On my last day of work at Fiordland Lodge (thankfully that betrayal is over), I met a family from Taiwan. They were in excellent spirits and I enjoyed serving them as they explored different types of New Zealand food and Wine. At the end of the evening, the mother purposefully ran into me and explained that it was Chinese New Years Eve and her and her family were celebrating the forthcoming New Year. (Having studied Mandarin Chinese at the University, I felt pretty dumb and disconnected from the world because this was news to me). As she said good night, she handed me a Taiwan $100 bill.

New Zealand is not a tipping culture and the tips I received at the lodge were negligible at best. So a $100 tip really got my attention. I confirmed with Natalie, who was polishing cutlery in the kitchen, that the bill was not Chinese Yuan (she studied abroad in China so she would certainly know) before stashing it in my pocket.The next day, I excitedly got online to check out the current exchange rate. Imagine my amusement when I learned that $100 Taiwanese dollars is equal to about $3 (USA)!

I clearly made two mistakes here.

1. $100 is a good amount of money in the United States. I have not spent enough time in countries with hyper inflation to appreciate that $100 is often not worth much. Still, my basic understanding of the world and the Taiwanese economy should have clicked a few things into place in my foggy brain. Oops!
2. The $100 was not a tip. It was a New Years gift. The Chinese do not typically give expensive gifts at Chinese New Year. Instead, they typically give a small token (like a $100 bill) as a means of saying happy New Year. This is also something I was well aware of but again, brain Fog.

Lesson learned. I imagine that when we get to China (hopefully around September), these type of incidents will occur with great frequency.

Happy New Year! Enjoy the Year of the Ox.

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However, one evening while driving to the lodge (aka work) we noticed a backpacker on the side of the road.  He turned out to be a friendly German, and was trying to hitch hike to the Milford Sound.  We could only drive him as far as Fiordland Lodge because we couldn’t be late for work.

As a result of our continual frustration regarding our inability to pick up hitchhikers, we decided to solicit for them instead.

Tomorrow, I am going to walk to 2 of the local “backpackers” (New Zealand terminology for hostel) and post a small handwritten flyer on the notice board.  My “Queenstown or Bust” flyer will have the date we are planning to leave Te Anau to drive to Queenstown (about a 3 hour drive).  The flyer will make it clear who we are and how many seats we have available.  Included on the flyer is that we will only charge $10 (NZ) for petrol, which is the equivalent to $5 gas money in the States.  Since I’m posting it on a bulletin board, it will have the customary tear off phone number, with both our NZ cell number as well as www.nomadbackpackers.com so they can ensure we aren’t crazy people. Well… that depends on your definition.

I think this is a good idea for budget travelers that have either rented or purchased a vehicle for use while traveling in a certain country.  It should be a creative way to save a little gas money, but the real motivating factor is the opportunity to meet new people and share a segment of travel together.

We will have to let you know how things work out.  A lot of backpackers show up in Te Anau with a camper van or a car of some type.  Who knows if anyone will read my flyer and respond?  As we continue to travel in NZ for a while longer, I’ll make a few flyers and/or ask others if they need a ride, before departing most cities we leave.

Have you hitch hiked before?  Picked up a hitch hiker? (I know you have…)  Comment on your experience!

UPDATE: Unfortunately, Justin and I were unable to transport anyone to Queenstown.  It seems that in the backpackers (hostels) in Te Anau many individuals have cars or camper vans.  The others that are seeking rides, didn’t want to leave Te Anau with us that morning.

As we drive we will continue to be on the lookout for fellow backpackers seeking rides.  Just the other day Justin was able to offer Jessie from Colorado a ride to Te Anau Downs (the trail head for the Milford Trail).

However, at this point, if we are really looking to offer a ride to a backpacker in need.  We could use an even more direct approach.  Daniel just emailed me about his great site ShareYourRide.net which enables people to do just that, and share in transportation needs.

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“It good to work and travel. If you forget why you travel. Work for 2 weeks. You remember quickly.”

