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Browsing tag: travel

  • April 17, 2013

    Love where you live: Auckland

    All the things I love about living in Auckland, the city of sails

    Since I have less than a month left in Auckland, Amber’s post on loving where you live struck a chord with me the other week.

    As a nearly lifelong resident in the city of sails, I am intimately familiar with all its downfalls. But it’s still a fine city, and one I fell a bit more in love with again over the summer, in the process of introducing it to a long line of couchsurfers. (I’ll revisit this post once we’re back and update with my more worldly, informed opinion at the end of the year.)

    Let’s get the cons out of the way first:

    The weather

    When we say you get four seasons in a day, we mean it. Sometimes we’ll rotate through all four seasons two or three times, even. I could leave the house in the morning practically perspiring in the cloudless blazing heat, and get to worth 20 minutes later cursing the sudden downpour that caught me halfway. Speaking of downpours, it rains far too much here, and summers are horribly humid. But at least it’s fairly warm! Temperatures range from about 10-25 degrees, depending on the season.

    The cost of living

    Housing, petrol, food, and anything else you can think of is expensive. The “great Kiwi ripoff” resurfaces in magazine and newspaper features every couple of years or so. We all shake our heads – and fists – for a bit, then settle right back in resignedly. I also bemoan the lack of free and cheap entertainment here, though Silo Park is doing great things on that front.

    The transport

    I walk to work, so I haven’t had to regularly catch the bus in over a year, and it’s wonderful. I have a rule against reading the comments on news articles, but this one basically sums up the state of Auckland public transport: “More evidence that those who plan our public transport don’t actually believe in it.” It’s unreliable, expensive and on some routes, infrequent.

    And now, to the pros…

    It’s beautiful

    Don’t get me wrong, we have some absolutely hideous eyesores of buildings around the place (a “nicer Rio” was how our last Couchsurfing guests described the CBD). But otherwise, we’re pretty darn good looking, with beaches, parks, volcanoes, creeks and more aplenty. Crossing the Harbour Bridge always offers a spectacular sight, and rounding the cliffside corner right where the vista of Piha’s coast opens up is enough to make the heart swell.

    It’s multicultural

    I’m sure we have nothing on bigger cities around the world (actually, I KNOW we don’t, having met so many well-travelled visitors through Couchsurfing), but on a national scale, we’re definitely ahead. Cheap and cheerful ethnic restaurants and supermarkets are all over the place, and every year Diwali and Chinese New Year celebrations take place in the CBD, shutting down parts of the streets.

    It’s close to everything

    Realistically, in New Zealand everything is just a few hours’ drive away. Skifields? Lakes? Forests? Bush? Beaches? Fill up the tank and go.

    And of course, I’m thankful for the other things I enjoy as a New Zealand citizen. Free ER visits (though until I met T, I’d never been to the ER in my life), cheap medical care ($5 prescriptions, thank you very much), affordable education (student loans for all), four weeks of paid annual leave (plus a bunch of public holidays) and so on.

    ETA: I’m also very proud that we’ve become the first Asia-Pacific nation and the 13th worldwide to legalise same-sex marriage. Ka pai!

    What do you love/hate about your city?

  • April 3, 2013

    New York, New York…

    My Evernote is (figuratively) bulging at the seams. I’ve finally seen fit to organise my notes into folders, and right now my note containing Things To See And Do In The US is grossly inflated. That’s mostly thanks to New York, skewing everything! It looks like we’ll be there for a full week in September, but I doubt we’ll be bored somehow. If you’re looking for things to do in New York there are plenty of resources online, plus I’ve got no shortage of recommendations from friends.

    A few weeks ago I went into a slight panic when one of my best friends (who’s off to Minnesota, I think, for a conference later in the year) asked if I’d applied for our visas yet. As far as I knew, the only places we wouldn’t get a waiver would be Cambodia and Vietnam. But in its paranoid and profit-seeking ways, I guess the government has to make things complicated and take its cut:

    International travelers who are seeking to travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) are now subject to enhanced security requirements and will be required to pay an administrative fee. All eligible travelers who wish to travel to the U.S. under the Visa Waiver Program must apply for authorization and then pay the fee using the following process…

    And so I paid the $30 fee and went through the ESTA rigmarole online. I tried not to freak out when we weren’t both immediately approved. Thankfully, a few days later I checked back in and found that we’d both been cleared. That’s about as much as we can do; from here on in we’re at the mercy of airport officials when we land, I suppose.

    I’ve booked an apartment rental for our last few days in New York through a Wimdu host with good reviews (we want to stay somewhere nice for T’s birthday), but I’ve yet to decide what we’ll do for the days before that. Hospitality exchange hosts generally don’t want to commit until a few weeks ahead (I personally prefer not to when hosting) but given it’s New York, waiting seems risky when accommodation is so in demand. Do we wait and hedge our bets on finding an awesome free/cheap host who’ll show us the city from his or her POV, or shell out now for a guaranteed place to lay our heads?

