Posts
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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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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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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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 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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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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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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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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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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