pics

where you can find some pics from the trip

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/meglamb

Who knew?

I met up with some Irish girls in Sydney the other day and we were sitting having drinks when the table next to us asked where we were all from, they said Ireland, I said the States. Their reply: New Mexico? Holy Shit, there are other people that actually travel that are from New Mexico. I think they are few and far between so to meet up with them was pretty funny. A friend had just met up with them and brought green chile so we reminisced about green chile, and breakfast burritos. It was pretty random. One of the guys (all from Albq btw) had been traveling for over a year and a half and had only met one other person that was from NM in his travels. Just a bit of NM pride. :)

I'm ready

I'm ready to be in another country already. I want to be somewhere where I don't understand the signs and its not so easy to ask for directions to the train station, or understand a menu. I wan't to be lost and confused. Sounds weird but I love it. I love looking at signs and having no idea what they mean and having to guess, all part of traveling and learning. Don't get me wrong New Zealand was amazing, Australia is amazing. I am so excited to see the Rodgers, my Australian family in just a few days. I haven't seen them in almost 10 years which blows my mind. I don't even mind if I don't get to see any of Australia, I would be quite content just hanging out with them. But after than is when I'm ready, for the confusion, unknown, and wonderful language barriers. Some people find it fustrating, I find it invigorating!

you would think...

in a country that drives on the opposite side of the road (from the US) that people would walk in that same direction. I was walking through Auckland and walking up the street on the left side of the sidewalk and found myself the black sheep of the flock. Everyone was walking up on the right and down on the left. Don't know why just seemed strange.

Wow

I'm glad you guys are enjoying this blog. I haven't been insightful, just honest. But I think that's what makes for good writing. Since Swampy's I headed on the ferry to Wellington. I was fortunate enough to get a ride to the next town, Picton from one of the English girls who was staying at Swampy's. The ride was rough and started with us entering through the bottom level car port area and working our way up, Titanic style. Little Weird. Thank goodness I don't get seasick but otherwise I would have. Stuart was already in Wellington, another guy I met at Swampy's and he booked me a room in a 10 bed dorm. So basically sleeping in a room with 10 strangers is pretty interesting, but fun.
I am going to write more later, but I've had a few glasses of wine and watching the All Blacks vs Australia game so will continue at a later date. Headed for Australia tomorrow. Was suppose to go today but when you drink and go out with people til 4am sometime it just doesn't work out. more to follow.

Swampy's

Wow. What a place. Imagine the Real World house but not nearly as nice, lots of bunk beds, people from all over the world, and freezing. That's Swampy's. And where I spent my past 2 nights. Everyone who was staying there had been there for at least 2 weeks, one guy 5 months. They were all there to work on the vineyards and Swampy's was the closest, cheapest place to stay. I arrived Friday afternoon and people were all ready gathered around drinking, playing poker, reading, or just sitting by the fire talking. Everyone knew everyone, so me coming into this was a big shock and I immediately felt like the outsider, especially when I said I would only be staying 2 days.
No one was from New Zealand. There was quite a few from the UK, Canada, Germany, Ireland, 2 others from the states and I think one from Malaysia. It was an international family. We all sat around and played drinking games on Friday night and I had soon been welcome into the family (know by how much they were making me drink!). The next night one of the Canadians and Germans cooked a feast of a dinner and it just added to the familial dynamics. I had a few people tell me to stay and I really thought about it for a while, I could stay, work for a bit and then keep on. I decided not this trip but it's a possibility for the future.

Hitching...

So i decided that instead of riding a bike I'm going to hitch hike to the wineries. it was a much colder day and the ones i wanted to go to were a good 10km away. So I'm all set, saying bye to some people at Swampy's and someone asks if I want to smoke. I decided why the hell not. Big mistake. I start walking down the street my confidence crumbles, I haven't hitchhiked since the Guatemalan tow truck driver and even then I had Julia with me so I wasn't by myself. And then the paranoia kicks in and I have a long standing debate in my head about the proper way to hitch hike. Do I walk with my thumb out and my back to the car? Do i turn and look them in the eyes and guilt trip them? Do i turn smile and stuck out my thumb. I have no clue and apparently this is a big issue in my mind. I am finally able to laugh it off, stick out my thumb and the first car pulls over. Moral of the story: Don't smoke before hitchhiking. bad idea.

Don't drink and Ride

So I got to Christchurch, a bustling city of no more than half a million people. I got a weird feeling and decided to get on the train the next morning and head up to Blenhim, the wine country of New Zealand. I had read about this place "Swampy's" in LP and said it was closer to the wineries and they had free bikes to use. This seemed the most appealing considering I was planing my own wine tour o bike.
I hitched a ride with some random that sat besides me on the train, actually I take that back, his Dad gave me a ride and dropped me at Swampy's which I will explain in another post. I decided to get a bike (which were not free) and start on my wine tour. I head out and turn right, after coming to the second bridge with no shoulder and having semis pass me and nearly blow me off, I decided I must be going in the wrong direction, and I was. It would figure that I'm the one who would get lost before they even started drinking! Needless to say I made it to a few, had a good afternoon bike ride and then came home to Swampy's.

