Auckland: Cyclones, stress and visa woes

At some point, I need to sit down and vlog on NZ because I have a lot to cover. Our arrival in Auckland wasn’t plain sailing…actually that’s a massive understatement.

While in Sydney, we began to hear news of a cyclone heading for the North Island. It looked like it would hit on the day we flew. Having landed in storms before, this sounded like my personal hell. We waited for news and confirmation that the flight was going ahead. It looked like the cyclone would hit later that day so our flight would just about get in on time. Phew…?

Bad thing two. Before we left London we realised we needed to apply for a visa to New Zealand. Easy! Loads of time.

Except we totally forgot. Fast forward to the check-in queue when I remembered. It’s possibly the worst feeling. Like forgetting your homework times one hundred. We sheepishly admitted this to the staff at the check-in and were simply told to leave the queue and apply on the NZeTA app.

This is where it got super stressful. My visa was approved within minutes. And only mine. Stress levels exploding. We sat by the check-in desk for about thirty minutes reapplying, refreshing and figuring out what to do. I wasn’t prepared to head off on my own. Into a cyclone. We seriously contemplated what happens if we miss the flight. The flights also weren’t cheap. We couldn’t call immigration (we’d tried, it was a weekend!) and surely you can’t fly without a visa.

I went into crisis mode and did what I do best. I went to ask for help. Going back to the check-in desk, I think I was visibly flustered and on the verge of tears. Having explained that my visa has been approved but my partners hadn’t, the member of staff was actually quite breezy and sweet.

“Oh, that’s not the end of the world. We probably just need a reference number, or we can call immigration and see what they can do”. She didn’t seem to think it was an automatic no, so I heard maybe.

I declared that we’re getting on this plane, whatever happened. I think I scared Matt, he’s not seen “Work” me before. I grabbed our stuff and got back into the check-in queue. We spoke to the nicest-looking person we could. It turns out, they just need the reference number of the visa which was still pending might I add.

I’ve never really encountered a county that lets you in on a “Pending” visa… but hey. We held our breath and checked in, assuming if we were stopped in Auckland, at least we’d flown. Matt had a google and it turns out their system is just glitchy. This whole thing has happened to families and big groups travelling together, pending seemed to be as good as approved.

Either way, kids, don’t forget your visas. I’m aware that’s literally the one most important thing you need to do before you travel alongside remembering your passport. We arrived in Auckland with enough time to get to a grocery shop to stock up before everything locked down for one of the country’s worst cyclones in several years…