Waipoua Forest, New Zealand (Taken with Instagram at New Zealand)
Crazy Jungles (Taken with Instagram at Waipoua Forest, New Zealand)
Sweet day at the beach, now heading to the airport (Taken with Instagram at El Matador Beach, California)
In joy lie the seeds of suffering, in suffering lie the seeds of joy.
— Hakuin Ekaku
We made it to LA! We already did a lot of fun stuff with Doug, who lives in West LA near Santa Monica. We went to a small little Mexican food place and got food there and then headed to Yogurtland to grad some delicious Cali FroYo. Then we watched some Netflix and now, as shown in the pic, Jam and Doug are playing video games and I’m ready to pass out. Tomorrow we have a lot of fun things on the agenda. Since my phone still works here in the US I will try to update tomorrow too!
Traveling Again
Hi there! I’m typing this on the plane from BWI to Los Angeles. It’s crazy to think it takes only 5 hours to span the distance that I drove for 2 weeks.
I’m now embarking on the second amazing trip of my summer, this time I’m traveling with my amazing boyfriend of almost three years, Jamison. The trip is possible for me due to my Grandma Grace, an avid traveler herself, who has given me a generous college graduation gift.
The trip starts today with a visit to our friend Doug’s place out in LA. On Wednesday we leave for a long flight to Auckland, New Zealand with a brief layover in Fiji.
In the North Island of New Zealand we plan to check out Auckland and go to the Bay of Islands and the 90 mile beach as well as to Paihia.
After 6 days in the North Island, we take a short plane ride to Christchurch in the South Island of New Zealand. In the South Island we plan to go to Queenstown, the Franz Josef glacier, and Milford Sound. We are renting a car and are driving back through Arthur’s Pass as well.
Jamison traveled by himself in New Zealand several years back but I have never been before, so we are both very excited to experience all of the beautiful scenery and culture in this country! I want to go kayaking, horseback riding, and see some seals and whales! I’m also really excited to try driving on the other side of the road - I bet that’s going to be pretty crazy at first.
Next stop is to fly from Christchurch to Melbourne, Australia. Melbourne is our only stop in Aussie for about four or five days, but we are very excited as a few of our good friends studied abroad in this city. So far our plans include checking out a film festival that’s happening while we are there, visiting a food market with free food that is from all sorts of ethnicities, going to the botanical gardens, and checking out some good local bars.
After Melbourne, we fly to Manila in the Philippines. This is another small stop in our longer travels of 5 days or so, but will definitely be a fascinating part of our journey. We plan to stay and check out Manila for one night and day and then take a night bus to the famous “8th wonder of the world” rice terraces. We are staying at a lovely little place that overlooks the view of the rice terraces and we stay in a hut! I’m very excited and eager to see what this part of the country will be like.
Our last country is China and we fly out of Manila into Beijing. Here we connect with a prepaid tour that includes a guide, hotels, etc. The total trip is 9 days and we begin in Beijing, then go to Xi’an, and then end in Shanghai. I am so overwhelmed and excited by all of the things planned in our China trip - the great wall, the terra-cotta warriors, delicious meals, bike rides, and more! We fly out of China and return to the U.S. early on the 21st of August.
It’s going to be one heck of a month and I can’t wait to begin! I will try to post picture updates and possibly a few blog-like entries like this if I’m not too busy.