  • March 20, 2013

    Byteful Travel Blog Carnival: March 20

    Whenever people ask me how wedding planning is going, they get a noncommittal “ehh” and a weak shrug. Let’s face it, simultaneously planning a six-month trip is a much larger undertaking, and it’s taking a lot out of me. But it’s also way more fun.

    With that, let’s get stuck into the latest Byteful Travel Blog carnival!

    Travel Destinations

    Emma Goho presents The Gohemian’s Guide: What To Do In Jaipur  posted at gohemiantravellers, a piece on her favourite Indian city, Jaipur. “A beautiful city, full of beautiful people!” One of my best friends will be tying the knot later this year in India. Alas, I won’t be able to attend (I’m not sure where we’ll be as I don’t know her date yet, but we don’t really have the time or money for a detour to India).

    Kevin Giffin presents 10 of the Best States to Visit with Kids posted at Summer Nanny, saying that planning a family vacation can be an overwhelming prospect, especially when the budget doesn’t allow for international travel. We’ll hopefully be hitting up about half of these states while in the US.

    Go Green Travel Green presents Dog Sledding in the Okanagan Wilderness, Canada posted at Go Green Travel Green. Sounds like a real adventure.

    Go Green Travel Green presents Best New Orleans Restaurants for First-Time Visitors posted at Go Green Travel Green. Still undecided about Cafe du Monde – but I suppose if we aren’t able to find beignets anywhere else (I have a tip about another beignet place to try buried in Evernote somewhere) then we might just have to make a stop.

    Mariska presents Where I am.. Anguilla! posted at Bordélique. Annoyingly, my computer has trouble displaying images on some WordPress (usually hosted) blogs, but I’m sure your photos are stunning!

    Travel Stories

    Dani Blanchette presents I’m Illegal posted at Going Nomadic. An epic tale of a  North American who finds out what it is like to become an illegal immigrant in South America.

    Pinch of Adventure presents São Jorge: Hospitality lessons in the middle of the Atlantic posted at A pinch of adventure. I think we all underestimate the capacity for human generosity.

    Hannah presents Egyptian Pizza (And Other Travel-Bites) posted at DiscoverTravelLive. I can’t believe you don’t have Mars Bars in the States! (But whatever – they’re pretty nasty unless you’re into gooey caramel.)

    Suz Crawt presents Are We Too Developed? – The Paleo Network posted at The Paleo Network. See how the locals live in Indonesia.

    Holiday Baker Man presents Chili’s – Honolulu – Molten Chocolate Cake posted at Holiday Baker Man. I’m always down with cake.

    Peg Peter presents How to Put On a Dry Suit – Beginner’s Edition posted at A Kilt and A Camera.  A humorous account of a first time getting into a scuba drysuit, complete with humiliating photos. At least you can laugh at yourself.

    Zhu presents 5 Canadian Culture Facts I Never Truly Understood  posted at Correr Es Mi Destino. I’m really not looking forward to having to mentally add tax to everything we buy in North America.

    Lindsay presents Year of the Durian: Ancient Durians in Uma Bawang posted at Year of the Durian. T is committed to trying durian in Malaysia. You can buy it here, too, but there’s no way we could make it through an entire fruit.

    Travel Tips

    Peter Rudin-Burgess presents Compare Holiday MoneyForeign Currency – Three Top Tips posted at Compare Holiday Money. This is something I spent a bit of time researching – am planning a post at some point on how we’ll handle money while abroad.

    Jeremy Zongker presents Cost Saving Alternatives to Hotels posted at Economy Trips. By researching alternatives you can save quite a bit on lodging on your next trip.

    Go Green Travel Green presents How to Find an Eco-Friendly Hotel or Resort posted at Go Green Travel Green. Self explanatory really.

    William presents Don’t sunburn your credit card posted at Card Guys Blog. A mid-winter or late winter getaway doesn’t have to break the bank.

    Cherry Liu presents 10 iPhone Apps to Help You Get Around a New City posted at House Sitting Jobs. I’ve already got a few of these on my list!

    David Thompsonn presents 20 Creative Ways to Save Money for a Family Vacation posted at Backup Care. Small savings add up fast.

    Theresa Torres presents How to Deal with a Lost or Stolen Wallet While Traveling posted at Travidition. This has got to be a traveller’s worst nightmare.

    Tourismjournal presents Items You Must Bring to Make Your Travel Easy posted at tourism journal. I’ve started compiling a packing list, and we’ll need to buy our backpacks in the next few weeks.

    That’s it for this edition! Submit your posts to the next edition of byteful travel blog carnival using this carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on the blog carnival index page.

