NZ 2019 - Taupo to Napier (Day 9 of 15)

***The following is the account of the first-person-view from Edwin Ang.***

Welcome to the boringest day of my trip. I won't ever pick this day to talk about so you can only find out about Christmas Day 2019 via this blog. Checked out of hostel at 10am and literally got nowhere else to go with my heavy backpack. Due to a stupid "festive season delay", I was left stranded in one of the world's quietest street on Christmas day for 7 hours straight. Yeah, all alone and cold on Christmas day...

My bus to Napier was originally slated to arrive at 12pm, but due to certain "unforeseen" circumstances, I was transferred to the 5:40pm bus. Yeah close to 6 hours of completely no plans. Stupid bus company. To make matters worse, it rained non-stop, making the day the coldest one in my trip.

There were so few cars and people walking around too. Everyone's home with their loved ones celebrating Christmas while I sit myself at the bus stop for 5 hours straight. At 3pm, my stomach became the better of me as I went hunting for food. Even McDonald's is closed on Christmas so I had to really look. Finally, found Subway, again. They were one of the only few stores still open. I got myself a meatball footlong and 3 cookies.

Gobbled it up like a hungry beggar, begging for warmth from the restaurant's ovens. It was one of my most blissful meals this trip. Being able to find somewhere warm on Christmas wasn't always the first thing on my mind. Worst of all, at 5:40pm, the bus delayed again to 6pm. Can this day get any worse?

Apparently it can. Because the freaking bus arrived at 6:40pm. Yeah what in the Santa Claus world is this?!!? The driver's clock was behind the real time one full hour and she claimed that she was on time! Yeah go ask Santa for a new clock woman!

Bus ride was real shitty. The route travelled on was a super twisty, windy, roller-coastery road. Really made me feel like puking but surprisingly I kept my dam gates in check. The weather was crazy too. Super poor visibility that caused the driver to slow down to creeping pace. I was legit scared I was gonna die in the bus, alone, on Christmas day.

Ahhh but I'm a crazy guy and even heaven might not want me, and I survived the retarded bus ride. And finally the worst of the worst is when I arrived in Napier it was freaking 9pm. What in the stupid sheep world is this!?!?!?! One whole day wasted on just getting to Napier!!!! ONE WHOLE CHRISTMAS DAY! Believe me, this is definitely not how I initially dreamt of celebrating Christmas on another continent!

However, the streets were so quiet and cold and dead empty. Not a single person or car or anything in sight. It was everything I had imagined for a Christmas night. Straight out feels like I'm inside a Christmas movie where I walk to a dark corner and some magic portal to Narnia appears. Okay enough crap, I'm actually quite happy I got to witness this sight because Singapore can never get this cold or this quiet. 

I was also quite afraid I couldn't check-in to Napier Art House Backpackers because I missed the 7pm mark. Thankfully the hostel owner stayed back to ensure the remaining backpackers are all checked in, the ones who arrive on this one hell of a bus that is. Spent the rest of my night drinking one entire bottle of wine by myself at the hostel's lounge to celebrate Christmas. 

Today is the day in my trip where I really didn't want to be alone. I've always looked forward to this solo trip because I really love doing ANYTHING I want without the need to consult anyone. I can wake up anytime I want, sleep anytime I want, go anywhere I want, eat anything I want, and nobody's there to say otherwise.

But tonight, tonight things took a pretty weird change. As much as I love solo travel, days like these is where a companion or two will really feel awesome. I imagined if I had a companion to complain about the bus delay with, my wait wouldn't have been so dreadful. But tough times will shape me up stronger for future challenges and well, at least I have my wine with me!

Cheers to myself, and Merry Christmas to you readers!

Click here for Day 10!