Ask Your U.S. House Rep to Support Study Abroad!

I saw this on Facebook today (it’s not just all lame love surveys and links to YouTube):

On Wednesday, May 20, the House Foreign Relations Committee passed H.R. 2410, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act.  While the bill’s primary purpose is to authorize funding for the operations of the U.S. Department of State, it also includes innovative programs that are critical to accomplishing U.S. foreign policy and public diplomacy goals.

 

The legislation is expected to go to the House floor for a vote as early as the first week of June.  We need your help!  Please take a few minutes to send a letter to your Representative urging him/her to vote “YES” to H.R. 2410 when it comes up on the House Floor.  After you send your letter, be sure to share this letter writing opportunity with your colleagues, students, friends and family.  Thank you!

Highlights of this legislation include:

• Establishing the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation, which will dramatically increase participation in study abroad, ensure that such experiences are universally available to U.S. students from all backgrounds, and emphasize study abroad in non-traditional locations, such as developing countries
•  Doubling the size of the Peace Corps
• Increasing funding for educational and cultural exchange programs to $633,243,000 for Fiscal Year (FY) 2010, and “such sums as may be necessary” for FY 2011
• Creating educational exchange programs to provide scholarships to students from various regions of the world to study in the U.S.

Visit NAFSA, the Association of International Educators, to send an email to your Representative asking him or her to support this legislation.

Viva Las Vegas: Student Travel at Its Cheesiest (and Most Fun)

Yar! Vegas is a great place to shiver your timbers. Whatever that means.

My favorite travel writers are the ones who get off the beaten path and come upon unexpected adventures. I aspire to be a more flexible, spontaneous traveler, even though it means trying to tame the ultra-organized planner side of myself.

It’s because I want to avoid predictable experiences that when I travel, I try to avoid American fast food and eat what the locals eat. I try to see the historical sights and pass on the really gimmicky tourist traps.

But what happens when what the locals eat is American fast food? Or when a whole city is nothing but gimmicky tourist traps?

That’s what I had to think about on my last trip to Las Vegas, where my friend, Canadian Chris, and I celebrated his birthday. It’s not a city with a deep, rich history. Sure, the gangster stuff is interesting, but it’s no Istanbul or Cuzco. And there is no unbeaten path in Vegas, there’s just the Strip. But what a Strip it is.

The whole point of Vegas is to overindulge in everything – food, gambling, entertainment – and go home broke and bloated. In other words, there’s really no classy way to do Vegas, and even if there is, why would you?

Vegas left me with no choice: I was going to be a tourist instead of a traveler for once.

We started with the buffet at the Wynn and I ate about seven desserts. (Good, but I think the Bellagio is better.) We shopped in Planet Hollywood, gambled in Paris and grabbed a snack at the MGM.

Spike meets Sinatra.

We went to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum at the Venetian and I took pictures with Johnny Depp and Elvis. I got out Spike the Rhino and took pictures of him with almost everybody. He really likes to have new things to add to his photo album.

We watched the fountains in front of the Bellagio, had drinks and enjoyed some live music at the Nine Fine Irishmen in New York, New York and caught the trashy pirate show at Treasure Island / TI.

Most importantly, we had fun. Without having a guidebook and a must-see list, we were able to wander around and enjoy being in Vegas, instead of worrying about what we might be missing out on. It’s the kind of travel attitude that I think I need more of, and hope to practice soon.

Viva Las Vegas!

Happy Birthday Travel CUTS and Hostelling International

I want a ride in this cake hot air balloon for my birthday. (Skychariot.com)

Looks like this is a big year in travel birthdays, or anniversaries if you think that’s a little classier. (Birthday cake is usually better though, so I’ll stick with that.)

Travel CUTS turns 40 this year, and doesn’t have a single grey hair. They’ve probably managed to stay young and cool through their 50 locations near colleges and universities in Canada and the US.

Do you know what the CUTS stands for? Because they’re not just shouting at you. It’s the Canadian University Travel Services.

