About five years ago, I visited India and learned something unfortunate about myself. I had boarded a flight not knowing what I was about to experience. I had a cold and the congestion made it difficult for me to breath or hear. Upon our flight taking off, the pressure began to build against my ear drums. As we continued to ascend, the pressure mounted aned my ears wouldn’t pop. It was literally the most excruciatingly painful experience I have ever had in my life. I learned that me + flying + congestion = horrible idea.
When my ears can’t equalize the pressure immediately, the sharp push from the pressure against my ear drums causes me to experience an unbelievably intense pain. It almost happened again on my way to New Zealand. About a week ago, I contracted a mild cold, which of course includes congestion. Upon flying to Queenstown, New Zealand from Australia, My ears equalized the pressure upon takeoff, but I had trouble getting my ears to pop while we were landing. My left ear popped, but I started to panic because my right ear would not. I was trying to do everything I could to get my ear to pop because I REALLY didn’t want to have to experience the pain again. The person next to me noticed that I was concerned about something and asked if everything was ok. I explained to him the situation about my ears. He offered to help! He literally massaged a couple points on my head and asked me to keep trying to pop my ears. They popped shortly there after and I thanked him profusely for helping me avoid experiencing that severe pain again.
Why am I telling you this story? Because of the conversation that ensued. The guy who helped me equalize the pressure in my ears, his name is Wei (I’m not sure if I’m spelling his name correctly). Wei informed me that he is from Singapore, but he visits Queenstown somewhat frequently because he has family in Queenstown and because his family and his ancestors actually built most of Queenstown! How amazing is that!? Some of my Australian colleagues informed me on multiple occasions that Queenstown is really amazing and really beautiful, and Wei’s family is major part of the reason for it. For Wei’s family history to be a part of Queenstown’s history is just incredible in my opinion. A barber I met in Queenstown told me that he came from Northern Ireland with a few friends with the intention of traveling through New Zealand for 3 months. That was three years ago. He loves this place so much so he decided to stay. From my interactions with Wei and the Irish barber, I became confident that I will love my experience here in New Zealand. So far, that is the case.
I have made it to New Zealand and I must say I definitely am loving it so far. At this point, I have visited Queenstown and Dunedin. Queenstown is in the picture above. The vantage point is from halfway up a mountain. I had to ride a gondola to get up to the point where I took the picture. Queenstown is absolutely breathtaking. I can honestly say that it is definitely the most beautiful place I have ever seen in my life so far. I’m actually in Dunedin now, but I shall save my experience in Dunedin for my next post.
