Muriwai Beach is a place at the west coast, just 35 km northwest of Auckland, where you have a long beach of black sand and nices waves to go (or practice) surfing. It also is the home of a colony of a few thousand gannets.
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My first day in Auckland was quite fun.
I met CouchSurfer Brent from Canada (he was on the same flight from LA as I was) and we shared the pain of going through all those immigration and customs screening.
Taking the shuttle from the airport into downtown Auckland, we first went to Auckland Central Backpackers to drop off our bags, so we could walk around the city without carrying too much wight with us.
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Saturday was my travel day.
I flew from Montana via Denver to Los Angeles and then boarded Air New Zealands NZ5 to Auckland.
My backbag didn’t though! I already was informed in LA, that my bag still was in Denver. (Strange thing, that United Airlines or Denver Airport or whoever wasn’t able to transfer the bag within 3 hours from one plane to another…)
Flying Air New Zealand is a really good experience. If you book early enough and can choose your seats, I recommend picking a seat in row 43 or 53 if your plane is a B747 or row 53 if it’s a B777. Those are the rows at emergency exists and you’ll have about 2 meters of extra legroom. – I was sitting in 43k :-)
The flight was long (over 12 hours) but you can use the in-flight entertainment to watch any movie (out of about 100 movies) or TV show (over 150 episodes) since the system is on-demand and you have your own screen (okay – that’s standard on long routes by now).
I watched “x-files” and “A journey to the center of the earth” and slept for about 6 hours. After I woke up there were only 2.5 hours left, they started serving breakfast and shortly after that we started the descent to Auckland.
Security checks in Auckland for international arrivals are really extensive. First you need to pass the immigration, then you get into the customs line and after that your bags are being screened again.
Saturday was my travel day – I arrived Monday morning. :-)
I am only uploading some of all those pictures I take into this blog.
There are more, though. :-)
Since I’ve never been to Montana nor Yellowstone National Park, I decided I would visit Ginny in Missoula, Montana and rent a car and drive down to Yellowstone. Ginny and Ron moved back to Montana after I had been at there place in Chico, CA two years ago. Even though we just spent two days together, it was really, really great to see them again.
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Even though I’ve been to the zoo in Omaha a few times, it’s always fun to go there again.
They’ve added a new butterfly house since I’ve been there last about two years ago. The butterflies are swirrling all around you and you have to watch your steps since they are also landing on the floor. Because butterflies do have a really short lifespan the zoo gets weekly shippments from all over the world.
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United Airlines started to charge extra for every bag you check in (on US domestic flights). This results in almost everybody taking their stuff as carry-on luggage which makes the overhead compartments in the cabin as full as never before. Especially on those small regional express planes they take your bags and put them into the planes baggage compartement anyway – so why not let us check them in in the beginning? That’s just stupid….
Once you made the decision to leave your home for a longer period of time, you need to figure out how you want to organize things.
Selling your car and finding someone to stay at your flat while you are gone is just one of the many parts there are.
You need to know that your passport is valid long enough and that you’re still insured while abroad, so make sure to check with your insurance company and try to make a good deal with them. (I actually pay less for my health insurance while I am abroad, than I would have staying home… Isn’t that just crazy?)
Double check your finances – especially make sure your credit card is valid throughout your stay. Getting your bank to send you a new one will be kind of expensive.
Depending on your destination it will be a good idea to check for any health risks and get immunization.
Aside from all those formal things, you need to prepare your friends and family for your leave. Don’t tell them too early, or they might not take you serious. Also don’t tell them last second or they will feel disappointed not including them into your plans.
Turns out, it seems to be almost more important for your friends to get a proper farewell party (or dinner) than it might seem to you. You will have a pretty busy time and probably have the most fun in the world, but in their life will be a gap – caused by you. Show some appreciation! :-)
When you are looking for places to stay on a trip like this, you always have several options.
The probably easiest one clearly is to just look at hotels. The downside to this -except of the price – is that you will be pretty much on your own and probably won’t get to know any people.
Second alternative is to stay at hostels. This is a lot cheaper, but if you are just at a stayover between stops it’s also pretty unlikely that you will make lots of new friends since everyone will go his own way first thing next morning.
Last year I joined a community which uses the Internet to ease up your life because you can search for places to stay for the night plus make new friends while traveling. www.couchsurfing.com is for people who are willing to open up their own houses to complete strangers, letting them stay on their couch or floor and trusting that they are good people. Turns out most people actually are. :-) I’ve had 15 couchsurfer staying at my place this year alone and didn’t have a single bad experience. On the contrary: I am still in touch with some of them – more or less frequently.
So how does it work?
First of all your need to search for people in or near your desired destination. Then you look at their profiles and decide if you might get along with them or not. Pay attention at their references and comments from other fellow couchsurfers. (Remember: not everyone gets along with everyone else. It’s like in real life: Just because someone doesn’t like someone else, that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t get along with each other.
After picking a few people you would stay, you just write them a note via the website asking if they would host you or not. Maybe the person will reply – maybe not (most people do).
It’s that easy.
But what if your host decides to change his or her mind the very last minute and you can’t find another host which hosts you? You will be back at square one: finding yourself looking for a hotel or hostel…
Liebe Freunde und Bekannte, liebe Familie,
nun ist es es also soweit: Der Tag meines Abfluges naht.
Am Dienstag, den 21. Oktober wird um 12:50 mein Flieger hoffentlich pünktlich von Frankfurt aus starten – zuerst nach London, dann weiter mit der Air New Zealand nach L.A.
