Pre-Harvest 1: LA to Christchurch

My travels started with a JetBlue (who else) flight from Boston to LA, where I endured a 12 hour layover, which I spent sitting on the beach with my book, some travel snacks, and birria tacos. Unfortunately my LA-based friends were all busy working on a Tuesday afternoon (weird), so I spent some time planning my upcoming first few exploratory days in NZ.

I flew out of LA Tuesday (2/18) night, stopped in Fiji for 2 hours, and then landed in Christchurch, NZ, on Thursday afternoon local time. I hope my dad forgives me that I completely missed Wednesday the 19th, which happens to be his birthday!! Don't worry, I called from the Fiji airport, which he found quite amusing.

After picking up my rental car from the airport, I checked into my hostel and walked downtown to explore. Christchurch was a lovely town that reminded me of a small Southern city (a Savannah or Austin type). Trolley-like trams travelled down the middle of the road, and young people were abound, which likely had to do with a 40,000 people music festival happening that weekend. I walked along the stream that runs through the city, listened to music in the distance, and explored the town's multi-stall eateries. Some BANGIN souvlaki had me wanting to finish the night at a famous ice-cream place called Rollickin' on the city's main street. A great first day, but I was exhausted!