travel
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How I Found the North Island of New Zealand Different than the South Island
More Details: How I Found the North Island of New Zealand Different than the South IslandWhen I planned my trip to New Zealand, I decided based on my interests and what was on offer to spend more time in the South Island than in the North Island. However, this does not mean the North Island lacks places to explore. I left the visit to the North Island for the last…
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Experiencing Majestic Fiordland
More Details: Experiencing Majestic FiordlandA Question For some reason, fjords here in New Zealand are fiords. No time to google it. Just sharing… In any event, I left Queenstown early in the morning to see the wonderful site that is Milford Sound in the southwest corner of the south island of New Zealand. As the bird flies, this should…
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The Adventure Capital of the World – Queenstown
More Details: The Adventure Capital of the World – QueenstownQueenstown’s claim to fame, perhaps among others, is that bungy jumping was invented not far from the town. By now, taller and scarier jumps have been created in Queenstown and elsewhere but that original bungy jump exists in the same bridge. Now, I am not sure if Queenstown is indeed the adventure capital of the…
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Along the Great Ocean Road and within Melbourne
More Details: Along the Great Ocean Road and within MelbourneDistances in Australia are enormous and, perhaps, they feel more so because there are a lot of vast empty lands in the middle (as opposed to us in the US where we have Kansas in the middle!). Yet my trip to Melbourne from Sydney felt short indeed as it does not require traversing the country. …
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Arriving in the Southern Island of Middle Earth: Christchurch, New Zealand
More Details: Arriving in the Southern Island of Middle Earth: Christchurch, New ZealandThere are so many awesome places in New Zealand but I feel Christchurch, though not one of the top 2 cities in NZ, may be the best place to hit first on a trip over (Dunedin is not far behind!). The arrival I arrived in Christchurch on the eastern coast of the southern island of…
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Tasmania – The Lakes, the Mountains and the “Tinas”
More Details: Tasmania – The Lakes, the Mountains and the “Tinas”Planning the Day We hit the lodge breakfast (which gets high marks!) and planned our course of action for the day. The lodge offered a guided walk to Crater Lake at 1 PM but we thought that would waste a little bit of time waiting until then to do a 3 hr hike. We also…
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Trip Planning – Ready. Packing – Not so Ready. About to Go Down Under!
More Details: Trip Planning – Ready. Packing – Not so Ready. About to Go Down Under!So I sit here writing this entry when -perhaps- I should be starting to pack… I am less than 48 hrs away from departure but my packing list (serving me faithfully since 1997…) serves as my security blanket. I proceed writing here not too preoccupied with my packing slackness. Of course, packing will also be…
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Final Plans for Australia and New Zealand!!
More Details: Final Plans for Australia and New Zealand!!I have reached a great milestone: I have finalized my travel plans!! The only details that remain are those that will be finalized once I am in Australia. As usual, planning the trip, exploring the possibilities, figuring out routing and logistics, etc. are great fun for me. But that fun has ended and the real fun…
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Podcast about Visit to Krakow, Poland
More Details: Podcast about Visit to Krakow, PolandA few weeks ago, through my Twitter account (ilivetotravel), a friend connected me with the Amateur Traveler Travel Podcast ( http://amateurtraveler.com/ ). Chris Christensen runs this website and he interviewed me a couple of weeks ago to share my experience visiting Krakow and the neighboring region. Being interviewed is not necessarily a daunting thing in…
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Roaming Around Panama, Coast to Coast
More Details: Roaming Around Panama, Coast to CoastI visited Panama to see relatives and enjoy a little low-key sightseeing beyond my usual haunts of Panama City and the Pearl archipelago. It started with an unusual stop for a tourist… Witnessing the good work of the Missionaries of Charity One day during my visit, we visited the house of the Missionaries of Charity…