In den Vereinigten Staaten werde ich einen “Zwischenstopp” von 2 Wochen einlegen. Am Mittwoch geht es von L.A. über den halben Kontinent zurück gen Osten: in den Mittleren Westen. Ein kurzer Besuch in meinem ehemaligen Gastort Fairmont in Nebraska bei meiner dortigen Familie und Freunden eröffnet meine Reise.
Nach einer halben Woche reise ich am Montag früh weiter nach Missoula, Montana, wo ich wiederum Bekannte besuchen und von dort aus einige Tage den Yellowstone Nationalpark inspizieren werde.
Am 1. November geht die Reise weiter – via L.A. nach Auckland, Neuseeland, wo ich aufgrund der Datumsgrenze am 3.11. ankommen werde. Auf der Nordinsel werde ich nach den derzeitigen Planungen die ersten Monate verbringen. Ob es dabei bleibt, wird sich zeigen, denn Planungen sind bekanntlich dazu da, umgeworfen zu werden. :-)
Wer Interesse hat, kann sich unter der Adresse http://blog.fam-heise.de auf dem laufenden halten. Hier wird auch ein so genannter “RSS-Feed” angeboten, der in modernen Emailprogrammen oder Webbrowsern “abonniert” werden kann, so dass man keinen meiner Einträge verpasst.
Das Blog werde ich allerdings auf Englisch halten. Diese Email (die ich auch in den Blog stellen werde) wird der letzte zweisprachige Eintrag sein.
Viele liebe Grüße,
Sebastian
PS: Meine Emailadresse bleibt natürlich weiterhin gültig und ich werde ganz normal über Skype erreichbar sein. Ausserdem gelten dank des Internets und der Internettelefonie auch meine privaten Frankfurter und Belmer Telefonnummern in Neuseeland (sofern ich gerade Internet habe und nicht schlafe, was bei 12 Stunden Zeitunterschied doch mal passieren kann… ;) ) Die Geschäftsnummern sowie meine Handynummer funktionieren nicht.
Dear Friends, dear Family,
now it’s getting serious: The day of my departure is closing in fast!
I will leave Frankfurt on Tuesday, October 21st at 12:50pm (hopefully on time), flying via London to Los Angeles with Air New Zealand.
My “stayover” in the United States will be two weeks. On Wednesday I am traveling back half the continent to the mid west. A short visit in my former hometown Fairmont, NE at my family and friends will open my journey.
After half a week I will travel on to Missoula, MT, where I will meet other friends of mine and do a short trip to inspect Yellowstone National Park.
I will be flying via L.A. to Auckland, New Zealand on November 1st and – since I am crossing the international date line – will arrive in Auckland on November 3rd.
My current idea is to stay on the north island for the first couple of month. Since plans exist to change them, I don’t know if that will really be the case. I like to be spontaneously…
If you are interested you may watch my blog under http://blog.fam-heise.de to keep yourself updated. There also is an “RSS-Feed” to which you can subscribe with any modern email client or web browser.
I will try to keep the blog in English. This Email (which I also will post on the blog) will probably be last entry in German and English.
Take care,
Sebastian
PS: Of course you can reach me via Email and I am also using Skype as usual.
Die Idee reifte schon länger vor sich hin, aber konkret wurde es um Ostern nachdem ich meinen neuen Reisepaß erhielt und im Internet ein working holiday Visum beantragt habe. Das war Ostersamstag. Schnell wieder vergessen, dass ich dieses Formular wirklich abgeschickt habe, war ich sehr erstaunt am Mittwoch (also nur vier Tage später ) eine email der neuseeländischen Einwanderungsbehörde zu erhalten. – “Okay”, dachte ich, “eine Empfangsbestätigung. Nun wird also mein Antrag geprüft…” Weit gefehlt, denn bei der email handelte es sich bereits um die Genehmigung!!! Ich war baff. :-)
The idea was in my head for quite a while, but it got solid around easter time after I got my new passport and applied for an working holiday scheme in New Zealand. That was paschal Saturday. Forgetting all about really sending the application I really was surprised to get an email from the New Zealand Immigration on Wednesday (just four days later). “Okay”, I tought, “a receipt that they got my mail. Now my application is being processed”. Far from it! It already was my approval!!! I was stunned. :-)
I was coming into Saint Petersberg from Helsinki via train. This was a nice and comfortable way to travel compared to a busride as you can freely move around the train and since they discontinued any ferry connections. The ride takes about 7 hours and a one way ticket costs about 60 EUR. Return trip is twice as much, there are no discounts for that. Keep in mind that you will have to pay exchange fees, if you purchase your return ticket in St. Petersburg, so you might just as well get it in Helsinki. The train has services like a dining car and money exchange on board. All customs and visa procedures are also done on the train between the last and first stop across the border.
Once in Saint Petersburg I needed to get to my CouchSurfing host. Since there are hardly any signs in Latin and generally you don’t find anyone speaking English, this turned out to be quite an adventure. First I had to get on the Metro. One coin (ticket) to access the Metro system costs 5 Roubels – which is about 0,14 EUR right now. Pretty cheap :) Once within the Metro system, you can take any train (there are four lines) and switch as often as you want to get to your destination. I got off at the closest station to my hosts place, but it was still about 2 km away.
I decided to take one of those mini vans swirling all over the city. My hosts supplied my with the correct line number and stop. Problem is: you need to tell the driver where you want to get off. As I didn’t know how to pronounce the street and everything, I showed him the written note. Of course it was written in Latin letters, which neither he nor the other 7 or 8 passengers couldn’t figure out. Finally they decided on a certain place. Good thing that I memorized the place in google maps, so I knew if it was about right or not. Turned out, they were just 80m off. :-)
To be continued…