Travel CUTS is co-owned by the Canadian Federation of Students and
the Canadian Student Horizons Group. Student ownership means that
the money CUTS earns helps to fund new and innovative student products
and services.

Celebrate the big 4-0 with one of CUTS’ deals on a Contiki tour, rail pass or other student travel discounts. 

Hostelling International is doing lots to celebrate their 100th birthday, including a contest to offer you 100 Days Down Under. The winner will get a trip to Australia, including 100 free nights in YHAs across the country.

And yes, Australia has really good birthday cake, too.

 

The Travel Version of “Would You Rather?”

My friend over at The Adventure Travel Company blog just posed this question to his readers:

“If you were given the choice between a 60” high definition plasma flat panel television with Dolby Surround Sound or a luxury two-week South African safari with private guide, which would you choose?”

Not a safari, but Taronga Zoo in Sydney has excellent giraffes with big tongues.

Since most of us aren’t in the position to purchase either right now it might be easy to say that of course we would take the safari. (If you chose the TV, maybe you should be reading this blog instead.)

But one of the points he makes is that it’s not just a choice between one big purchase or one amazing vacation. Even if you manage to save small – a few dollars a week – it adds up fast, so that this time next year, a safari might be something you could afford.

Money adds up fast the other way too. Eating dinner out instead of cooking at home, buying CDs and DVDs, stopping for a morning latte a few times a week – all of these things pick away at money that you could be saving to fund the trip of a lifetime.

So, would you rather invite friends over to watch a move once a week and spend next Spring Break in Costa Rica, or go out to a movie and buy popcorn and soda that you won’t remember a week later?
 

New Zealand Travel Guide: Last Night in Auckland

The Auckland Skyline

Finally, the Magic Bus dropped me off for the last time, in Auckland. This time I chose to stay at Base Backpackers. It’s in a really good central location, close to the main street for shopping, and only a block or so from the bus that goes to the airport.

Stewart, one of the guys who I met on the bus the day before, was staying there so I had someone to hang with, and we planned to meet up with another guy from our bus later that evening for drinks at Base’s Globe Bar.

A few notes about Base hostels: They deliver what I consider to be one of the true student backpacker experiences. They’re big, so you’re bound to meet people from all over the world. They have all the necessities and a few nice-to-haves: laundry, TV or movie room, Internet access and wi-fi, clean bathrooms, an in-house bar, and sometimes a pool or spa.

The downside is that the dorm rooms are more like zoos. The rooms are pretty small spaces packed with bunk beds, so there’s no such thing as personal space, or even a hook to hang your towel on. I opted for one of the all-girl Sanctuary rooms, and that was an improvement, but if you’ve reached a point in your travels where you really need a little room to breathe, this might not be the place for you. It made me really miss the Wellington YHA. 

I only had one last night though, so I didn’t need luxury, just a place to sleep. And I do like being able to drink just two floors down from my room so that I don’t have to worry about how to get home.

I made my way to the bar to meet Stewart before dinner and it was pretty empty. I picked out a table and sipped whatever pink drink in a bottle the bartender had given me while I waited for my evening to get going. Almost right away, a guy sitting at the table next to me turned around and smiled. I smiled back, because it’s only polite, and he was gorgeous.

Then then asked if I wanted some company. There’s only one answer I give to a stunning stranger who wants to sit with me: “Yes, please.”

So this guy, who I’ll just call Hot Kiwi Guy, sits down and I instantly think, “Why couldn’t I have met this guy a few days ago?” He was perfect. Sweet, funny, clever, great accent, brilliant smile, exactly the kind of guy I always hope to meet when I’m traveling. He had just flown in from Adelaide, where he was living and working, and was on his way home, to the Bay of Islands, to go to a friend’s wedding.

I asked what he was doing in a hostel bar if he was headed home and he said he used to work at the hostel and decided to come in and have a drink while waiting for friends to pick him up. They were on their way. Would arrive any minute now. Just in time to interrupt our fun.

Awesome.

