cheapskates

On our flight up to Auckland, Sabrina and I were debating the merits of various area hostels when one of us jokingly proposed just staying in the airport to save money. And that is why we are sitting in the nearly-empty Auckland International Airport at 1 am. Our flight from Nelson arrived at 4 pm, and we wouldn’t have made it into the city before the IEP office and most stores closed, so given our general aversion to Auckland and aside from the bed/shower thing, there wasn’t much of a reason to go into the city.

We killed the first hour visiting every rental car agency at the airport, searching for deals for the South Island. The next hour was spent at the iSite calling all the little rental agencies. We people-watched for a few more hours, then I made a McDonald’s cheeseburger & seaweed wrap (better than it sounds, actually) since it was the only place still open. TV watching and DVDs on my computer came next, and I think it’s finally just time to try to get some sleep, so we’ve staked out a place in the lounge behind the sushi restaurant. There are a couple of other backpackers sleeping there, and nobody’s even pretending they just happened to drift off – we’re talking sleeping bags and all, here.