Both the man and his wife got a chuckle and walked back to their kids. Natalie and I laughed politely, as travelers tend to do when unsure of the appropriate protocol, and I quickly forgot this incident.  About a week after starting to work in Te Anau, I remembered this conversation. Truer words I have not not heard since beginning my nomadic wanderings.

So, as of January 29th, Natalie and I (along with our Subi) will be setting off on a leisurely drive up the west coast of the South Island. After taking a ferry to the North Island, we will be staying in Wellington for a few weeks (I cannot wait to see a city again. Small town living is starting to make me feel claustrophobic), before winding our way up to Auckland.

Natalie and I are going Nomadic once again and we are ecstatic. We have a few exciting adventures planned (ice climbing on a glacier, visiting vineyards, becoming scuba certified, etc) but we are also looking forward to wandering from place to place and exploring different regions of New Zealand.

Over the next several months we will be moving around South East Asia with the goal of spending 30 to 60 days (depending on visa requirements) exploring each country. Unlike the blitzkrieg type manner we used to dash through Western Europe, we will be taking a slow and more in depth look at South East Asia.  I can only hope that this will be a more rewarding way to travel.

Go Geocaching!

Geocaching is an international game that anyone with a field GPS unit can take part in. Interested in geocaching in your area? This is a cheap hobby and should provided endless hours of fun during the current recession . Follow these simple steps.

1. Buy a Cheap GPS Unit: No need to spend more than $US 100. This game is intended to be affordable so don’t break the bank when you buy your GPS unit. If you really like geocaching, you can always buy a high quality unit later. That being said, be sure to go with a reliable brand such as Garmin
2. Go to Geocaching.com: Sign up for a free account and explore the very simple rules of geocaching (no caches on private property, do not leave food in a cache, take something, leave something etc.) Geocaching.com is the central hub for all things geocaching and this is the best place to plug into game.
3. Find a Cache Near Your Home: Use Geocaching.com to find a cache near your home. Chance are, their is at least one cache in your city. Plug the coordinates into your new GPS unit and go find it!
4. Look Out for Muggles: Stealing a term from the Harry Potter series, a muggle (pronounced “Mug – gill”)is any person who is not a geocacher. Muggles have a tendency to tamper with caches as they are unfamiliar with the game. By all means, introduce muggles to geocaching but try to avoid being conspicuous when you are out caching. Not only does this preserve the cache for the next geocacher, but it also lends a certain about of Mission Impossible sneakiness to the whole affair. This is especially true when finding urban caches.
5. Log Your Find on Geocaching.com: After you visit a cache, be sure to log into geocaching.com and log your experience. Even if you were not able to find it, be sure to leave your records. You will be able to leave messages to the cache creator and post pictures of your experience. The geocaching community is very welcoming to newbies!

Next time you take a vacation, either within your home country or overseas, take your GPS unit with you and spend a day finding a few caches.

Are you a geocacher and a world traveler? Have you gone geocaching outside of your home country? Share your unique experience with us!

Natalie and I, on the other hand, keep a sharp eye on the weather. On sunny days, the cinderblock home we currently occupy is filled with warmth, radiating heat through the walls long after sun set. On rainy days, the cold seeps through the bricks settling into our bones as we run the heat pump and huddle under blankets, drinking pot after pot of hot green tea.  It has been raining at a constant downpour for 4 days and the New Year is starting with gray dreary skies and cold feet.

Despite the gloomy nature of perpetual gray clouds and sheets of water falling from the sky, the rain in Fiordlands does have a unique beauty. The storm fronts are often stacked right on top of each other, causing a day to be filled with 10 or 15 cycles of rain-blue sky-rain as the howling wind forces each storm front to rise above the mountains and drop its accumulated moisture. The meters of rain that fall in the mountains quickly find their way down into the Fiords and Sounds via thousands of temporary waterfalls that morph from a small trickle of water (the remnants of the last rain storm and snow melt) into violent surging waterfalls. It can be beautiful. It can be scary.

