04 Dec

return trip to new zealand

Eric and I made a second trip to New Zealand this year! Even though we got back in mid-October, I just now finished sorting through all the pictures and uploaded them to Flickr:

New Zealand - 2010

We hope to back again two years from now for another visit.

26 Feb

france by train

Taking the high-speed trains in Europe is an incredibly unique experience for several reasons:

  • They are ludicrously fast (greater than 200 mph). In this video, I managed to capture another train passing ours on the next track over.
  • They are incredibly quiet and peaceful, lacking a loud diesel engine
  • They pass through some incredibly beautiful terrain. Riding Amtrak in the USA does have some beautiful stretches, but in many cases, you are not really seeing beautiful countryside. In this video, you see how close it gets to the ocean on the Mediterranean coast.

14 Jan

our rules for trips (new and improved!)

Before our recent trip to New Zealand, we created the following rules:

  • No fast food
  • No staying in hotels or motels
  • Minimum overnight stay in one location of 3 days
  • No pre-planning or scheduling unless absolutely necessary
  • No more than 5 hours of travel between places we stay overnight

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30 Dec

random observations on new zealand

I visited New Zealand for the first time and spent 7 weeks there, mostly staying in people’s homes and cottages. Here are some random observations from my trip:

  • Bathrooms are astonishingly clean and nice, even many of the outhouses in the national parks. There are also heaps of public bathrooms.
  • On the South Island, you can drive for hours and sometimes not see another car.
  • Kiwis are generally humble about their country, up-front about its shortcomings, and proud of its achievements, but at the same time they are not patriotic.
  • When someone describes a place is “touristy”, that means there are great restaurants and they are open late.

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