Travelling New Zealand

At the moment my life is all about my studies and my return to New Zealand. However, the last one is causing some sleepless nights... 

It is 11pm and I'm in bed, I want to go to sleep but there is this little person running around in my head, bouncing. It keeps releasing opportunities, challenges and difficulties of where to go, what to do and how to do it. 

For the lucky ones that already had the opportunity to travel to this beautiful country, they may know how hard it is to stay at one place in New Zealand. It may seem so small when you have a look at a map of the world, but, believe me, it's huge! There is so much to see, so much to do and I want to see it all again, and on a (very) low budget :) The plans I made, or had to made, already changed numerous times and I really don't know anymore why I should have a plan before I go.

Why do people like to plan everything before they start travelling, why not just go and see how everything will be. By doing so you keep yourself from being disappointed and sad. As I wrote in my previous post, people are not fond of uncertainties, we like to plan and avoid the unexpected. I wanted to think I'm different but can't fool myself anymore. I am like this, I am a (little) Dutch 'control freak'.... and I'm not amused by it! 

So, on the 15th of December I will fly back to my favourite country, I will get on a plane with a max. of 15kg luggage, fly for 30 hours and be happy! Whatever comes after that I will see there... 

Hoilday Expectations

'When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable' - Clifton Fadiman

I like surprises, I like to travel to the unknown. In September I visited my friend in Thailand after an amazing winter in New Zealand. Totally unprepared. The only thing I was sure about was my flight. And you know what? I like to be in situations like this. However, this is not true for the majority of the European population.

Before we go on a holiday we want to know every single detail. We feel it is necessary to plan our trip by the minute. We expect to know how the weather is going to be and are frustrated or disappointed when the weather God decides to throw around his schedule. Google is doing over hours in order to provide us with the latest images of the accommodation, restaurant, beach, the palm trees and the colour of the water. YouTube shows us beautiful videos of the destination or resort we are planning to go to. Trip Advisor gives us the possibility to read the opinions of previous visitors, however, we only tend to check the negative reviews. 

Isn't it sad that 'bad' weather could possibly spoil the holiday feeling? I believe holiday is an experience, a feeling, and this is going to be as perfect as I will make it.  The weather, the accommodation or the activities can only increase my happiness but will never be the main reason for it. The disappointment which arrises when the pictures on the website differ from the real thing is amazing to me. How could snow possibly influence your skiing holiday in a negative way, and believe me, people are moaning about this. Of course going on an holiday costs a lot of money and we want to have the best of it. Although, I think we start to expect too much.

If we stop having these high expectations and 'go with the flow' a bit more, holidays could actually be fun again. Sometimes we have to live with these uncertainties in order to keep us from being disappointed. We could do that 20 years ago, why shouldn't we be able to do that again?