Franz Josef

I'm not even sure where to start other than, today was incredible. The thought of climbing on a glacier was an incredible thought in the first place but to actually do it and experience it was even better. I opted for the full day tour/hike which apparently is the only way to go. We started at about 8:30 this morning and started the trail walking through a lush rain forest. All of a sudden it opened up into a valley of rocks and in between the two mountains ahead of us was a glacier. A giant glacier. What seemed to be close turned out to be about 2.5 km away. The glacier is dwarfing when you finally get close to it.
We strapped on our crampons and headed up the ice. We spent about 5 hours on the ice, crawling through ice tunnels, climbing up steps carved into the ice, and squeezing ourselves through tiny crevasses. It was a bit of a surreal experience. Two other Americans were in my group and we kept saying to each other we felt like we were on a ride at disney land and no way could this be real. We ran out of water a refilled it with ice cold pools of delicious glacier water.
It is an experience I can never truly explain or ever forget. I climed a glacier! I still can't believe I did it, not because of the physical part of it but becasue I've only ever associated glaciers with Antartica or the titanic.
All in All, I can only say incredible. For now at least.

Glow Worms

The are real. And I'm not talking about the toy we all had when we were little. I'm talking real live glow worms. A few people I met at the hostel I am staying at knew of a trail up the road where we could see some of the worms. I was a bit hesitant and wasn't sure what to expect but after a 10 min walk into the rain forest we came across a fallen tree and underneath it there they were. Glow worms. We turned off all the flashlights and had a look. It was like a miniature planetarium. They were tiny so you couldn't see them when the light was on them but when it was off it was really like you were looking at a sky full of glowing stars.

Where are all the Kiwi's?

In the few days I spent in Queenstown, I think I met one person that was actually from New Zealand. It was a bit disheartening at first but I met some other great people as well. I spent a day with Tommy, a Bolivian/Tawainese guys who had been living in Australia for a while and was in Queenstown on a break and to try skiing for the first time. I met he and his friend Edward and had a great time with both of them. I was planning on just hanging out around town Monday and maybe taking a hike or playing frisbee golf. Instead Tommy and I shared the infamous Big Al burger from Fergburger and hiked up to the top of the Queentown peak to get a better view of the city. The hike was good, it was suspose to take us 45 min but we took a few detours, and photo ops, as well as relished over a piece of ice. Tommy had never seen snow or ice and to see his excitment over a piece of ice was quite enjoyable.
At the top there is a luge, resturant and viewing deck. The views were incredible! The on to the luge. Think Mario Kart. You take a ski lift up to the top then cruise on down and let me just say those sucker go fast. I felt/looked like a ninja turtle because I had on my orange backpack. We were running short on time so we opted to take the gondola down.
So after run in's with people from Bolovia, Holland, America, Australia, UK (including New Castle which is by far the hardest accent to understand), and Canadians, I left Queenstown and headed for Franz Josef Glacier.

Queenstown=Remarkable

I arrived in Queenstown, found my hostel, got showered and hit the ground running. Queenstown is beautiful. It is on a lake surrounded by snowcapped mountains. The downtown area is covered with bars, tourist shops, and anything you could ever want to do. Bungee, Canyon swing, skydive, snowboard, jet boating, the list is endless. I could have spent my entire budget in a week in this town.
I was expecting to arrive in New Zealand and be on my own for a while, which I was perfectly fine with. Come to find out I had a mutual friend there who graciously met up with me and showed me around a bit. The problem was finding him as we both didn't have cell phones. Oh the joys of facebook. I sent him a message when I got in telling him I was in town if he wanted to meet up. I got one back sending me on a scavenger hunt. Find his roomate who works at the Quicksilver store who will ring his roomate who he will be meeting up with later in the day. Some how it worked and soon after Anthony, Brett, and I were drinking ciders and carrying away. we spent the rest of the night meeting up with his other roomates/friends and went to quite a few of the bars in town. Not bad for a first night I must say.
The next day I went snowboarding, on the 5th of July but technically it was the 4th of July in the States. So here I am on this mountain, small, smaller than Ski Apache but amazing nontheless. No trees, just snow. The weather wasn't idea and my goggles kept freezing over but thankfully the guys were pretty familiar with the mountain and knew where to go and where not to. BTW the ski are was called the Remarkables, hence the title. The road up there on the other hand was a different story. Think the road to Ski Apache but no pavement, just gravel, no guardrails, no trees to stop you if you slipped over the edge, and did I mention we were on a bus? I tried not to look out the windows but the view was incredible so I did away with my fear and enjoyed the ride.