If you will be traveling in the Fiordland region, it would be wise to prepare for wet weather conditions. Many travelers plan to spend 3 or 4 days hiking, boating, and taking guided tours. On average, it rains every 1.8 days so it is likely that, during a 4 day holiday, you will get wet at least twice. Most tours and multi day trips run as scheduled whether it is raining or not and refunds are rarely offered. So should you come to the Fiordland region? Absolutely! The scenery, animals, hiking, and kayaking provide a one of a kind experience that will be difficult to find anywhere else. But, bring wet weather gear and don’t fret about the rain. Beside, for all of you people who like jumping in puddles (like me) Fiordland is the ideal location to perfect your form.

Natalie and I took a 3 hour Nature Cruise with Real Journeys. The boat was fabulous and the Milford Sound is quite picturesque, especially on a sunny day. All of that aside, the Milford Sound, especially when compared to the vast majority of New Zealand’s West Coast, does not live up to its hype. Sure, beautiful mountains covered in lush green forest capture the eye and the imagination as they meet the blue green fresh waters of the Sound. Of course the dolphins, seals, and birds are fun to gawk at as they swim or fly past. But, on the whole, the Milford Sound offers visitors a not so rare look at wildlife, waterfalls, mountains and the Tasmanian Sea. Sounds like most of New Zealand eh? All of that aside, everyone on my boat tour (including Natalie and I) had a great time and enjoyed the up close view of the Milford Sound.

Perhaps the problem is not with the Milford Sound (which is one of 14 large Sounds that can be found in Fiordlands) but with my large expectations. In truth, after talking to many people and viewing the whole economy that gathers its life force from the Milford Sound, I expected something like Grand Canyon style awe. I fully expected to be astounded by something that was incomparable to anything else on earth. (I mean, why else would you build a scary tunnel through a  mile of hard rock that has no other purpose other than to allow tour buses and cars packed with tourists to drive to the Milford Sound.) In short, I was not astounded, amazed, awed, aghast, or overly impressed with the Milford Sound. I was happy to get off the boat and very glad that I had not signed up for an overnight cruise. (Jaded sounding or not, I can only stand in the wind looking at mountains, water and trees, for so long before I start looking for the exit ramp.) Let me be clear: the Milford Sound is not a tourist trap advertised along obscure roads of the American highway system (think Sea Shell City) nor is it a once in a lifetime opportunity. The Milford Sound is simply a chance to appreciate nature in a unique (but not overly unique) setting.

Perhaps the lesson here is this: if everyone is going to see it, it may be more of a money maker than a breath taker.

Still sick, resting.  That’s right, I just woke up from a 3 hour nap.  A little sleepy, but not too sleepy to share my tale.

I wanted to tough it out and heal on my own.  Drinking freshly squeezed OJ, making homemade ginger tea, reading, watching a movie, you know the usual sick day stuff.  But even after a full day of rest and relaxation, I still woke up experiencing strep throat symptoms.  Am I mad at my body?  Am I upset with the medical system?  It’s funny, I’m not really sure.  Maybe it’s the pain I experience when I swallow or yawn?  Maybe it’s the fact that it’s summer here and strep throat shouldn’t be going around?  Yesterday, and today for that matter, I wanted to go hiking and couldn’t.

I guess that is one positive conclusion.  During my time blogging I have learned more about myself as a writer (that’s another blog).  Justin’s really the writer in the family (in case you have not sorted that out yet).  Ah, their it is, I’ve been waiting for that.  I wrote sorted it out, that’s Kiwi for “figured it out”.  I knew it was only a matter of time before the New Zealand culture would begin to pop out in my writing.  Not only have they infected my writing, but those darn Kiwis have infected me with Strep Throat.  But how can I really be upset with anyone.  I mean, if someone from Germany visited Vermont and became sick could they blame me because I am an American.? I apologize to any Kiwi I may have offended.