  • February 28, 2013

    Why travel abroad? Four reasons I want to travel the world…

    Why travel abroad? - NZ Muse - reasons to travel the world

    Why travel abroad? I’ve been thinking lately about why travel is important to me.

    After all, it’s easy to look at beautiful pictures of mountains, or buildings, or beaches, from the comfort of your own home. Heck, sometimes you’ll get a better view that way. Often monuments are underwhelming in the flesh, or dirty, or crowded, or hard to see from the ground.

    That said, wanderlust is in my bones. I want to see these places in the flesh. Breathe the air. See the colours. Taste the flavours.

    Travel for the food

    We get pretty good Asian food in New Zealand, being in the Pacific. That said, I want to eat authentic Vietnamese and Thai noodle soups. I want to try genuine Greek and Italian food (which we don’t get so much of here). I want to eat real Mexican, French pastries, In-N-Out Burger, and churros in Spain.

    Travel for inspiration

    It’s basically impossible not to be inspired by the sights you’ll see and the people you’ll meet. Write, photograph, paint, draw – whatever your vice, you will find fresh creative fodder on the road. Hand in hand with inspiration (at least for me) also comes sheer contentment. I  As a rule, I’m deliriously happy when I’m travelling. It’s the feeling that I just can’t believe how lucky I am to be where I am at any given moment, and am constantly pinching myself to make sure it’s real.

    Travel to get some perspective

    Basically all the couchsurfers we’ve hosted have said how much they’d like to live here and that they could see themselves staying in New Zealand if they could get a job. It is a beautiful country, and it’s hard for ME not to get caught up in their amazement and awe myself. You get to see your country through new eyes. Conversely, when you’re the visitor in someone else’s country, learning about their customs and laws and environment and culture, you will either learn just how lucky you are to live where you do, or see its shortcomings more clearly (or a bit of both). Travel helps you clarify what’s important to you. Broadening your horizons = personal growth.

    Travel for the memories

    Some of my fondest memories are from the road. Wandering Sydney’s suburban streets. Walking along Bondi in bare feet, and getting strange looks for it. Trying not to lose my shit as I fell 15,000 feet from a plane over Queenstown. The meeting of sea and sky in one glorious palette at Kaikoura. The crystal clear waters of Rarotonga. Freezing my ass off on the walk to Fox Glacier. Drinking from a waterfall at Milford Sound. Spotting penguins in the Catlins. Cursing the squawking ducks on Lake te Anau. Photographing the whooshing geysers at the Pancake Rocks, and feeding weka in the carpark. Getting lost in Mt Aspiring National Park, and stopping to climb the rocks at Hospital Flat. The hidden charms of New Chum’s Beach and Cathedral Cove. All the better, almost all of these are shared experiences with T that I won’t forget.

    It’s likely bad things will happen along the way. You’ll miss a bus or run out of petrol or lose a memory card or get food poisoning … but it’s all part of the experience. Think of the stories you’ll tell when you get back.

    Overall, travel is always an amazing experience for me, and it’s always worth it.

    That’s why I want to travel the world.


  • February 26, 2013

    Unexpected benefits of couchsurfing (or, how to fall in love with your own country again)

    Unexpected benefits of couchsurfing (or, how to fall in love with your own country again)

    My initiation into the couchsurfing movement was back in about 2008. Our flatmate – a longtime friend of T’s who’d couchsurfed around North America – brought home first a couple (she was from the US, he from Brazil, I think) and later a sole Oregonian girl. I set up my own profile in December – and as it turns out, summer was the perfect time to do it. I thought it’d give us incentive to get out and do stuff around Auckland, and it definitely did – it’s easy to get lazy and lounge around at home, but showing visitors around was amazing.

    Views from a couchsurfing host

    Hosting couchsurfers gives you a new appreciation for your own country and invokes a bit of national pride. T is the opposite of me – so having people around to talk to was good for him. He’s the type of person that knows a little bit of everything, so as well as showing couchsurfers around and introducing them to local food, he was in his element sounding off about the culture, environment, places to go, history … heck, even explaining random facts about wildlife. And I love hearing about how other people live. And of course, we wanted to get active on Couchsurfing before heading off overseas ourselves (where we’ll hopefully be doing a bit, or a lot, of couchsurfing along the way).

    From my point of view, while couchsurfing is about saving money, it’s also about getting an insider’s view – local recommendations and insights you otherwise wouldn’t know about – which is a really important point for us. We did our best to integrate our couchsurfers into our lives, taking them to places we’d normally go – though once we were both back at work, we weren’t able to be so involved with our guests.

    I was amazed by how many requests we got straightaway. We’re not super central – 10 min drive from the city, about 20-30 min by public transport – yet the messages just kept coming! There were new messages every day – summer is peak tourist time, especially for northerners looking to escape winter – and New Year’s seemed a pretty popular time in particular.

