Elisabeth Easter talks to the sales manager of Europcar.
Growing up, my family was really into VWs. We lived in Onehunga, but quite often we'd traipse around the country going to VW shows and VW rallies, or camping in the Kombi. Every year we'd go to the VW nationals, one year it was in Taupo, another time at Karaka where they sell the horses. There'd be the car show during the day and functions at night, and I'll always remember camping surrounded by cars. The day I turned 15 I was given a VW notchback, I walked into the garage and there it was, it had a little bow on it and that was my present. I was like the coolest kid on the block, but I had to get a part-time job to pay for the running of it, that was the deal. My uncle taught me to drive and every Sunday we'd drive for hours, on all these adventures, just so he could teach me to drive.
When I was 10 we spent three weeks in America. We went to a VW show in California, we went to LA, San Francisco, San Diego Las Vegas, and Hawaii and it was all so big and so different. I really remember Hollywood because everyone wants to be a star when they're 10, putting your hands in the stars' hands on the boulevard you think you're so cool. We had chocolate milk for breakfast every morning but back home we'd never be allowed that. And we stayed across the road from Disneyland and every night they had this massive fireworks display and we'd stand outside and watch the fireworks going off - that's the stuff you remember.
When I went on my big OE, my mum got quite sick so it was my decision to either go overseas or be with my mum so I stayed here. But a few months ago we had the ITB in Berlin, it's the biggest travel and tourism show in the world, and in March I flew to Berlin for just three days and that was my first European visit. Berlin is just such an incredible city, so rich in history. One day I did the tourist thing and took a walking tour and it was the most amazing thing ever. The atmosphere, Hitler's bunker, although there's nothing there now, just an apartment block. The Berlin Wall, the fact that it only came down in 1989, it's so hard to comprehend but it really hits you hard, being there. I said to my dad next year when I go, I'm going to take him.
After high school, I did travel, tourism and marketing at AUT, and my first proper job was working at InterCity and Newman's Coaches before I moved on to Magic Travellers Network, the backpacker bus, and that's where I got a true appreciation for our country. And the famils were outrageous. I'd literally jump on a bus full of travel agents and we'd go on a 3-4 day adventure and do all the crazy activities that tourists would do and then at night time we'd socialise. You might wake with a bit of a hangover, but knowing where you're going it's totally worth it. I've done the bungy in Queenstown, I've skydived in Taupo, I've gone down rapids in Rotorua — but my all-time favourite thing was driving to Hanmer Springs and doing a scenic flight over the snow-covered Southern Alps. It was the most breathtaking scenery I've ever seen.