After 3 months of traveling I have stepped on a Kinna and now I was back in another Medical Center today for Strep.  How does Justin stay so healthy and safe?  Is he a super hero?  Did he recently rip his pants with superhuman strength?  I’ll look into this and get back with you.

I guess I will just take it easy and let the magical antibiotics do their thing.  Oh, by the way, I am on Roxithromycin if anyone has heard of it.  Feel free to educate me on what I am drugging my body with.  Or encourage me in healing.

And I promise, I will never again write after taking a 3 hour nap.  Really, I promise.

The Power of Cookies

In New Zealand, for some reason that bypasses logical understanding, all of their cookies possess the texture and feel of a cracker. They are hard, dry, and you risk chipping your tooth whenever you manage to gather the necessary courage to bite into one. Now, New Zealanders are smart people.  If they did not like really really hard cookies, I am certain they simply would bake them for less time – so they resembled something closer to cookies instead of hockey pucks. Being a bit of a cookie connoisseur myself, I eventually convinced Natalie to bake some real, American style, chocolate chip cookies. (Just shopping for the ingredients was interesting because Kiwis have different names for all sorts of baking goods. Try to picture Natalie and I walking aimlessly around a mid sized grocery store, attempting to figure out why chocolate chips are called chocolate drops and why they are only available in 5 oz bags. Baking the cookies was a whole other kind of adventure that found us converting Fahrenheit to Celsius, ounces to milliliters, and eye balling teaspoons and tablespoons because of the lack of measuring spoons.)  Natalie, despite my firm objections, decided to give away some of our precious children.. er….I mean, cookies to the lodge chefs. (Looking back, this was the nice thing to do and staying on the good side of the chefs certainly does have its advantages ) This whole exchange I realized, while I was staring longingly at the empty cookie platter mourning the loss of six of those tasty morsels, was another step in the cultural exchange game. People here know about the United States but their interactions with Natalie and I show them something they will never see in a Ford Motor company marketing scheme, or a Hollywood movie. Thus, cookies have once again taught me a valuable lesson. Simply interacting with and spending time with local people facilitates the cultural exchange game flowing in both directions, such as learning new kiwi words while pointing out that Alaska is the 49th state and not an independent country.

In retrospect, I think I knew all along that two people from different cultures and countries inevitably learn something new from each other. This mutual education is, for me, one of the alluring parts about long term travel. The isolation of the United States often leads us to forget that the world is full of people and cultures with different, but valid, opinions and value systems that are a result of their unique circumstances. Reading about other countries, whether rich or poor, does not replace the value of face to face interaction.

So here’s this weeks travel pitch. Go out and travel the world. Meet people you don’t understand and try to see the world from where they live. Become humbled by your ignorance and grow ashamed of your arrogance as your world view grows to accommodate increasingly differing perspective. And, in the middle of it all, be sure to bake a nice warm batch of your favorite cookies to share with your new friends.

I opened it up and inside was a family photo taken in October at my brother’s wedding.  Everyone looks so beautiful and happy.

My grandparents are awesome for mailing a Christmas card all the way to us in New Zealand.  Who would have thought that an envelope could arrive here from the States and only cost $0.94 in postage?  That’s right, their is only one stamp on the envelope.  Amazing!

Our second Christmas surprise occurred today.  Justin and I received beautiful flowers (including Gerber daisies, thanks mom) and an entire basket of fresh fruit.  Oh, the blueberries are delicious and we can’t wait to cut open the pineapple.

Being away from family over the holidays is not the easiest thing.  People have mentioned to Justin and I that it’s easier for us, because we have each other.  Although this is true, we have both shared the lack of that “true Christmas Cheer”.  It doesn’t feel quite like Christmas without sitting around catching, “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” on TV as a family. 