    I had to turn down a lot, unfortunately – our calendar quickly filled up and I put a note on my profile to that effect. The requests (mostly) stopped coming, which saved me a lot of time in writing apologetic declines, though it hurt a little to not see new messages in my inbox each time I logged in.

    To start with, we basically hosted three lots of guests in a row for two weeks, then left ourselves a break (time at home with just us, to chill out in the buff, leave the toilet door open, spread our mess everywhere, etc) before hosting any others. Note to Couchsurfing: a calendar function for profiles would be ace! Much like some hotels have booking calendars showing availability, this would enable users to clearly show on their profiles what dates they can host, what dates they cannot, and what dates they already have couchsurfers booked in for. Result: surfers saved from writing out personalised requests to hosts for dates that are not actually available, and hosts saved the trouble of replying in the negative over and over again.

    I did tend to feel a bit bad when surfers would shuffle off to their next place if they were staying in the same city, but realistically we tend to need a break from houseguests ourselves. I state on my profile we can host people for up to four days, which is generally enough to see the best of Auckland and thus works pretty well for travellers with a time limit on their journey. That said, some travel VERY slowly; that first couple we had at our old flat stayed with us for quite a while and when I went to visit one of our friends at home shortly after they left our house, I was surprised to find them crashing at that friend’s apartment…

    We’ve had visitors from the US, South America, and Europe – Kansas, Vermont, Brazil, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Sweden (and possibly others I’m missing off the top of my head). Our second guests were a couple from France – so lovely, so warm and so considerate. Not only did they make us some amazing French food (though my recreation of the fish recipe she gave me was a pale imitation) but they introduced us to slacklining (T is hooked; he wants to get his own and with any luck we can catch up with them when we visit France and show ’em how much he’s improved!) and I was quite sad when they left, really.




    Every couchsurfing experience is different. Where you take them and what you show them – and what you recommend they do elsewhere around NZ – varies accordingly. Hosts may cook for guests sometimes, or vice versa. (I’d say the reverse is more common, as visitors try to give back in exchange for their accommodation.) Some may take them under their wing, some don’t have the time. Some hosts may trust them to be at home alone or even give them a key. Some set pretty strict rules. Personally, I’ve been floored at the tales of some hosts and their generosity – if I had a nice fully furnished spare room, I’d be trying to make money off it, and ditto for a spare car.

    Some hosts seem to take it all too seriously and act a bit like the couchsurfing police – if they think your profile isn’t comprehensive enough or your request grovelling enough, will take it upon themselves to tear you apart (based on stories I’ve heard from guests/messages I’ve seen in open groups on CS). I’m a bit torn on this – ultimately this is about free accommodation, but for most of us it’s also about meeting people that you’re interested in. Heck, we could have couchsurfers 24/7, all year round, if this is the normal level of demand, but that’s not how I want to play it. That said, old-time couchsurfers grumble a lot about how the original spirit has been lost and that it’s much more transactional/mercenary now (a quick Google search will turn up all sorts of posts on this).

    How to find a couchsurfing host and increase your odds

    A hint: it’s not all about you.

    I don’t want to hear your sob story. A single sentence that shows there’s actually a reason you’d like to meet ME in particular, something we have in common, will go a long way. (Those who copy and paste and forget to change the name at the top? Yeah, good luck with that. I’m talking to you, Girl From England Who Called Me ‘Reuben’.) I think of CS as paying it forward – you help out those who come across your path, and while direct reciprocation might not be possible, you’ll find others willing to help you when you travel.

    As it turns out, giving has been HUGELY rewarding. So far, being a couchsurfing host has been an absolute blast. And this is coming from a die-hard non-people-person here at Introverts R’ Us. I’ve surprised myself at how much I’ve been willing to share. I’ve really enjoyed helping guests plan out their journeys and where they should go (and what’s not worth visiting). Without trying to be humblebraggy or anything, I think we’ve been good hosts – the kind we’d like to encounter ourselves. I initially imagined our couchsurfers would just breeze through our lives, stopping for a few nights on the couch, leaving first thing to sightsee and returning late … not really engaging too much with us. But to the contrary, they have been eager to give and so have we.

    Or at least, some have – others are travelling on a shoestring and will go to any lengths to save a buck. Which is fine, as long as they’re otherwise not mooching and don’t take anything for granted, which I think some budget travellers tend to do a little bit despite the goodwill being shown.

    And to all those blasting out last minute requests – remember that there are always more hosts than travellers. Nobody owes you anything, and if you can’t find a place to crash, it’s probably time to suck it up and book a hostel bed. Relying on the goodwill and hospitality of hosts alone is not a travel plan.

    Also, if you’re brand new, GET SOME REFERENCES!