I told him where I had been, we talked about Australia for a while, he told me about his hitchhiking experiences in New Zealand, and I was just about ready to ask if maybe he wanted to keep his bags packed and fly to San Francisco with me the next day when his friends showed up. Figures they would be punctual. Where’s a good traffic jam when you need one? 

They were very nice, but parked illegally, and in a hurry to leave. So Hot Kiwi Guy and I gave each other a wow-this-sucks-I-wish-we-had-more-time look, and said goodbye, but not before I gave him one of my nifty traveling cards with my name and email address on it.

It was a bittersweet ending to my trip, finding someone who I really wanted to have more time with just when I didn’t have any more time left. But it also gives me another reason to keep traveling. If there’s one perfect Hot Kiwi Guy out there, then there are probably more.

The rest of the night was still good, hanging out with my Magic Bus friends, taking advantage of the cheap drinks and dancing to the loud music that started out all 80s, then went Top 40, then techno and hip hop as the night went on.

It always amazes me that I can arrive in a city in the morning not knowing anyone, and feel like I’ve made good friends by the end of the night. It’s a good thing to remember on those days when I feel a little lonely. It only takes one meal, one bus ride, or one chat about the worst hostel you’ve stayed in to make a friend. And every friend I make equals another place I have to stay, another local tour guide I’ll have when I go traveling again.

Next up: I haven’t decided yet. Ideas on where my next trip should be? Leave a comment.

 

Mitch Moffit Sings About Not Getting the Best Job in the World

A while ago I wrote about the “Best Job in the World” contest being held by the Queensland tourism folks (that’s Queensland, Australia).

The winner was announced this week (congrats, Ben - I’ll keep an eye out for my invite to visit), which means thousands of other people found out they were losers.

One of those losers was Mitch Moffit, from Canada. Not only does Mitch not have the best job in the world, he apparently has no job. Bummer, Mitch.

What Mitch does have is a knack for music and humor, a combination that I would expect to score him a prime gig with Joss Whedon. For now though, check out his song to Australia, with a nod to his mapleicious homeland.

New Zealand Travel Guide: Paihia to Auckland

Back on the Magic Bus

The drive out of Paihia was really lovely and our Magic Bus driver stopped to let us take some photos from a lookout over the bay. We also took a quick look in the Hokianga Historical Society to watch a video about Opo the Dolphin.

Opo swam into the bay in 1955 and created a tourism boom as news spread that there was a dolphin there who did tricks, played with children and would let people swim with or ride him.

The video shows Opo making everyone happy (except for the little girl whose ball he takes to bounce on his nose), and leaves you feeling like you really missed out by not living in this simpler time when everyone was kind and happy and could be entertained for hours by a dolphin with a ball. I gave a $2 donation because the elderly woman who started the VCR for us seemed very hopeful that we would get out our wallets, and because the video of the playful Opo put me in a pretty good mood.

Welcome to Opononi, home of the murdered dolphin.

Then our driver told us that what the video left out. Opo was found dead after just a few months, possibly killed by a local who was sick of all the traffic and crowds the dolphin caused.

Yeah. Kind of a downer.

There was one more stop on the way to Auckland, to see Tane Mahuta, the tallest kauri tree in New Zeland. I had really hoped to have an extra night at the end of my trip to do the Footprints of Waipoua trip, where you go into the forest after dark to see the trees. It’s one of Lonely Planet’s “Code Green – Experiences of a Lifetims” and I read nothing but good things about it.

Tane Mahuta would have been the greatest Ent ever.

Luckily the Magic Bus includes the forest as a stop, and while I don’t think it’s quite as moving as seeing it at night, at 51 meters tall and more than 1200 years old, Tane Mahuta is still damn impressive during the day. Our Magic driver told us that before the forest became a sanctuary in 1952, many of these trees were cut down. Because of their size they were difficult to move, and some ended up at the bottom of rivers and lakes, too big to float downstream to the logging plants.

First the death of Opo, then the pointless slaughter of these majestic trees. This really wasn’t the happiest day of the Magic tour. Maybe going back to the big city wasn’t such a bad idea.

