Posted in WHEEEEEE!!!, tagged absurd, hikes, mountains, national parks, new zealand, scenery, tongoriro crossing on Sunday, November 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
From New Zealand!
On Thanksgiving I hiked the magnificent 17 km Tongoriro Crossing with Jeff and Walter. It wasn’t what I planned or envisioned for Thanksgiving, but it was one of the most spectacular things I’ve ever done. There are two side stories I need to tell before explaining how I ended up having a Thanksgiving [...]
Posted in WHEEEEEE!!!, tagged america, embassy, governments, internal revenue, IRD number, new zealand government, taxes, things that make me sad to be an american, us embassy, wellington on Sunday, November 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I needed to do two things upon arriving in Wellington: register for a tax number with the New Zealand government, and register with the U.S. Embassy. You can imagine how this turned out. Registering for the tax number required a visit to the Internal Revenue Department, the Kiwi counterpart to the IRS. We were greeted [...]
Posted in WHEEEEEE!!!, tagged jeff, roundups, wellington on Sunday, November 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Jeff is also keeping a travel blog, btw, which you can read here.
In the past week, we escaped Auckland, hiked through Tongariro (say it out loud for more fun) National Park, made it to Wellington, and met up with the local Jewish community. This morning is the first real downtime I’ve had at my computer [...]
Posted in WHEEEEEE!!!, tagged Add new tag, auckland, back, cruise, internet, new zealand, quick posts on Sunday, November 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I’m in Auckland! I won’t have a stable internet connection until I settle into Wellington after Thanksgiving, but in the meantime I’ll put up a few posts that I wrote on the cruise ship.
The cruise was wonderful in its own reality-free way. We might as well have been sailing in the Caribbean eating our 12.7 [...]
Posted in Cruising Right Along, tagged activities, crew, cruising, drinking, madisyn, people, pictures, ridiculous, the cruise on Sunday, November 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
There are four activities staffers onboard and the most interesting one by far is Madisyn. Madisyn is special because she says things. We’re not sure why she says them, but she does, and they’re amazing.
Posted in Cruising Right Along, tagged crew, cruise ship, cruising, gangways, james the cruise director, tauranga, the cruise, unions on Saturday, November 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
It’s a little after 8 p.m. on our last night on the ship. We were scheduled to leave port at 5 p.m., but we won’t be going anywhere for at least another hour. James our Cruise Director explained that we were sticking around due to “technical difficulties and tidal conditions.” Turns out the “technical condition” [...]
Posted in WHEEEEEE!!!, tagged apartments, city, first impressions, streets, the apartment, the cruise, visits, walking around, wellington on Thursday, November 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I have chosen wisely. Wellington is an adorable, compact city that will make an excellent home for the next six months. I wasn’t so sure when I woke up this morning. I invested a great deal of emotional credit in this day secured only by my imagination and desires, and the scene greeting me this [...]
Posted in Cruising Right Along, tagged banking, banks, fail, new zealand, the cruise, things that are different on Wednesday, November 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Go give your bank a hug right now because you don’t appreciate it nearly enough. I didn’t either until I abandoned our banking system for the expensive mattresses that pass here for banks. They charge for everything!
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Consumerist Posts!