    It’s a bit of a chicken and egg situation, but people are less likely to take a risk on an unknown proposition (I’ve hosted a few Couchsurfing virgins, and that’s fun, but a lot of hosts won’t). If not through hosting, try meeting up with other couchsurfers on the road, who can vouch for you as a fellow traveller and give you your first reference. Read the CS guide for more newbie tips. And if you’re in Auckland anytime before May, let me know, our couch is available until we leave.

    Seeing as my post on what life in NZ is like got such a good reception, here’s a list of some of the things we’ve been showing them:

    Of course, there’s the typical tourist sights around the CBD like the waterfront/Wynyard Quarter, the Auckland Art Gallery, the museum and the Domain, Albert Park, Sky Tower, etc, and even over to Waiheke Island, but those are pretty easy to get to as they’re central. Places outside of the city are harder to get to without a car, so that’s where we come in.

    Our couchsurfing visitors have gotten a kick out of our media, too. Here’s one of my favourite music videos ever by Kiwi band Goodshirt:

    Trailers for a couple of Kiwi movies:

     

    And a couple of classic ads:


    We don’t normally have houseguests, so having couchsurfers has made us aware of some of our own quirks.

    • For example, we have no kettle (we don’t drink hot drinks – tea, coffee, etc – and don’t have much space in our kitchen, so we’ve made do without a hot water jug for YEARS).
    • If drinking water, we have a large water bottle around that we just scull from (which makes us sound quite uncouth, actually). If drinking something else (juice, Coke) we just use one of the random glasses or mugs we have. Having visitors spurred me to unpack the last four-pack of drinking glasses we bought a while ago but never opened, and the cups my mother gave me awhile ago that have been sitting in a box in the corner for months.
    • We have no set method for shoe storage. I keep most of mine on the floor of my closet. Otherwise, we kick shoes off just by the door, or sometimes in the living room or bedroom. Consequently, shoes are frequently littered all through the house.
    • I don’t own a hairdryer. Never have.
    • We don’t have a dining table – we either eat outside on the deck (we have deck furniture) when it’s nice, or off the coffee table in the living room (I originally wanted to get furniture that could be used either inside or out, but our outdoor set is definitely an outdoor set and quite large. But I fell in love with it and for $70 it was a steal.)

    I suppose every household does things in their own way, though. What does yours do differently?

    And if you’re a Couchsurfing member, what have your experiences been like?

  • February 22, 2013

    RTW trip planning: Preparing to leave everything behind (at least temporarily)

    rtw trip planning so you're off to travel the world

    By: oisa

    So you’re off to travel the world. What about your house?

    It’s no secret I hate our damp, ramshackle rental. At the time of last lease renewal, we were (to my best recall) unsure about our travel plans. I opted for a nice round number – six months – culminating in April, a few weeks before the wedding. We’re due to discuss renewal at any time now, given that it’s nearly March.

    Moving out, say, a week before the wedding and just staying with family is an option. That would save a little money and help streamline the logistics in the week following the wedding right before we leave. One less thing to worry about!

    But I’m not keen on staying with either of our families for two weeks, both pre and post wedding. I foresee a lot of stress being uprooted while still pulling together the loose threads of the wedding PLUS tying things up at work. So I’m leaning towards telling the agent that we’ll stay until, say, a day or two before we actually fly out. That gives us a couple of days to deal with post wedding stuff, finish packing and cleaning, and then staying with family who can then take us to the airport.

    I have no idea what we’ll do for housing when we come back. Kip on the floor with family? Meh, that’s ages away yet.

    And your STUFF?

    As I explained to one German couchsurfing couple we hosted, we’ve moved on average about every 18 months (financial reasons, escaping terrible flatmates, etc). I’ve never had much of a garden and we don’t really have nice things.

    Our fridge, washing machine and microwave are all on their last legs. I’m envisioning $1 reserve auctions on TradeMe, or else Freecycle. (Timing could be tricky, however, as we’ll want to keep those until JUST before we depart). Our couches were all freebies – hopefully we can give those back to the donors, or again, pawn them off for free.

    That really leaves four lots of furniture: TV and cabinet, desk, bed and coffee table. All these can be stored with family, though my mum urged me to sell the ancient bed and get another on our return (I was planning to replace it within a few years anyway). Then there’s all the little stuff – clothes and other crap, plus our treasured 3-way blender/food processor. Again, looking at you, family! And there’s always commercial storage, though I don’t think we’ll need it.

    And your car?

    I’d like to sell it and get some cash for the road. That said, we’ll still need a car when we get back. Unfortunately, while my family wants to buy another car, they don’t want ours. So, maybe we’ll list it and see if there are any bites, and if not, just leave it with family to look after/use until we return.

    And your jobs?

    T isn’t happy with his, and hopefully the trip will help him get some clarity and perspective about what he wants to do next.