And cue the excitement

That excitement I was talking about earlier, well it finally hit. I got off the plane and was going through customs in Auckland and I heard a familiar noise. Clunk, Clunk. My favorite sound. I was in line about to get my new passport stamped for the first time. I had arrived and suddenly my trip became real. The excitement lasted a few minutes until I realized my connecting flight to Queenstown left in 30 minutes and I still had check my bags and make it to the domestic terminal. The flight agent had a worried face as I recked my bag, she doubted I would make it and put a call in to the gate agent who in turned told me they would hold the plane for 5 minutes but I needed to run. So after a lovely 12 hour flight I was running through Auckland airport with about 50lbs of luggage strapped to me. I made it to the gate, sweating and panicked because all other flights to Queenstown were booked for the next 2 days. The jetway door was shut which always means one of two things, your too late or too early. I of course immediately thought I was minutes too late but come to find out the flight had been delayed further and they hadn't even started boarding yet. Of course I was relieved but at the same time my excitement grew even more. This is why I love traveling. You never know what will happen. I can't even begin to count the number of times I have ran for a bus, train, or plane and sometime I've made it and sometimes I haven't. To be honest some of the best experiences stemmed from missed ones. So I welcome and crave this kind of excitement, the unknown.

A few disclaimers

1. I don't write. I'm not a writer. I'm not good at seeing/doing something and expressing it on paper. So if this blog is boring, that's why! :)

2. I've never written a blog. I don't think I have ever even kept a journal. So i am going to try to be as open and vivid as possible for those of you that are actually interested in what's going on.

3. I've had a bit of anxiety and nervousness about keeping a blog. 1. Because of the aforementioned and 2. because it make me vulnerable. 

4. I am not an open person (for the most part) so part of my reason for this blog is to work on that through writing. We will see. 

4. I probably won't proof read these. So yes there will be typos, and spelling errors. So you might just have to deal with it. I apologize in advance. 

I have spoken with 2 of my good friends of my nervousness over writing a blog. Leah who has always been my voice of reason/personal cheerleader has given me some wonderful advice and I can only hope to heed that advice and do the best that I can. My other friend is an incredibly talented songwriter/artist/musician. He has written more songs in the past 6 months than I could only dream of writing in a lifetime. Regardless of whether all of his songs/thoughts/writings come to fruition, I think it is an incredible thing to be able to write so freely. He too has given me some good advice on keeping this blog somewhat interesting for you all and for myself. So for them I am grateful and only time and experiences will tell how those simple words of wisdom will effect my writing. 

So there you go. My disclaimers for the blog. Also a few of you have asked me what my travel schedule is looking like and what countries I will be visiting,  so here it is:

New Zealand

Australia

Indonesia (where I meet my travel buddy Erin!!!)

Malaysia

Thailand

Nepal

India

Ethiopia

Kenya

Egypt

Greece

Turkey

Spain

Portugal

Morocco

London

Then its back to NYC and Ruidoso just in time for Christmas. 

So there it is. Next blog entry: from the winter months of New Zealand....

So here I go...

Here it is, my first post. I thought I would have more to say about my upcoming trip but instead I find myself thinking of the past few months I have spent in Ruidoso. Normally before I leave for a trip I can't sleep, I am overridden with anxiety/excitement that I have started many a trips with 0 hours of sleep. That's not how I am feeling at all right now. Not to say I am not excited, but for me the excitement doesn't kick in until the last minute. I am about to embark of a 'trip of a lifetime (3rd edition)' but it just doesn't feel that way yet. 

Instead I am thinking of Ruidoso. Does a 'trip of a lifetime' have to be so grand or elaborate? I've always thought the answer was simple, yes. But I am now rethinking it. I go on these trips because I have a love and passion for people and culture. I thrive on learning/doing/seeing new things. I just have always thought that I needed to go somewhere else to find that. Instead I was able to learn a lot about myself and my 'hometown' in just a few short months. This is attributed to all the wonderful people that I have shared time with in the past few months. 

When I first moved back to Ruidoso after leaving Florida I was dreading it. I can recall thinking that I didn't want to hang out with anyone and I wanted to keep to myself so I could work on me. Which also seems to be a never ending process. Leah tried her hardest to introduce me to people and initiate contact so I wouldn't feel so alone. I tried to resist at first, but eventually walls were crumbled and I found myself actually enjoying my time and company in good ol' new Mexico. 

I met a few new wonderful people, reminisced with some old friends, and grew friendships I didn't even know existed. In the end, I grew. Something I thought that this trip was going to do, not Ruidoso. Although I  don't think you ever stop growing it is how you choose to experience your situations rather than anticipate them. 

So I sit here, less than 24hrs before my flight to New Zealand not doing the usual excitement, not sleeping routine. But, instead going to bed thinking of all the good times and friends I have left in Ruidoso. The past few months have already taught me to be more open, to people, experience, and with my emotions. All qualities I strive to work on as a personal goal when I travel. So I guess this whole 'trip of a lifetime' concept doesn't begin or end with a plane ride, it begins with an attitude adjustment. I can only hope that my trip will be far longer than the planned 6 months and continue for the rest of my life. 

I just need to remember everywhere and everyone has something to offer, sometimes you just have to look a bit harder and past the surface to find it. Regardless I'm glad I was able to see that and thankful for the many experiences and friends I have already embraced. I look forward to that upcoming anxious excitement feeling and am prepared to continue on this life journey.