As I'd anticipated, my appetite for travel has only increased, and I'm already working out a way to travel more when I graduate. However, New Zealand has planted a desire for a specific type of travel; In many ways, immersion is required to really understand a place. Half of the things worth doing aren't on the tourist maps. Following the advice and invitations of locals will land you in situations and places that will really open your eyes. Travel should be about more than simply skimming the surface of what appears exotic, feasting your eyes on pretty sights marked in maps, then returning to your hotel room. At least, I think so.
New Zealand was a beautiful country, with an interesting culture, but it was also a lifestyle. New Zealand was home, it was international potlucks, Maori street names I struggled to pronounce, flat parties, nights with my mates at the pubs, running in the rain, getting lost on roadtrips, the strange and interesting people in hostels, the comfy beds in the phare nui where I studied Maori waiatas, Hells Pizza, Tui, and just generally sweet as.
Cheers, haere ra, and farwell for now!
