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Packing for Cold Weather in China – Carry On Edition

By Elisabeth Sowerbutts / October 6, 2019 /
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Packing for a trip to China’s Western Sichuan province has been challenging. Most of the trip will be at altitudes over 3000m – in mid-late October the temperatures are looking at  zero to mid teens centigrade.  Not warm at all.  Plus I want to  carry just my carry-on sized 45l backpack and a smaller day…

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Best Currency Card for Travel

By Elisabeth Sowerbutts / August 19, 2019 /
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UPDATED August 2019  Often living in a small country at the end of the world is advantageous. But  not when you are looking for a great deal on cards to use when travelling.  Americans and Europeans have heaps of options for cash-back, point-hacks etc etc. New Zealand not so much. Until very, very recently we…

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Silk Road Planned Travel Route

Planning a Silk Road Itinerary – 3 Months Travel Along the Silk Road

By Elisabeth Sowerbutts / July 3, 2017 /
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UPDATE  Well our Silk Road trip is over – 8 days after landing in Shanghai – we were landed in an emergency room of a hospital in Lanzhou – a city I never planed to overnight in… When your partner collapses on a bus to Xiahe you learn some stuff. I didn’t panic – a…

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Vietnamese visa - issued at SGN Airport

Vietnamese Visas for New Zealanders

By Elisabeth Sowerbutts / January 5, 2017 /
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My Vietnamese visa issued on arrival at SGN Short answer – yes you need a Vietnamese visa if you travel on a New Zealand passport. (If you are a dual citizen of the UK or some European countries – you can  fly in (not  a land crossing) for 15 days without a visa). First Things…

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Earthquake Damage, Lyttleton, New Zealand

What Happens To Tourists in New Zealand After An Earthquake

By Elisabeth Sowerbutts / November 15, 2016 /
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Earthquake Damage, Lyttleton, New Zealand As I write this we are tidying up after a massive 7.6 magnitude earthquake in New Zealand. The sensational reported by both local and overseas media makes it hard for tourists to get a real view of what’s happening here.  So I’m writing this to  add some reality to the…

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Happy Hour Mojitios at the Hotel Majestic, Saigon

Southern Vietnam: Costs of Independent Travel

By Elisabeth Sowerbutts / June 27, 2016 /
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We’ve just returned from a short 2.5 week trip to southern Vietnam. Given that Vietnam seems suddenly being promoted to New Zealanders (thanks to the many more options of flying there) I thought I’d keep a record of our expenses on the ground to give you some idea. The Travellers My partner and I are…

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This is NOT I5 - somewhere in Georgia

Road Tripping in the Eastern USA – From an Australian/NZ Perspective

By Elisabeth Sowerbutts / March 25, 2015 /
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We drove 4300 miles over 4 weeks from Philadelphia and back via the Atlantic Coast, northern Florida, New Orleans and the Appalachians. It was quite a different experience – and because much of what is written about American road tripping is from an American perspective, I thought it might be fun to  write from a…

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House Sold - to Us!

We’ve Bought the House By The Sea!

By Lis / November 12, 2014 /
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We’ve gone uunconditional on our house! In New Zealand you have a binding contract to buy once your conditions are met – we just bought a house in Titahi Bay!We had until today to sign off our conditions – which were the building report and the council LIM. The  dramas of the building report I’ve written…

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Building Report – Round Two

By Lis / November 10, 2014 /
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Well in my previous post I mentioned that the building report for our dream house and raised serious moisture issues.Today we went back to figure out the cause of the moisture – and the damage behind the gib (plaster board is maybe what American’s call it?) Anyway with a builder on hand – we said…

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Home by the sea - maybe

Oops – We Have Building Report Issues

By Lis / November 5, 2014 /
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Darn – I spoke too soon. Agents always say you haven’t bought or sold a house until you are unconditional – and we had a building report as a condition on this place.I went with the builder partly so I could finally take some photos inside! I wasn’t expecting him to call me over to…

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