The Gift of Travel

Traveling is something I have always loved. It is the adventure that draws me in and excites me. I was the tender age of 17 when I first ventured alone and it was a trip to Australia for a student exchange. I still get the same feelings when I reach an airport now as I did on that first day of departure.

Coming to New Zealand used to be a total flight time of 24 hours, not including layovers. Now it has been cut to 15 hours, thank goodness for the Vancouver to Auckland direct flight and my Play Station Portable. Still, once you have connected to that last flight to the southern island (after a 5 hour layover) and then shuttled to your final destination it has been a long voyage. I am happy to say that dealing with the jet leg is much easier when you are traveling east to west than the other way. Going home is another story.

At least I am here now in the cozy town of Wanaka. It is a beautiful little town on a blue lake which has cinnamon colored mountains with snow as white icing. This is my fifth year here and I am very familiar with the infrastructure of the city and this is soothing to me when you are this far away from home. The local people are very nice once you get over some of the cultural differences and I end up seeing the same half pipe snowboarders who also follow winter. The only thing I can never get over is the houses here.

It’s always cold at night. Central heating is not common in the housing; only the main gathering room and kitchen are heated mostly by a wood burning stove. Only select newer homes maybe heated by floor heating. There might be an oil heater that can be carted from room to room depending on where you are, if you’re lucky. Other huge factors are that some houses are not insulted and have single pane windows! You never know what you’re going to get since most houses are rented over the internet, so I am sure to travel with my own duvet to keep toasty. This is key to getting a good night sleep so work can be done the next day.

Riding is the best job, as I have expressed before, and I was pleased to go to work today. Friends tell me it was the best day of riding all month. The sun was out and the pipe had a perfect cut on it, a great opener for my first day up the mountain. It was all fun today dropping in on the 22ft transition and I loved every minute of it. Even hiking that steep slope didn’t bother me because I was so elated from the experience. I would never know this had I not traveled here.

So to everyone who has never left their province, state or town. Get out there and travel around, see the wonderful features which surround you, voyage to the other side of your country or even better grab a passport and go to another country. Meeting the people, smelling the scents, tasting the foods, and gazing at the brilliant landscapes will enrich your life as it has mine.