Travel Notes: Auckland — Day 1

Originally emailed home during my 2005 tour manager training…

We made it. So did our bags.

Sunday, 16 October 2005

It’s Monday night in Auckland, New Zealand—and I am ready to sleep.

Michelle, my fellow trainee, and I arrived in NZ at 12:25 a.m. We were scheduled to meet Toni, our Tour Manager trainer, at 5:15 a.m. What happened in between looked like this:

• 1:15 a.m. — report bags as missing to Qantas

• 1:30 a.m. — taxi to hotel

• 1:55 a.m. — into the room

• 2:15 a.m. — lights out

• 4:25 a.m. — wake-up call

• 5:15 a.m. — meet Toni in the hotel lobby

At 5:30 a.m., we headed out with our bus driver, Robin—a local New Zealand bloke—to pick up passengers arriving from Los Angeles at 6:30 a.m.

And we’ve been going ever since.

We’re learning so much from Toni. She’s incredibly knowledgeable about New Zealand, Collette, and tours—and also very organized, which you know means a lot to me. 🙂

Tomorrow morning we meet at 7:00 a.m. to count the bags (probably the most important part of the job!) and then head north to the Bay of Islands.

At tonight’s Welcome Briefing, Toni told our passengers:
“We are on an adventure. And you know the difference between a vacation and an adventure? On vacation, you get to sleep in!”

So true—especially for the Tour Manager.
It’s not just a job. It’s an adventure.

Oh—and the bags? They made it just fine. They decided to hang out in Sydney, Australia for the night, but arrived around 10:00 a.m. today.

It’s all good.

Time for bed. (Yay!)

—TJ