing school - either high school, college, or masters programs. They are often traveling in pairs. The nice thing about the pairs is that they are still eager to meet new people, so traveling "alone" has been great so far!

Most of the people I've met so far have been from Europe, and I actually met a few girls my age -Cheryl from Wales and Sinead from Ireland - who I've been traveling with through most of the South Island on the bus. Cheryl is an environmental engineer who was working in Australia, and Sinead was a financial manager on leave of absence from her job. They are both really cool and adventerous so we have had a great time exploring NZ together.

The worst part about the bus are the "flash-packers", who make me feel really old (and wise.) Flashpackers are "18-19 year-old girls with a roller-bag and daddy's credit card." I think they travel primarily so they can put cool photos on their Facebook pages. Here is an actual conversation heard on the bus:

"My cousin went to Palestine."
"What's Palestine?"
"It's in the Middle East."
"Oh I know a place in the Middle East - Abu Delhi."
"Abu Dhabi?"
"Yeah I heard it has awesome shopping."

To each their own, I guess. But I suppose the occasional group of flashpackers are better than a bus full of creepy old men.