Christchurch International Airport

Continuing from my previous post (oh no you're going to write another review), not exactly a review today but 'about' Christchurch International Airport (CHC). See the difference? :p

As the bus stopped at the international terminal it was really convenient for me as I didn't have to go to the other end. But the international and domestic terminal are connected in one airport, which is different from Auckland International Airport which I'll talk a little more in my next post.

pretty sure it's Chirstchurch Air Traffic Control Tower. don't know why the photo is blurry :(

So you thought that at 3am in the morning there would be no people in the airport and no shops will be opened and etc but I was wrong. Most of the passengers in my bus were stopping at the airport, and there were many people in the terminal sleeping or doing their own stuff.

I went on and see if there were any foods store that are opened. Most of the shops on ground floor, the floor where you check in for both international and domestic flight were closed. Not too sure about the other side on domestic terminal but I would assume that it would be the same story.

However, Long White Cafe was opened at that time. I think it is open 24hours which is really cool especially for its location at the international terminal. (I thought it probably wouldn't be really necessary as I don't think there will be any midnight flights to CHC but again I heard there's lots of passengers that "overnight" in the airport though you're not actually allowed to sleep in the airport).

Airport prices as usual, expect about $3 on top of the usual prices. Prices for hot beverages were about the same.

I had a cup of hot chocolate. The lady aka the cashier aka the barista wasn't being really friendly maybe she was tired or whatever (hey it was freaking 3am) but she told me I could help myself with marshmallows so that was nice. :D

Nothing spectacular about this drink aside from the marshmallows that I took. I swear I wished to take all of them! lol

There were plenty of seats from the main entrance of the terminal but most of them were occupied. It wasn't really crowded but most were taking few seats to lay down hence there wasn't enough. So I thought why not have a hot drink to warm myself up a little and I could sit down and relax for a bit.

And... after awhile I got bored 'coz my phone battery was running low so I had to charge it before it dies. It wasn't my first time to the airport and I knew there is more foods and seats and plugs upstairs so I went up.

Most of the souvenir shops and stuff like that were closed but some food store were opened. Should've came up earlier for more selection eh.

I was trying to find a photo of the inside of the airport on Google but to no avail. I will snap some next time ok? lol

Anyway I will try to describe the place. It's like a food court concept with shops at the side and seats in the middle. There's some really nice comfy couches for you to 'rest'. So I picked one of those really nice sofa, sat down, switched on my laptop, clicked on my anime, took out my rice ball and enjoyed like a boss. :D

One warning though, please only use the plug near those high benches and stool where they are located not the ones at the bottom 'coz I got 'warned' by the cleaner saying that it's really dangerous as someone might trip over. 

You get free wifi in the airport for 30minutes. Just clicked on the network and you'll know how to get the free wifi. Why oh why its so hard for you to provide free unlimited wifi? 

The airport got busy at around 5am. The airport started to get crowded and you see shops opening and more and more people wandering around the airport. One thing I do notice, there was more business people than travellers. Another thing was, you will often hear announcement like "please do not let your children to play at the escalator. this is a safety airport" something along the line.

Departure gate for domestic flight is at the middle of the 'food court', and international flight is at the 'right' if you're facing at the domestic departure gate or next to Travelex.

I find the staff in the airport really friendly. I went to Travelex on first floor wanting to buy some MYR unfortunately she didn't have any she told me to buy some at Auckland airport but I told her I'm flying domestic so she was like "I'm sorry but maybe you could try the one downstairs but I can't guarantee you". When I went down the staff was really nice as well 'coz I asked her lots of questions and was taking my own sweet time to decide. It may seemed like it's totally their job to give me good service but it mean something to us customers when we get good services. :)

Knight Rider bus review

The other day when Jet Star was having airfare sale I quickly booked my air ticket back home and my flight was at 6 o' clock in the morning. Dunedin doesn't have direct flight to Singapore nor Malaysia so everyone that wishes to fly internationally have to transit in Christchurch or Auckland. I had my flight from Christchurch but unfortunately after many searches there wasn't any midnight flight or late night flight to Christchurch. So I'm left with 2 options, to ride a night bus or overnight stay in Christchurch, and I chose the first one.

I don't know if anyone is interested with a night bus ride review but I personally would find this quite handy for people with travel sickness, especially with bus. I had a horrible experience with a 3hr bus ride before hence I'm really cautious when it comes to traveling with bus. But I had no choice because I'm freaking poor to pay the extras for flight, accommodation and travel to airport in Christchurch.

This time I'm choosing Knight Rider. As I mentioned above, its a night bus. Student get student price for $52 from Dunedin North to Christchurch International Airport. Compared this to Naked Bus or other buses man this price is overpriced but I would tell you why I would recommend this to you.

The bus was scheduled to depart at 9.40pm but it was late for about 10minutes. I was kinda worried as I was running a little late to the bus stop (just opposite Hell's pizza) and it was my first time riding this bus (or any long journey bus in NZ) but luckily there was another guy that arrived 5s after me hoping on the same bus.

I was expecting a luxurious bus like this

to be honest I was a little surprised (or disappointed) when I saw the bus coming.

Of course the picture in the website was more flashy than how it really looked like, the real bus look like an old school bus. But the bus driver was really nice so that was good.

The bus was not full, was not even close to full. I guess it wasn't one of the peak period. Soon as I boarded the bus driver announced that we will be traveling straight to Christchurch with a break in Oamaru.

