The first 10 months of my flight attendant career were spent on reserve. This meant that I was on call and had little to no say over my schedule or my life. After almost a year of this my closest flight attendant friend Kylie and I were extremely tired of being on reserve to say the least. Our airline was coming up on their slowest months of the year and, in order to avoid paying more of us then they’d need to, offered what they called R&R. A rest and relaxation period of 1 to 2 of months unpaid vacation. Kylie thought we should request the 2 months off and leave the country. I reminded her we wouldn’t be getting paid and asked how she figured we could live for 2 months without a salary. She said we’d get a job that paid us “under the table” and that we’d make it work. It took about 3 days on her part to sway me into agreeing to this crazy idea. We put in our request for R&R and waited to see if it would be awarded to us.
The following week Kylie called me ecstatic with the news that we’d gotten approved. We’d have the next 2 months off and would be heading out of the country. She suggested we go to Australia and I agreed since I’d always wanted to go there. One of our roommates was from New Zealand and told us that, if we were going that far, we had to stop in her hometown on the way. She set us up with a place to stay in Auckland and 2 weeks later we were on a plane heading to the other side of the world.
Our first night in Auckland, New Zealand, we weren’t too impressed. It just seemed like another typical city. We agreed that perhaps we should leave in a couple of days and head on over to Australia. That is until the next evening.
We stepped into a random bar to have a beer and were standing next to a couple of cute New Zealand men who, when they heard our American accents, asked if they could buy us a beer as a welcome to their country. We thanked them and began chatting. The one I found attractive introduced himself as Ted. We began flirting a bit and it turned out he was as charming as he was handsome, and while I could only understand about every 3rd word he said with his thick accent, I found it irresistible nonetheless. He asked if I’d ever met a Kiwi before I’d come to New Zealand. I was confused since I wasn’t sure why he was asking me about fruit, and he explained that “kiwi” was a slang term they used to describe natives of New Zealand. I told him that other than the delicious kiwis I'd come across in my fruit salads, no, he was the first. He gave me an amused smile and told me I was in for a real treat then.
We discussed our occupations, told them what we did, and then Ted told us he sold pots. My initial assumption was that he sold marijuana, which I was shocked he was promoting so freely, but turned out he actually sold pots. As in pots that hold plants. I couldn’t believe that was an actual job but apparently he did well selling his pots. He had the perk of getting to travel around the country while being put up in hotel rooms and also made a decent living. When I asked if they might hire two American girls to sell pots “under the table” he just gave me a look I took to mean fat chance silly American. He then turned to Kylie and I and abruptly asked, “How would you two Yanks like to see the real New Zealand? We’re leaving Auckland tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. sharp and heading down to stay on my dad’s farm with a few stops along the way. You’ll have a free place to stay as long as you’re with us. What do you say?” Kylie and I took a moment to look at each other and knew what our unanimous decision was without having to say a word. I knew we were both thinking the same thing. How often do you get a free tour, plus accommodations, in a foreign country?! I was also secretly thrilled because I had a crush on our hot tour guide Ted and this would give me an excuse to pursue that as well. We told Ted we’d love to go.
I wondered what we had in store for us and hoped it was more adventure then trouble but, with my luck, the latter was more than likely to occur............To be continued
No comments:
Post a Comment