Next: I meet a Hot Kiwi Guy, then leave the country.

 

New Zealand Travel Guide: Paihia, Bay of Islands

We're not in Auckland anymore.

Flying back to New Zealand from Sydney, I thought about all the things I wanted to do in my last few days before going home. I had to go back to Cuba Street and shop, spend a little more time in the Botanic Gardens and maybe have another look around Te Papa.

Then I realized that all of those things were in Wellington. I was flying back to Auckland.

Hmmm.

Leaving Paihia behind to look for dolphins and big holes.

For the rest of the flight I kept telling myself that I was going to Auckland, but pictures of Wellington kept popping into my head. Unfortunately, it was too late, mid-flight, to change my destination.

Luckily, I only had one night in Auckland before getting back on the Magic Bus (woo hoo!) and heading north to the Bay of Islands. And thank goodness for that. I stayed at the International YHA and it was one of the most miserable nights of my trip. Noisy, dirty and uncomfortable, I was up even earlier than I needed to be just so I could pack up and get out of there.

I only had two and a half days left in New Zealand, so although I would have loved to go all the way to the north tip of the North Island and gone sandboarding at Cape Reinga, I only had time to make a trip to Paihia and back. Not that there’s anything disappointing about Paihia.

In fact, there were five English guys in my dorm room at base backpackers, and they’d been in Paihia for four days, swimming, playing volleyball, and just hanging out with other travelers. They said they’d meant to only stay a day and then go further north, but they were having such a good time catching up on sleep during the day and hanging out at the Pipi Patch bar late into the night, they just never got around to leaving.

There are the dolphins.

When they all came into the room after dinner, I assumed they were on their way back out again and would stumble in drunk around 3:00 a.m., obnoxiously waking everyone up. So it was a big surprise when, after chatting with everyone in the room for a couple of hours, one of them said, “It’s 11:00, should we get to bed?” Then they all brushed their teeth, got into their bunks, said goodnight, and turned out the lights.

I suppose even the most hardcore English pub boys need a good night’s sleep every now and then.

After Sydney and Auckland, it was a nice change to be in a small town. Paihia has two main roads, a handful of shops, a row of hostels, pubs and restaurants, and tons of activity providers.

And there's the big hole.

If you want to relax, try a cruise out to the Hole in the Rock. I did the Fullers tour and was shocked at how many dolphins we saw on the trip. They weren’t just swimming around, these little attention-seeking dolphins jumped and flipped and seemed to love having an audience.

You can also swim with the dolphins, go for a sail in a tall ship, or do a kayaking tour into the bay. To learn more about the region’s wild past, hop the ferry over to the town of Russell, New Zealand’s first capital.

Next: Time’s up! Back to Auckland.

Build a Travel Wish List on Amazon

Amazon is so freaking cool.

They have a new feature called the Universal Wish List. You download a button/link to your browser, and then use it to add items to your Amazon wish list from anywhere on the web.

This is perfect for a student traveler! Going to Costa Rica for Spring Break? Studying abroad for a semester? Well now you can create your travel wish list and put everything from your rail pass to your ISIC to your guidebooks and new luggage on it. Too easy!

Follow Amazon’s quick instructions to add the Universal Wish List to your browser, then shop lots of different sites but send your family just one list to shop from. Here’s how it looks when I add a Eurostar pass to my list from TravelCUTS.com:

If grandma doesn’t want to write you a check (because you’ll just throw it all away on junk food and beer), but she does want to help you take your dream trip, creating a list will help her to see what you need and how well you’ve planned for your adventure.

Just don’t tell her how much junk food and beer you have while you’re away.

Australia Travel Guide: Two Days in Sydney

Elizabeth enjoys breakfast by the Harbour Bridge

How to do Sydney properly:

First, get Bill Bryson’s brilliant book, Down Under (also published under the title In a Sunburnt Country). It’s not a guide to help you decide where to stay or eat, but it will help you get to know Australia, including all the bitey things that can kill you here. His hilarious explanation of cricket alone is worth the price of the book.