The bus was bumpy and to be honest it made me feel really uneasy. I had my travel sickness pastilles just before I ride the bus but wasn't helping at all. On top of that it was mostly hilly road adding to the bumpiness.

Till we arrived in Oamaru, we had a 30 or 45minutes break. I had to go down the bus and can't believed that I was shivering unconsciously. That was how bad I was feeling and I swear to God that I'm not gonna take long journey bus anymore.

And then there was no break in between from Oamaru to Christchurch unless the driver was told otherwise. I was praying that I could survive to Christchurch. For people that suffer from travel sickness as I do will understand how much I wish I could stop the bus.

Then I tried to "sleep" or "rest" by reclining the seat. and OMG the seat could be reclined to the point that its almost 135 degree. lol. I felt much better this way as I felt "more secure" when the bus was traveling on bumpy road. I don't feel like I am going to "fly" out of my seats anymore.

Thanks to the reclined seat I rested till the bus reached Christchurch city. :) and maybe my pastilles finally work. I think the bus did picked up and dropped off some other passengers along the way but I wasn't too sure.

Still, the bus wasn't packed. Good thing about night bus is that people often don't make noise and eventhough each seat has its own reading light I didn't encounter anyone that turned them on. Well I had two seats on my own but for leg room wise it was spacious, pretty sure it was spacious enough for people with long legs too (height 180cm above). There were curtains to block out street lights as well but I would suggest you to bring eye mask as I did. I tried not using eye mask but I couldn't fall asleep. And of course not forgetting my U-shaped neck pillow to help me to sleep. What else could you do on a 6hr journey if not sleep.

Despite having a rather long break in Oamaru and a short delay during boarding, the bus reached Christchurch International Airport on time (3am ish). 

It was stated in their website that one passenger could only carry 1 luggage not exceeding 25kg and a hand carry with them but I had a 27kg luggage, a backpack and a hand carry with me. :) The driver "ticked" my attendance in the bus without any document required, not even my student ID.

All in all, I am quite pleased with my journey this time. 

 

I wasn't even bothered to take this picture at first but felt much better after resting so I thought why not. The driver even offered to help me take a photo with his bus :D

Big Bad Wolf Book Sale 2012

I came across this Big Bad Wolf Book Sale in Facebook the other day and I had no idea what it is about but the 63hours non-stop sale caught my attention. 

I have always loved to go to book fest, book fair or book sale be it in KLCC Convention Centre or The Mines. But one thing that might scare you from going one is that it is always crowded just like PC Fair. Ok I exaggerated but it is comparable, you get the picture. 

So this book sale made me really wanted to go as I could choose to go at night, midnight or early morning to avoid the crowd. 

Without further ado I went at 10 at night on the first day itself. I was a little worried whether it would be crowded as 10pm was still quite young for a Friday night. As soon as I said this, I saw a huge line going into The Mines Convention Centre parking. But as soon as my worry came my boyfie turned into the parking lot for The Mines and we found parking in just less than 10 minutes (or lesser)! Lol smart him. But people its not just you have to queue before the parking, there was a loooooooooong jam after sungai besi tol too. 

If I wasn't mistaken the bridge to MIECC was on the same floor as the main entrance and right next to F.O.S. and Nichii. (boyfie directed me so I just followed lol)

And this was what I saw in front of the book sale entrance

What a cute kid!

We were greeted by the staff on the entrance, even at 10pm! that was quite surprising.

dialogue: OMG OMG Look what I've found! (lol)

So this was the overview of the place if you haven't been there before. This place looked quite different from last time (which was quite some years ago) but yea it isn't that spacious compared to KLCC Convention Centre.

some really interesting warnings in the hall

I like this!

There were books from wide range of genre including design, business, personal, romance, young adults, children and picture books. LOTS of book.

Sadly to say there was close to none Chinese books :/ 
But probably a very good news to people out there that enjoy reading English books.

My Uni spotted! :D

for food lovers, there you go. LOTS of Jamie Oliver's books on SALE. REAL affordable.

Another really special thing about this book sale is that you could bring your own trolleys. yes you read it right, I mean trolley. ANY type. Luggage, trolley for goods, boxes, and even baby carriages!
Well of course if you don't bother bringing one, they provide LOTS of boxes for you in the hall to grab one and fill all your books.
And if you're like me who just enjoy walking in a book fair, this World's Biggest Book Sale could be another past time for you. The book sale is until 23 Dec 2012, opening from 9am to 9pm.

that cute child inside the luggage!!

Lines weren't that bad given that it was probably close to midnight already.

Boxes of book ready to carry home!

It was a rather interesting book sale I would say. Even without any buying in my thought I spent almost one and a half hour in the book sale. 

I'm homeeeee

Hey peeps, long time no see! 

Its been exactly a month since my last post and I have no idea why I would unconsciously ignore my blog though I really love to share my stories here. Lol I'm pretty sure people is getting sick of me saying I'm back to blogging and nek minnit I'm gone for months and then I'm back haha so I'll just skip that bull shit and go straight to the main point. 

I'M BACK HOME!!! MALAYSIA I HAVE MISSED YOU MUCH!! 

Despite your hot and humid weather, I still love you xoxo
Probably no words can describe how excited and anticipated I was to come back after 2years! 
The moment I booked my ticket, to my exams ended and then to the 11days I had before flying, all in all the time seemed long but they were really "thrilling" lol

Honestly, nothing feels better than coming home. ❤❤❤