I have a thing for what-if scenarios, and that’s one of the reasons I loved The Names. I remember at least two occasions when they happened in a literary work – the first was a Hardy Boys + Nancy Drew book that asked you to turn to a particular page depending on the option you chose from the possible outcomes, and the second was a Jeffrey Archer short story (One Man’s Meat) which had Rare, Burnt, Overdone, and À Point endings!
I think this angst really hit me at the beginning of the decade when a colleague F, in a sombre moment far removed from his otherwise jovial, chill nature, confessed that he was moving abroad because he feared staying here.
Since that time, real life comments by friends and acquaintances referring to the ‘others’ have bothered me, and I have questioned them on that. More recently, when I read Anjum Hasan’s “History’s Angel”, I despaired what the life of a Muslim in India is.
To keep it 100, Christchurch was an afterthought, mostly thanks to the ticket prices arbitrage. That said, we did have a good time there, and it worked as a good landing for the holiday.
Where to stay in Christchurch
Hotel Give, formerly YMCA (we think) was a very well located place at a reasonable rate. Our little research showed a paucity of such placess in Christchurch.
Our perfectly planned itinerary’s spanner came in the form of Jetstar cancelling its flight from Auckland. This was their last flight for the day, and since we we had to reach Queenstown the same day for a tour, we had to book an Air New Zealand at a price high enough for my kidneys to fear separation. Small consolation – we reached earlier than planned.
Where to stay in Queenstown
And used a bus (instead of the planned Uber) to get to the Rendezvous Heritage Hotel, which practically had its own bus stop. With a Bee card, this did make our life easier.
The serious-looking receptionist didn’t exactly make us feel welcome, but the room made up for it…
