After a day of glaciers, driving, and a LOT of photos, I have arrived at Queenstown, NZ. For the first night since I left Auckland I’m staying in a hostel tonight (or a Backpacker as they call them here). I want to stay right in town rather than on the outskirts. This is, by far, …
I’m safe on Tahiti. Its dark and I can’t see anything other than how bad I’m getting robbed. I’ll get to that in a second. The currency in French Polynesia and all French Pacific Territories is the Pacific Franc (XPF). The Euro is sort of on a 1-to-1 ratio with the dollar. By that I …
Before I leave Maui, I think I like to get down some random thoughts on life here on Maui. I paid $4.00 a gallon for gas this week. The very windy Hana coast road I wrote about earlier had only one gas station that I could find. It charged $4 per gallon. The price around …
I spent most of today just doing logistical stuff: getting my ransom ticket refunded and getting my tickets to Rarotonga and beyond, moving to the hostel, and taking care of some stuff online. Yes, that took most of the day. I assumed that I would be leaving French Polynesia on Friday, but I found there …
I intended to go to Hawaii first so i could get my travel bearings in a place I was familiar with. The last week has been very instructive in how to go about the day-to-day grind of traveling. Things I’ve learned: If you can find a place with free wireless internet access, stay there as …
I am not a foodie. I wish I was a foodie in the same way that I wish I could play piano or speak Italian, but I am not. I believe I could exist quite happily like Robocop on nothing more than a rudimentary baby food like paste to keep my organic systems functioning, provided …
I have about four hours till I get taken to the airport to wait three more hours for my flight to Papeete. Despite some early problems, I think this week has been a good start to my foreign adventures. I managed to get by in the most isolated place on Earth without knowing the language. …
A quick update before I hit the road and drive off to Invercargill (home of Burt Munro!!) and Dunedin. A few weeks ago I had no idea I’d be in New Zealand right now. While I consider myself a pretty smart guy, I’m embarssed to say I had never heard of Milford Sound before I …
I got a tattoo last week in Rarotonga. It is a Cook Island Maori tattoo. The symbols are designed to tell a story, that story being my trip. In the center row, there is one character unlike the others. That represents me. Its a solo man. The other characters are birds which represent travel. On …