Next, stay in Sydney for at least three months, preferebly six or more so that you can enjoy Spring and Summer.

No, that doesn’t help you much if you really only have a few days, but at least think about it. My first trip to Sydney was as a student ambassador with People to People. We spent a couple of days there, then spent three weeks going up the coast, but it was enough to make me want to go back.  So much so that when I had the opportunity, between jobs after college, I got a working holiday visa and spent three months in Sydney and another three months traveling around.

Fondue for two at Max Brenner on Oxford Street

That still wasn’t enough, so I applied to the University of New South Wales and spent a year living in Sydney and earning a Master’s in English. So yes, I really love it here.

Knowing how much Sydney has to offer, it’s really difficult for me to narrow it down to just two or three days of sightseeing. But that’s what I did for my friend, Elizabeth, who came to Sydney with me from Christchurch, and if that’s all the time you have, here’s what I recommend:

Sydney Opera House

The Opera House at Circular Quay- Sometimes, when you see something in person after seeing it in books and movies your whole life, it doesn’t quite live up to expectations. The Mona Lisa, for example, made me say, “Sooo… that’s it? Kinda small, isn’t she?”

The Opera House is not one of those things. With any luck you’ll get to see it on one of Sydney’s sunny, sparkling days. Aside from the strange beauty of the building itself, you have the charming Harbour Bridge as a neighbor, and a bay full of ferries and other boats surrounding it. I love to grab a drink or an ice cream and sit and watch the whole scene.

Royal Botanic Gardens- Right next to the Opera House, the Gardens are a wonderful place to get lost in with a book, some postcards, or a picnic. Walk out to Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair for another view of the Opera House.

Luna Park (North Sydney) – You can hop a ferry over to North Sydney, or walk over the Harbour Bridge. Even if you don’t want to play any games or try the rides, the view of Sydney from here is worth the trip. Check the ferry schedulesand from here you can also get to Taronga Zoo,  Balmain or other suburbs worth checking out.

The Rocks – This is the oldest part of Sydney, just across from the Opera House. The Museum of Contemporary Art is here (and it’s free), and there’s an outdoor market that’s fun to walk around. Some of the pubs here have been around for more than 100 years and are a great place to start a night out.

Darling Harbour

Darling Harbour- This area got a nice polish when the Olympics came to town in 2000 and it’s still a great place to catch a cultural festival or an IMAX film, shop, eat, go to the Japanese Gardens or hands-on Powerhouse Museum, and enjoy the nightlife, as you might have seen when MTV’s Real World called this place home. Some of the city’s coolest bars are around here (pontoon, Bungalow 8, Cargo Bar), so dress to impress and don’t expect to find any happy hour deals. 

Oxford Street – This is where you’ll find most of Sydney’s gay bars, as well as boutiques, cafes and my favorite place, Max Brenner’s Chocolate Cafe. (Try the fondue for two, even if there’s just one of you.) Every night feels like a weekend here, so bring your best dancing shoes.

Bondi Beach- If you only have time for one trip to the beach, Bondi is where everyone goes. There are lots of cafes and shops on the main strip and plenty of hostels if you want to be just a few steps from the sand.

Playing on Bondi Beach

Coogee- You can avoid some of the crowds, and a lot of the English backpackers, by choosing Coogee beach over Bondi. Or, do the Bondi to Coogee walk and see all of the beaches in between.

Weekend Markets- If you’re around on the weekend, head to Glebe, Manly, Paddington or the Rocks to shop for handmade goods, arts and crafts and souvenirs. There are also lots of food options for lunch.

Nightlife- Everywhere. Backpacker bars can be found on Queen Street (Scruffy Murphy’s is infamous), but if you want to go where the locals go, try the more low key scene in Newtown (Marlbourough Hotel, the Bank) or Surry Hills. A few streets over from trendy Darling Harbour, on Pitt Street, try Art House.

Next: Back to New Zealand and the Bay of Islands