Spoilt for choices, Which place to go? -New Zealand Journey

   

 BLOG POST 2

 The past 3 years have been hectic for me and my husband as we had reached the final stages of our government service and I was holding the post of Principal for a prestigious institution, Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad for a year and for the last two years was the First Woman Director of Medical Education for Telangana State.

Though it was a tough job balancing both home and career, I could manage it fairly successfully and it was a God given opportunity to serve a young and dynamically growing state as the head of Medical Education.

As a result of my busy career as an administrative head, there was never a thought in me to take leave, leave alone travel anywhere! I had to silence my travel itchy feet with a whisper “the day shall come soon”. Finally, the retirement day arrived on June 30^th 2017 and I was now free to dream of and indulge in my favourite hobby - travelling.

We were discussing about which place to visit, so many places to see in our country and abroad and my husband left the choice on me saying that I can plan the trip entirely on my own, Lo behold! my struggle started, my holy soul murmured “hey visit some sacred places so that you get some salvation”, my adventurous soul shouted “no this time let us do a foreign trip, you deserve a relaxed trip abroad” after a lot of hither and thither, I silenced my religious soul and opted for a foreign trip. Where to go, when to go and how many days trip were the questions before me.

I suddenly remembered that we had planned to go to Australia and New Zealand once in the past and because of delay in getting a visa to Australia we couldn’t go to New Zealand, so yes I thought let us go to New Zealand - the land down under as it is called along with Australia a term which comes from the fact that it is in Southern Hemisphere, "below" many other countries, especially Western Countries.

Now came the quandary whether we shall go with family or friends, after a number of enquiries we both decided to go ahead as everyone else had plans of their own. Now which was the season to go was the question.  After frantic  on line search for weather reports, I decided that November or December would be good as weather would be optimal then,

I spoke to several agents for an attractive deal, though some friendly suggestions were given to book on line, I didn’t have the courage to do so as my better half had warned me, I had to choose the best option and not to crib later.

The travel agent acted rather strange as I increased my trips to their agency and started avoiding me and would be seen disappearing into other's cubicles, apparently his pleas to be allotted to some other customer fell into deaf ears. No wonder as his own ears must have been ringing with my multiple instructions and suggestions for a safe, pocket friendly and best tour.

Finally I opted for a 19 day Rail, Cruise and Coach Holiday where we were assured of a relaxed tour, little did I know what awaited me, I shall write about that in future posts, I insisted we should be clubbed with a older aged group, all from various parts of the world. The agent who by then started giving me harassed glances issued a strict warning that I would starve for Indian food and I blithely informed him that I wanted to be a Kiwi in Kiwi land.

We were informed about the dates and itinerary. We had to start on 20^th November 2017 and would come back to India by 10^th of December 2017. We had almost fixed up the tour when I suddenly remembered that I was selected and was doing a course in ACME –Advanced Course in Medical Education at Belagavi, Karnataka from September 2017.

This course required me to spend at least one hour a day for online discussions and was a strict and strenuous course and if I missed a whole month of the on line course I was sure to be given an extension.

Seeing my woebegone face, my ever sportive husband suggested that I should prepare well ahead for the intersession topic for that month and take my small laptop along so that I can log in and attend my course on line even in New Zealand, on hearing this practical solution I did a mental jig and thanked my husband and all my hopes were rekindled again.