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