Auckland, New Zealand; January 2011

Aimee thinks thoughts like this:

Celebrating New Years Eve 30,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean was definitely a first for us; one of hundreds of firsts that will take place on this 6 month adventure of a lifetime. I had been anticipating landing in Auckland, New Zealand for months, worrying about the flight, worrying about money, worrying about poisonous spiders and snakes, worrying… about anything (if you know me well enough you also know “worry” is my middle name; something I wouldn’t mind shedding while here) and now that it has finally happened, and we have landed safely without any engine problems, checked into (and already slept over a couple nights) in the first hostel I’ve ever stepped foot into, and toured the city of Auckland once over, here are just a few insights into where and how my brain is currently operating:

1. Air New Zealand should monopolize and take over the entire airline industry, and rename themselves Air Awesomeness (and fly us to other places besides just NZ.) Being consistently watered with cool, lemony water and tasty New Zealand wines, hearing oneself say, “Mmmm!” when eating airline food, finding a huge selection of really great movies to watch and reveling in a champagne celebration at midnight, all make for one of my best flying experiences yet. I suspect Jim Beam and our super friendly and fun, aisle seat-neighbor may also have had something to do with it….

2. If everyone were as friendly, helpful and down to earth as a Kiwi, there very well could be something really close to possibly resembling peace on earth; hey, that’s a tough one to accomplish, peace on earth…. I’m confident these guys could nearly see it through.

3. The weather in Heaven is most likely that of the weather we’re currently experiencing here in NZ, and while I’m at it, the aroma we walk out of our door into everyday is probably similar to the scent wafting through the bars of the Pearly Gates….. ie. it’s bliss. The flora and fauna here is so incredibly diverse and absolutely, positively enchanting.

4. Hostels actually DON’T equal dirty, bed bug ridden hovels that sleep only thieves and murderers (this is for those who asked me if I had seen the movie Hostel, when I’d mention we’d be sleeping in a hostel when we first arrived.) :D We’ve been fortunate to have our own room to ourselves here in Auckland, but as of this evening we will be in a four bedroom dorm share, so we’ll see how that goes…. it could suck, but so would sleeping on a sidewalk. So far hosteling is just another great way to meet super cool people from all over the world, in a setting that feels similar to what living in a hippie commune must feel like, but with a lot less pot.

5. The internet and netbooks: almighty gratitude for being able to see my family and friends, live via Skype, the day after I fly over the Pacific, and from an island in the Southern Hemisphere(or what my brother refers to as The Moon) yet deep amounts of frustration when we try to upload a single picture onto the blog and it takes a day and a half, depending on bandwith availability and how much the netbook wants to cooperate. Part of why I decided to venture on this journey was to slow life down for a while, and unplug…. therefore, the inability to connect whenever I want is actually a gift…. a gift that I half appreciate, and half want to re-gift to someone else.

6. Hooray for amazingly beautiful and FREE museums that exhibit incredible artifacts and superb information on the indigenous people and natural beauty of this culture and region of the world and BOO, again, whitey, for pi$$ing all over it. Awesome museum though; anytime you’re in the Auckland region, I highly recommend Auckland Museum, not to mention the stunning grounds it sits upon.

7. Having a travel companion who is kind and good and smart and loving and so incredibly considerate, and makes you laugh and think and learn about yourself and the world around you, and knows a CRAPload about plants and flowers, is a very good thing indeed.

8. It looks as if we may skydive for our birthdays (both March/Pisces babies); prepare yourself, parentals!

9. Being this far from my family and friends is just about the most difficult thing for me on this journey; it isn’t sharing a bathroom with 30 other people or riding hours upon hours on buses or hauling my life that weighs over 50 lbs. around on my back and trying to maneuver this way and that on sidewalks and on buses and trying to find the tickets for this or a 2 dollar coin for that while balancing everything just so in order to not throw my back out or fall over…. and the gift from being so far from you all is the profound realization of how incredibly fortunate I am to have every, single one of you in my life.Of course, I already knew that….

10. “I am tired, I am true of heart. You are tired, you are true of heart.” Dave Eggers

    Everything I think I know now about travel and hostels and life and Dave and Kiwis and myself, etc. on Day 3 of this trip will change and morph and become better and worse and indifferent along the way, but what will always remain the same is, deep down, how much I absolutely love doing this. No matter how many times I’ve been called crazy in my life (which 99.9% of the time is taken as a compliment, and is usually followed up with, “But in a good way!”), no matter how ludicrous it may have seemed to have gotten my Masters in Education and then moved to NYC out of the blue to be a nanny, only to have then turned around two years later and quit a well paying job that provided me with health insurance, paid vacation and a daily routine that I never once dreaded walking into each morning, and no matter how it may appear that I’m flaky or flighty or without direction (okay I might be a little flighty; we’re all a work in progress though aren’t we?) at the end of the day, I can lay my head down on my pillow and go to sleep knowing that no matter what, I am true to who I am and will follow my heart wherever it takes me. I encourage each and every one of you to do the same; follow your heart, no matter how crazy your decisions may seem, or how “impossible” it may appear to be; nothing is impossible when you want it badly enough. And when you have a passion, or an itch to do something, anything, whether it’s dance the tango in Argentina, or start an herb garden in your backyard, or paint a wall in your home a color nobody else would, or quit your job and travel to New Zealand and Australia, go ahead and scratch that itch, see where it leads to, because I can guarantee, when your dreams do manifest and become real, right in front of your eyes, it’s the best (expletive) feeling in the world.