    At this stage, as long as the bigwigs are happy to sign off on getting someone in on a short-term contract, I should have one to come back to. Touch wood.

  • February 21, 2013

    Travel trip planning: Our RTW itinerary

    The fun stuff!

    Our RTW trip consists of three main parts: Southeast Asia, Europe, and America. Yeah, it is a lot to pack into six months, but that’s double the time we would’ve had if we’d tried to fit these trips into four weeks of annual leave over the three years.

    Oh, and we’re chasing summer! Yeehaw! This pleases me no end, but I won’t tell you how much T hates the idea. I’ll confess I am a little afraid at to how he’s going to cope in the heat.

    Travel route planning has been both incredibly fun AND extremely frustrating/stressful. Our flights dictate how long we have on each continent, but within that, countries and dates are mostly flexible – restricted slightly by visa duration and certain obligations, like volunteering assignments. Of course, I have rough outlines but we’ll really be going with the flow and seeing what happens on the road.

    Travel, of course, is highly personal. I have a friend who doesn’t understand why anyone would want to visit western Europe (all her holidays are in the US or Australia). I have another friend who doesn’t see any appeal in southeast Asia (she is moving to Singapore soon however for work). I personally am not hugely interested in China, Nepal, India etc, although budget travelers and outdoorsy types – the majority of couchsurfers and RTW travelers it seems – adore those countries for the experience and the incredibly low costs.

    When thinking about the best places in the world to travel, it really comes down to your interests. Our travel trip planning (well, really it’s been 99% me) has been about fitting in some of the best travel spots in the world in terms of profile and popularity. Guess I’m just not that original. We’re mainly interested in cities, though there will be some countryside/small town time as well, moreso for volunteering/homestaying.

    Here’s the Google Map I’ve made, with the blue stops being sure or almost sure stops and yellow being more like wishful stops.


    View RTW in a larger map

    ASIA – May 10-June 20

    Route: Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam (then back to Thailand to fly out of Bangkok).

    We’ll be bussing around for the most part as trains are not common. I’m not sure how we’ll get back from Vietnam to Thailand – flights look expensive so land or boat travel is looking like the way to go.

    Asia will be cheap, so a nice way to start the honeymoon without pinching pennies on every corner. Once we get to Europe and America, it’ll be budget backpacking/couchsurfing all the way.

    UK/EUROPE – June 20- September 22

    Route: London, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, (maybe a day in Switzerland), Italy, Greece, France, then back to London. We also have three days in Iceland after London.

    We might try to make it to Ireland for a couple of days, and also, I’d like to visit Spain and Portugal but gosh, they’re so far away. Ditto Russia. Much as I want to see St Petersburg, visas are said to be a nightmare and also ridiculously expensive – hundreds each, from what I can tell.

    The plan is to get a Eurail pass (there are discounts for those under 26 or travelling in groups of 2-5). Careful planning and strategic booking might make it cheaper to buy individual tickets as we go, but I think for flexibility and convenience, a pass will be our friend.

    HOWEVER: I’m not sure how we’ll get to Greece; the ferry looks like a bit of a drawn out and painful journey, but again, flights are expensive. Looks like it will be cheapest to get to Athens from Rome. Anyone have any tips on travelling between Greece and Italy?

    Where we’ll be on my birthday, I know not. Possibly Amsterdam, or somewhere in Germany?

    We’re spending a week volunteering for food and accommodation at an English immersion programme in the Black Forest and I’m trying to line up a volunteering opportunity or two in Italy, as I’d really like to experience Italian culture first-hand.

    We have a few people I hope to meet up with in the UK (Auckland friends) and Europe (people we met and hosted through Couchsurfing – a post coming up on that!) so if I have any readers in those countries, holler!

    AMERICA/CANADA – September 22- November 5

    Route: Very, very fluid. The rough plan is to spend a few days in NYC, then rent a car, drive up through to Montreal/Toronto if we can (anyone done this? I need to check on car rental policies), then back into the US (possibly to Chicago, though it’s quite far, or else around Niagara Falls and through New York) and cross from east to west. Then we fly home with an overnight stop in Tahiti.

    Our exact route is flexible. Places we are definitely hitting are NYC, Boston, DC, New Orleans, Vegas, SF and LA.  (T turns 25 a few days after we land in NYC; I’m assuming that as long as we pick up a car after that, even if we actually make the booking before then, we won’t get slammed with underage penalties. Obviously I need to check on that.) We also met a really awesome couple from Vermont through Couchsurfing, so will probably pause through there on the way to Canada. You guys convinced me it’d be a shame not to visit Canada. (I’d really like to do Vancouver, Portland and Seattle, but just don’t think we’ll have time to make it all the way up the west coast as well.) And obviously, there’ll be other stops along the way too.

