Travel is more than fun – it’s a great way to get exposed to new ideas. Like the wonder of the diagonal or scramble crosswalk!
New Zealand
Local Encounters – Putting Personality into Travel
I travel to see new places. I bring tons of batteries and memory for the camera.
But often, it’s the people I meet who steal the show: the Icelanders, kiwis, Aussies, ticos, etc.
If you have some decent people skills, the locals are the ones who will really make your trip better. They’ll clue you in to cool places, give you an insider perspective to their home and maybe help you out when your plans go awry. And not because it’s their job – just because they’re being nice.
Sometimes, you never even catch their name. It might be just a quick conversation, but it sticks in your mind and is part of your vacation’s story. I’m not really talking about tourist industry folks who are paid to be nice, but people who you just run into randomly.
So in honor of the locals, let me share a few memories about some I’ve encountered:
Iceland – Stjarnan FC Soccer Fans
During our first night in Reykjavik, my wife and I wandered past a stadium. We quickly struck up a conversation with a bearded, staff-wielding character with blue and white face paint. He clued us into what was about to take place: an epic Icelandic Premier League clash between league leaders Fram and his team, Stjarnan FC (just about a month before it became famous for its goal celebrations). Moments later, we were seated near Ragnar and his crew as they beat drums, sang songs and clapped incessantly. This was a perfect example of what happens when [...]
Active Volcano Tops My Destination of the Year List
In the middle of a never-ending, steep, dismal scree slope, I paused to catch my breath. Just a few hundred feet more, I thought. That wouldn’t get me to the top. That would just get me to a collection of rocks where I hoped I could actually get some footing. I was burning tons of energy as my heart hammered and my legs burned. All for seemingly nothing, as I seemed to lose half the distance I’d gained with each step. I kept my eyes locked on the ground in front of me, because a glance in any other direction would reveal how far away I was from solid ground, how far I’d already climbed, and how far I still had to go – all before descending and hiking another eight miles or so.
Some people might want this day to end, and to never have to think about it again. But me … I think about climbing New Zealand’s Mt. Ngauruhoe every single day. There are three photos of it in my cubicle at work. It’s my Twitter page background. I would climb it every week if I could.
Mt. Ngauruhoe, and the Tongariro National Park surrounding it, is nothing less than completely bewitching, and they are the combined winner of my 2009 Destination of the Year Award.
I’ve given you practical tips for climbing Mt. Ngauruhoe in this blog before. I’ve fustigated National Geographic for bungling a story about Tongariro. But this time, I’m just offering a homage to a fantastic [...]
Wandering Justin Elsewhere Online
Hey, I wound up in the New Times! They wanted to know what sort of edibles I’m slurping into my gullet. Check out Justin Schmid, What are you eating?. It features a photo of me menacing the camera with a half-eaten possum pie at the Sandfly Cafe somewhere between Franz Josef and Nelson in New Zealand.
Rene, our bus driver was thrilled as only a Naked Bus employee can be. During our break at the Sandfly Cafe, he went up to all the other passengers telling them that I was eating possum pie … he had very distinct “see, he ate it and didn’t die” tone in his voice. It was hysterical. When he was done telling everyone else, he wanted to talk to me about it.
“It’s easy to eat, i’n’t, mate?” he kept repeating.
Awesome guy. Best bus driver ever.
The post also has me extolling the virtues of Sun Up Brewing, golden beets and other cool things I like eating.
A Basic Bit of Glow Worm Biology
This is pretty funny … someone came to my blog today to find out whether the poop of glow worms glows.
The answer is no – that’s because glow worms don’t poop. The glow that they make is their form of excretion. But rather than just launching solid or liquid waste, it converts the leftover matter into light that’s used to attract its prey. The glow worms dangle silky threads from their spots in their home caves. Insects see this and thinks they’re seeing stars, and fly toward the light. They get caught in the threads. Then the glow worms eat them, absorb the nutrients, turn the excess matter into light and begin the cycle again.
Really, that’s pretty fabulous. It takes stuff in, but leaves nothing but heat and light behind. That’s an incredible bit of evolution. And certainly, it has to be the envy of every mechanical engineer.
If you’re interested in seeing glow worms, there are a number of places in the world to do so. Of course, I’m pretty partial to Waitomo, New Zealand. Here are a few related posts:
Rappelling into the Dark
7 Hotels in New Zealand
Rap, Raft & Rock
