There are certain parts of the world that simply cry out: Road Trip! You know the requisite ingredients: rugged cliffs dropping into blue ocean waters, waves crashing against rocky outcroppings, and pockets of white foam shooting into the air. Roads wind, barely two lanes wide, cars hug mountain turns. Drivers and passengers crane their necks to catch a glimpse — the glimpse — over the next cliff, wanting to pull off for the perfect photo.
The whole thing sounds cliché, perhaps, but maybe that’s just because that’s the way it really is. There are a few drives in this world that deliver on all of this. And Chapman’s Peak Drive in Cape Town happens to be one of them. Continue Reading »
This is a slice of backstory regarding our current visit to South Africa. It’s about a man named Tutu, a book entitled Invictus and a musician called Rodriguez. It’s about South Africa and about our relationship to places before we’ve ever visited them. Finally, it’s about our journey from Cape Town to South Africa’s Northern Cape.
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Our trek to the Tongariro Crossing on New Zealand’s North Island was the trek that almost wasn’t. Winds were fierce, rains continued to pour down and visibility only seemed to get worse right up to the day before we were set to hike.
As night fell, winds began to subside and the rain slowed, but it still didn’t look good. We prepared ourselves for the worst.
The next morning, however, a shift. Timed for our late start, winds died further, clouds burned off and blue skies emerged. This was our Tongariro Crossing. Open up the panorama to full screen to see what we found: the Emerald Lakes, the Red Crater and hints of Mordor. Continue Reading »
This is our on-the-ground introduction to the New Zealand wine scene, focused on the South Island regions of Marlborough, Central Otago, and Nelson. It includes recommended wineries, a wine cottage experience for the romance bucket list, and an insight into how wine tasting in New Zealand can be more frightening than jumping off a bridge.
Can you spot the vineyards in the distance?
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Imagine going to one of the wettest places on earth, only to be greeted with sunshine. This was our experience in Doubtful Sound on the very southwest tip of New Zealand’s South Island. Blue skies in the land of socked-in clouds and precipitation — lucky, we were. Continue Reading »
“Pump your arms, your legs will follow…”
– Marathon advice. Life advice?
As I struggle to process what happened at the Boston Marathon yesterday, I wonder: “How is it that we humans invest so much energy in our own destruction?”
Then I consider what’s at the heart of the spirit of marathons, and the reasons why crowds of people were gathered at the finish line in the first place. Through this process, I attempt to restore some of my lost hope in humanity, because I believe if we lose that marathon spirit, that’s when we’ve really lost. Continue Reading »
This is about fear and awareness and how recognizing a distinction between the two can improve your travels…and your life.
At the extremes, we have two choices in life: a) sit back and be afraid of absolutely everything and never leave the couch, or b) proceed recklessly and lean blindly into situations that will likely harm us.
Or, there’s a third way. Continue Reading »
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Contests by Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
Winter hibernation is coming to an end. ‘Tis the season of spring dreaming and doing. Think of it as prime time to dust off all those New Year’s resolutions, evaluate them, and begin doing those things that matter most. And soon. Years have a nasty habit of sneaking by before we know it.
Does your spring dreaming tap into wanderlust and travel? If so, we’d like to help you make it a reality. Continue Reading »
Confession time. This week’s panorama is really for us. We’ve been enduring the tail end of a long winter in Berlin. (Yes, it’s still going!). Gazing at beach scenes like this one offers a respite, a way to escape to New Zealand for a few moments to forget the lingering snow on the ground outside. We, too, travel vicariously — even back to the places we’ve already visited.
Even if you’re not sitting in cold and snow this week, we hope you’ll still enjoy one of our favorite picnic lunch spots: a white sand beach in the beauty that is New Zealand’s Abel Tasman National Park.
Open up the panorama to full screen and take a virtual stroll around Stillwell Beach. Continue Reading »
This is a story about living in someone else’s shadow. It’s also the beginning of our answer to the question: New Zealand, North Island or South Island?
Imagine a geeky younger boy who grows up in the shadow of his brother, the all-star. The big brother gets all the attention, all the fame. But it’s the younger brother with whom you develop a special relationship, who was allowed to surprise you because you spent some time with him.
The New Zealand advice mantra of choice: “Get amongst it!”
This is our relationship with New Zealand’s North Island. It lives in the travel shadow of its South Island brother. Sure, the South Island is spectacular (yes, we’ll get to that), but it’s on the North Island that our New Zealand love affair began.
While most may steer you directly to the South Island when asked about New Zealand travel, we take a different approach. Visit both. Really. You can thank us later. Continue Reading »