    Anyone keen to meet up for a coffee, share tips and advice, show us around for an hour, offer us space on your floor, whatever, I’m open to all proposals. Thank you to all those who have reached out so far! I’ll send you guys emails this week – there’s a couple of you I am dead set on meeting in person 🙂

  • February 20, 2013

    Ch-ch-ch-changes afoot: Why we’re upping sticks and going off to travel the world for six months

    I’ve grown up in Auckland. I probably will live out my life here. I’ve loved building up savings and a financial foundation. I love what I do.

    But I want more.

    MORE.

    (Typical bloody Gen-Yer.)

    Tons of my friends have already gone off on their OEs; some have already returned. And others are about to leave. “Is this the OE you never had?” my boss asked. (Way to make me feel over the hill, dude. But my response, in a nutshell, was yes.)

    Putting an end date on our time here has had the added benefit of making me appreciate everything I do have a little more. But the impending change, excitement, freedom, is definitely dominating it all.

    I don’t believe in waiting till you’re old to travel (have you seen Up??!!). And I simply wasn’t sure if my job would be conducive to taking the big annual international trips that were in the original five year plan (at my old workplace, yes, but things are less flexible here). It was a case of deciding, what would I regret more? Doing this, or NOT? And the answer was clear.

    <via>

    It’ll never be easier to do this. We’re young, healthy, energetic (relatively). We’re not chained down by golden handcuffs; it’s not like either of us is tied to a Wall St desk raking in the big bucks (I just finished reading Bond Girl. ‘Nuff said).

    Our wedding is in May, and it wasn’t a crazy leap from contemplating a European honeymoon to considering a full blown RTW trip, particularly once STA Travel came out with its earlybird RTW tickets.

    So, come May 10, for the next six months we will be nomads.

    <via>

    Fly, little kiwi.

    So, there’s a lot to say! I’ve got more travel posts coming up, including a full itinerary (I hope to meet up with some of you along the way!) – is there anything in particular you want to know? Tell me, and I’ll cover it!

  • February 3, 2013

    Link love (powered by nail-biting and long walks)

    Less than an hour north of Auckland is a stunning marine reserve. Tawharanui has a campground that always seems to be booked up, so I decided a day trip would be the best way to tackle it. And with a long weekend (Auckland Anniversary weekend) last week, with the sun beating down on us (the funny thing about beaches is they’re a really good place to cool off, even if you don’t swim, because you just don’t get that kind of breeze in the city) and T’s new tattoo nearly healed up, I declared Monday the day we would visit.

    T had been dragging his heels (“All that way for a really average beach!”) bemoaning its shortcomings, as judged by the week he spent there for school PE camp nearly 10 years ago. But since then Tawharanui has been revitalised, cleaned up, with new plants and wildlife introduced. The parkland is lush, the white sand pristine, and the water is exactly the pure, clear shade of aquamarine you’d expect of a marine reserve. Signs warn you to keep off the large boulders to avoid disturbing the dotterel, tiny black mussels cling firmly to the rocks all along the shore, and if you’re so inclined (we were not) there are trails to walk that let you explore more of the land.

    tawharanui beach nztawharanui beach marine reserve nz

    There’s also a neat little lake, where they apparently learned to windsurf back during camp:

    tawharanui lagoontawharanui lagoon 2tawharanui lakeBirds resting on the shore…

    tawharanui lake birds nestingtawharanui lagoon statue

     

    By the end of it, he had to admit it was worth the trip. All in all, I’m glad I dragged him out. It’s far too easy to sit at home all the time. Reading is great, movies are great, saving money is great … but so is getting out and making the most of your environment once in a while.

    Also? Guys. LISTEN to your partners. We always know best.

    Good reads this week:

    WORK

    Alexandra Franzen, like me, hates the “what would you do for free?” career schtick.

    Freelancing has made Cordelia/Kelly a better budgeter.

    Dollars and Deadlines on the best new markets for a freelancer to tackle.

    On that note, Wealth Informatics has a gigantic post on using your skills to profitably freelance.

    Discussion on Get Rich Slowly about putting in more effort than you’re paid for – overdelivering to get ahead.

    Does your resume say “let’s be friends”? Tough talk over at Life After College.

    MONEY

    Spend your money where you spend the most time, says Fabulously Broke.

    Budget and the Beach on the financial pros and cons of getting older.

    LIFE

    Red Lips and Academics shares some awesome resources to jumpstart your goals.

    Here is a lovely conversation with Cheryl Strayed, via the woman she advised to “write like a motherfucker”.

    Truths about Twitter, via Jeff Bullas.

    FOOD

    Stonesoup’s four steps to curing refrigerator blindness are super helpful.

    TRAVEL

    Everyday Minimalist offers an honest view of what it’s like to visit China.

