Tickets to leave New Zealand

For those who don't know of our ordeal with Expedia, I will outline the story below:

Expedia.com as most of you know it (Expedia.co.nz here) has never been my travel website of choice. They sometimes put rates up which aren't actually available once you enter all of your information. But when traveling to other countries and trying to find the best rates for airfare, sometimes it's necessary to consider all the options - which is why I refer to it at all.

Anyways, we found a great rate: Only $859 NZD to Penang, Malaysia (about $692 USD) which is a really good deal considering the options (most go for over $1,000 NZD). This was all good until we realized that you can't purchase the tickets unless you physically live in New Zealand (and have a credit card with your billing address being in New Zealand). We tried everything to fool the system, but eventually decided to put the money in a friend's account and have him buy the tickets for us (and he was nice enough to agree).

Fortunately, we didn't have to. We went to a travel agent today and found the same tickets for $50 NZD more per person, but it meant we didn't have to do a lot of work and weren't supporting a company like Expedia.

The end result? We're leaving New Zealand on April 3rd at 6am and arriving in Penang at 11pm the same day. Much more to come between now and then, so we'll keep writing. Until then...