Under Normal Circumstances...

by Alyssa Derrick (Antigua and Barbuda)

I didn't expect to find New Zealand

I come from a small island. When I say small, I mean tiny. The island of Antigua is rare to find on a world map, and when you can, it’s the size of the dab of a pen. Whenever someone says they’ve heard of it, there’s always this rush of relief. Yes! You know us! We exist! So, as you can imagine, there are not many of us in the world. I decided this petite girl from this humble island would take a chance and move to New Zealand. Because, why not? I’d heard it was a country you had to see for yourself - its natural beauty was supposed to be astonishing. And something that wouldn’t be around for much longer because of ever growing advancement. #Development At the top of my bucket list was a place called Milford Sound. It’s said that thousands of people traversed daily to witness this gorgeous space nature provided. From the nearest town, it was a four-hour drive. ONE WAY. 45 minutes was all it took to drive the length of my island. This place was really all people talked about. Their eyes gleamed whenever it was mentioned, their faces mesmerized when they reflected on what they saw. I wanted to be in awe too. By the time it was my turn to visit though, I was just about over my 28-day bus tour of the country. Only a few days earlier, I was attacked by some truly dreadful bed bugs which left raised red bumps on my skin. I’d been on a bus for about six hours every day and had slept in countless hostels. Itchy and irritable, I was saving my last shred of patience to see this magnificent place even the locals raved about. Two hours into our trip to the magical land, our bus broke down. The nearest mechanic? Two hours away. We waited in the middle of nowhere with a few farm llamas to entertain us. The precious daylight on our rare sunny day began to fade when the second bus arrived, but only to take us right back to where we started. Our once rowdy bus now roared with silence as the disappointment soaked in. However, with my extra day in town, I opted to make the journey again the very next day. This time with a working bus, the route itself almost made up for the lost time. Vast snowy mountains emerged while glacial streams meandered along. There were thousand-year-old trees surrounding us for miles. It felt as though we now entered a majestic land. A pristine and untouched space us humans shouldn’t be allowed to see. The ocean glistened and the sun shone at its brightest the moment we arrived. We sprang off the bus and queued for our boat to take us across the sound. Suddenly, I heard someone say “Aye, you’re from Antigua?!” Puzzled, I turned and saw a lady who clearly knew what she was talking about. She recognized the shirt I wore that had my country flag on it. “Why yes, yes I am. You know it?” I asked. “Yes, I do, I’m from there!” she said. I was dumbfounded. She pointed directly behind me and said, “So is she.” I spun around and stared intently at this new person. Her face was an equation I couldn’t yet process. Finally, it clicked, “You’re Jackie’s aunty!” I said. She responded, “And you’re Susan’s daughter!” Weeks earlier, the aforementioned Jackie remarked that her aunt was flying from Antigua to New Zealand for holiday. New Zealand’s population of 4 million people has an additional 2 million tourists passing through yearly, so I didn’t think anything of it. Jackie started her journey at the South of the South Island. I started my journey at the North of the North one. Under normal circumstances, our paths weren’t supposed to cross. I wasn’t supposed to be at Milford Sound on that day, wearing that shirt, but I was. I definitely was in awe that day, not just at the breathtaking views, but at the wonderful coincidences that make this big world feel small.