The Kiwi Experience

SO round-the-world ticket sales are slow in the recession.

Where’s the surprise? But surprise was definitely the recent reports claiming that, at most, 1,500 Irish fans will journey across the planet to watch Ireland compete in the Rugby World Cup at a time when accommodation prices in New Zealand will be doing a Garryowen.

Let’s be honest — even if the Webb Ellis Cup wasn’t at stake, a holiday to New Zealand wouldn’t be undertaken lightly. This is the Pacific’s last bus stop, after all. This is a place it can take over 24 hours and a thousand euro simply to get to, a place that has its seasons backwards, involves a 12-hour body-clock adjustment… and that’s before your first bungy jump.