    Alexis Grant on getting back into the swing of travelling after time off.

    How to boost productivity while travelling, via Dumb Little Man.

    Carnivals, etc

    I had a few posts make it into various carnivals this week:

    On recommending friends for jobs (Carnival of personal finance)

    On internships – the good, bad and ugly (Yakezie carnival, Carnival of money reasons, Carnival of young adults’ finance)

    Eat of the week: Cazador (Lifestyle carnival)

    Finally, I’m mentoring Debt and the Girl as part of Bloggers Helping Bloggers, so go check her site out!

     

     

  • January 9, 2013

    Fitting travel into your life plan

    7 ways to fit travel into your life and budget

    They say that when it comes to getting work done, you can pick two of the following three – fast, cheap and good. Yes, any two – but you won’t get all three in one package.

    I feel it’s the same with travel.

    The typical New Zealand path is to head off to London after getting in a year of two of work experience. It’s a bit of a gamble at the moment – with the economy the way it is it’s a struggle to find good jobs.

    A friend who recently booked her one-way ticket (and has now been over there doing random temping work for a couple of months) told me she wasn’t going over in order to further her career, but for an adventure. Which is totally legit. My own case of wanderlust is intensifying by the week. But I’m having trouble facing the possibility of toiling in a café or a mindless cubicle when I’ve been able to do jobs I love ever since graduation.

    It’s a wonder anyone can afford to leave this country. Flights to the European or American continents are a couple of grand alone. And our dollar doesn’t exactly go very far in other currencies. That’s what you get when you live at the bottom of the world. Then again, maybe that’s precisely why we want to get out and stretch our feet.

    A while back, I read an article about a young professional who took extended leave to do a big trip around Europe. Work hard during the year, accumulate some cash, then take off to sightsee (and presumably, eat fabulous local food). And that is exactly what I want to do.

    I’m not in a ladder-climbing kind of field, but I am at this stage reluctant to risk my financial position (BORING! But true) to pack it all in and go live and work abroad. It’s not like I have wads and wads of cash lying about, but I finally feel like I’m on the way to getting my shiz together money-wise.

    Some friends are currently in the UK on the traditional OE: none of them have found it easy. Personally, I want to use my savings for a house rather than scraping by while I scrabble for a data entry job living in a hovel in grey London. (Seeing status updates like “It’s 3.30pm and black outside!”  strike pure terror into my heart.) I’m a planner and control freak by nature, and I don’t want to fly thousands of kilometres across the world if I don’t have a damn chance of being happy when I get there.

    There are plenty of lifestyle design types bootstrapping it around the world (be they life coaches or business coaches peddling courses and ebooks, writers, web designers, online marketers) in very cheap countries. But what if you actually want to spend time travelling, not just spending your time working in a different place? Or what if you want to come back to a job? To buy a house? What if you want to visit pricey places like western Europe?

    I wish I could say I have the answer, but I don’t.

    In an ideal world I would be able to work, say, nine months out of the year and spend the rest traveling. Or manage to get some kind of international transfer (but I’m not in a field that’s in demand overseas and it’s certainly not going to score me a lucrative job abroad. The thing about fun jobs is everybody wants to do them; the boring jobs pay well or they wouldn’t attract anyone).

    With those options out, how else could one do it?

    Work a 9-5 and travel in your allotted holiday time.

    Work insanely hard, save up, then take six months or a year off and do all your travelling in one hit.

    Set it up so that you can work from anywhere, thus earning money to support yourself while you travel.

    Digital nomadism is a thing now, didn’t you know? Lifestyle designers include coaches, writers, developers, designers, marketers and all other manner of freelancers/solopreneurs.

    Bootstrap it through WWOOF-ing, Couchsurfing, house-sitting and similar setups with free accommodation

    And/or in some cases, working for food/housing.

    Get on board with a volunteer programme – there are thousands and thousands out there.

    Note that some of them do charge money to set you up with a placement. Once you’re over there, most of your expenses should be covered. Similarly, look into industry programmes that might be available to you – for example, a local organisation here offers a number of unpaid media internships abroad that run for a few months at a time.

    Teach English – there are opportunities all over Asia and Europe.

    Some teach English overseas programmes will take pretty much anyone with a bachelor’s degree. Or you can get TEFL-certified on your own time and dime. (Personally, I’m not taken by any of the particular countries on offer, but it could definitely be an experience and get me closer to the places I do want to visit.)

    Check out grants and scholarships.

    In Delaying the Real World: A Twentysomething’s Guide to Seeking Adventure, author Colleen Kinder details examples of securing funding to go overseas to conduct your own research projects. No joke.

    Get a sweet job with a travel/tour company or something else in the industry.

    A friend of mine who did this has gotten to travel to some seriously amazing countries in the name of work.

     How have you managed to fit in your travel?

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