Traveling in New Zealand – Please Phone Home!

You and I know that people outside of Christchurch are unaffected by the 24 February Christchurch earthquake – well not physically hurt anyways. I’m in Wellington and I have been fielding  questions  from online friends worried about me.  The New Zealand Red Cross and police have hundreds on the missing list – but many of those people are possibly overseas visitors on an independent trip around New Zealand.

If you are in New Zealand and travelling – please make sure that your family overseas know that  you are OK! Even if you are in Auckland many people will be panicking about safety.

These days there is really no easier way to keep in contact than getting on email, Skype or updating your Facebook page. But remember you parents may not be on Facebook – a text or a call won’t cost you much and will save both your family’s heartache and the police time involved in checking the long missing lists.

Now in the old days I used to travel quite disconnected from what was happening around me. I was in Nepal during the revolution in the 80s and it took days to find out a bout it (I was trekking) and weeks to get back in contact with home. Times have changed though and  many people expect you to be very frequent contact.

So if you are travelling New Zealand – and think that someone may be missing you – contact them!