I Quit My 9 to 5 Job to Travel (And It Didn’t Solve All of My Problems)

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daniel miserable on a beach

Around four years ago today, I was sitting in an office, staring out the window, dreaming of travel. I’d finished university a few years earlier and instead of continuing to chase my passions, I had stayed put. I was trapped like a deer in the headlights of life. Paralysed and unable to do anything.

My friends all seemed to have gone on to better things. But me? I still lived with my parents, moving between menial jobs, doing not a lot of anything. Just sitting in an office day-by-day. Staring out that window. Dreaming. [Read more…]

Are You a Passionate Person?

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fireworks exploding
If I had to describe myself with a word, it would be, “Meh.” A word for somebody with passion, “Woohoo!” I think of them running through life. A person full of energy, grabbing the world with both hands and shaking it.

By comparison, I plod along, not wanting to grab anything. When I rush it’s only because I’m afraid of being late. [Read more…]

Is Finding Yourself Through Travel for Idiots?

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Man meditating at sunsetTravel, eventually, turns everybody into an insufferable prick. Maybe at home you are the most level-headed person in the world without the tiniest shred of pretension. But spend a long enough time away and it will happen. You will turn into one of those people. You know the type I’m talking about. The people who “find themselves.”

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Our First Week in Australia (On A Working Holiday)

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Bike rentals in Melbourne, Australia CBD.
Around a week ago now, our plane took off from Christchurch and we watched as New Zealand disappeared beneath our feet.

After our 11 months in New Zealand, it started to feel a lot like home. However, it seemed like we had explored it all and that it had no more secrets. Like an on old lover, we’d gone through the honeymoon phase and were now completely in the comfort phase. We’d stopped trying so hard to explore the country, preferring to spend our days sitting in our pjyamas with it, being lazy.

We learnt to love New Zealand in the end, but as so often happens we found ourselves falling into a dull routine. It was about the right time to head to Australia. I don’t know if we’ll ever go back to New Zealand, does it have any more to offer us? Maybe we’ll miss it in future on lonely nights. Homesick for a place that’s not even our home.

Now we find ourselves in Australia. A new place. A new home?

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Nature Tours on the Otago Peninsula

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sunset from taiaroa head

After weeks spent in rural towns, Dunedin came as a bit of a shock. It seems like most places on New Zealand’s South Island are barely big enough to qualify as towns, let alone cities. So coming into a big city like Dunedin is a bit of an eye-opener.

At night the stars no longer shine, the city lights too bright. The rolling green fields vanish, replaced with wooden houses on tidy streets. The buildings grow upwards, looming over you, covering the sky. For once you’re in a place where people out number the sheep.

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Milford Sound – One of New Zealand’s Biggest Disappointments?

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mitre peak milford sound

The more popular something is, the less inclined I am to enjoy it. Maybe I’ve always been a hipster at heart. Snorting with derision at anything popular. Or maybe I can never be satisfied by something with high expectations.

Expectations were the reason I couldn’t really enjoy Milford Sound. [Read more…]

Getting Annoyed by Tourists at Lake Tekapo

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view of lake tekapo from mount john

It seems to be a general rule on New Zealand’s South Island, that the further South you get, the more tourists there are. Or rather, the closer you get to a location from the Lord of the Rings, the greater the amount of people you’ll see. Either way, as you travel south the amount of tourists continues to grow.

We got our first real taste of the negative energy of other tourists when we found ourselves in Lake Tekapo early one afternoon. With its turquoise blue water, hemmed in by mountains on almost all sides, Lake Tekapo is an obvious lure for tourists. Add to that the fact that it’s slap bang in the middle of a dark sky reserve – perfect for star watching – and it’s almost too much to resist.

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The Things I Forgot to Bring to South Korea

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Eating bingsu in Korea.
A bowl of Korean bibimbap.
A sweet Korean pancake called a hotteok.
Fried chicken snack found in Korea.

There are plenty of forums on the Internet discussing the things one must bring to Korea as an expat. Surprisingly most people never seem to mention the following to others: a passport, an open mind, and a Korean phrasebook.

Instead, they usually mention things like peanut butter or spices or shoes, especially if you have a big feet. I initially scoffed at these people. You’re in a new country! Why not experience the products, food, and other (possibly weird) customs the country has to offer?

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One Year in a Hagwon: The Student From Hell

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cute korean kinder hagwon student

To understand the problems of a hagwon, you must first understand the impossibility of teaching in one.

In a hagwon, the teachers wield less power than the children. When an especially bad child comes along they can make your life unbearable. These are more than just children, they’re the babies of Satan. The worst I ever taught was a girl named Serah.

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