I am sure other long term travelers can empathize with Justin and I.  Part of travel during the holiday season is nice, because we are able to avoid the endless “busy motion” of the holidays.  No endless stream of work parties, community gatherings, multiple (their are 2 of us) family obligations, and heavier work loads as the Christmas season leads into the new year.  Long term travel has released us of our full time jobs and the overwhelming holiday season that follows.

However, being a nomad backpacker for Christmas means a lack of family and the familiar.  Instead, we are stuck with everything foreign and unnatural to us.  Most Kiwi’s have “Christmas Barbeque on the Beach”, which sounds unreal after celebrating with years of snowy Michigan around Christmas.  It’s just not the same.  It’s almost, dare I say, as though New Zealanders celebrate an artificial Christmas with less emphasize put on most element of the holidays.  The culture of Christmas is unlike the enthusiastic America Christmas.  The suberbia light display competitions, the childrens Christmas productions, the mall at 7 pm on Christmas Eve, the Salvation Army bell being rung outside the grocery store, and all the other traditions that encompass Christmas time in America.  None of it is here.  I miss it.

But I’ve been able to experience some Christmas Cheer through my parents and grandparents unique gifts and creativity.  Have a great Christmas.  Enjoy not only the Red and Green, but the Red, White and Blue too.

Over the past 3 weeks I have worked for a service based hospitality/tourism lodge that caters to a wealthy clientele. (For the purposes of this argument, wealthy implies that a couple makes in access of $US 250,000 a year). The clientele is often respectfully curious about how Natalie and I, as Americans, came to be working at a luxury lodge in New Zealand. These conversations usually contain an abbreviated version of why we are pursuing long term travel as a lifestyle and how/when those decisions were reached. These conversations tend to be abbreviated because I find it difficult to juggle drink orders for 9 tables (was that 3 gin/tonics and 1 house Merlot or 5 gin/tonics and 2 house Sauvignon Blancs?) while having a philosophical conversation regarding my personal views on the allure of extended travel.

After several rounds of “good for you”, “it is good to get that out of the way while your young”, and “I wish I’d done that before we started having kids” often comes the awkward questions.

“Does the lodge provide nice staff housing?”

“Well, I am sure the lodge provides you with a vehicle right?”

The staff housing question makes some sense because many seasonal jobs provide staff housing options that are rented by the employer to the employee. In our case, we found that we could make more cash by finding a job that required us to locate our own housing option. The provided vehicle question however, always catches me a bit off guard. Natalie and I are not involved in highly specialized jobs (read: developing next generation nano technology) here in New Zealand. The people who ask these questions often do so while I am making drinks and washing glasses so they should be well aware of my “expert” skill set. In what type of world would an employer give me a car so that I can get back and forth from a job where I spend my days weeding the garden, mixing drinks, and washing dishes?

These questions are usually asked with a slight amount of arrogance, clearly communicating that the interviewer is almost certain of my answer. The question is really just a confirmation of their assumed expectations informed by their class perspective. Except they’re wrong. My seasonal job did not come with a staff housing option (or allowance) and they did not throw in a loner car as a signing bonus. My guess here is that I am not the only seasonal worker in New Zealand providing their own housing and transportation.

Typically, after hearing my response, the interviewer gives me a look that is a cross between “whelp, I just made a fool of myself” and “how stupid are you to work a job with so little benefits”. I am not offended that, according to their world view, even low end jobs must come with excellent benefits or incentives. I was also not offended by the lady from L.A. who wanted to know where I was going to school for my hotel management degree. I am a bit concerned however about the narrow world view of the wealthy.

It bothers me that they are so out of touch with the root causes that create a cycle of poverty for working class people. I am worried about a world where many people who have both power and wealth assume that low end jobs come with high end perks.(The bag boy at the grocery store probably gets all of his groceries for free) Perhaps more than anything, I am surprised that educated wealthy people know so little about working class jobs as to confidently proclaim such incorrect assumptions.

What is it about wealth that causes people to see so little of the world around them to believe that these types of assumptions are correct? Do you have a funny story about the assumptions of the wealth (“let them eat cake” does not count)? Share them.