I C E L A N D

May 18, 2018

Where in the world is Juli Polise? I just finished and EVENTFUL 7 days in Iceland and here is everything that i did. The week was full of laughs, sceneray, horses, beaches, mountains, bumble, and more...... May 12, 2018 - Reykjavik, Iceland

The first day of traveling is historically the longest day of my life every single time. Boarding our flight from JFK at 9 and arriving in Iceland at 6:45am, meant only 5 hours of flying with only a few hours of actual sleep. But, we arrived nonetheless and went through the most BEAUTIFUL airport ever. The design was immaculate, the wayfinding system was so communicative and effective, my designer brain was so thrilled.

After experiencing the most wonderful airport, it was time to get our rental car and as we waited we met a Grandma, who’s name I never caught, with an adorable little baby who was almost one year old. We started chatting as we were waiting and the grandma had a thick russian accent and was very friendly, asking what we were doing and telling us to put our coats on before we go outside.

From there we got our rental car, where the guy helping us get the rental car saw my NJ driver’s license and looked up at me and said “ey Jersey, I’m from there too”. Turns out he grew up in Moorestown, NJ, came to Iceland for youth ministry, then went to college in Alabama where he met his wife who was Icelandic, they got married and decided to move back to Iceland when the had kids. Let me tell you, his appearance did not match this description, he looked like a backup guido on the Jersey Shore.

We get in our car, which is a manual transmission (whoops on my part for booking the wrong type of car) but luckily, thanks to Helen and Tom Polise, I was taught stick shift and this problem wasn’t so much a problem. However, my skills were a bit rusty and I stalled a few times on the way out, but finally got the hang of it by the bigger roads.

We got into Reykjavik around 8:45 and it literally felt like the afternoon since we have already had a day and a half. We paid $20 for probably the worst, most bland breakfast of my entire life at the hostel we are staying at, it looks WAYY better than it tastes. But our hostel is pretty damn cool.

After that, we decided to walk around the town and see what was up. It’s pretty small but its really cute, with tiny shops lining the cobblestone streets. At the top of the hill was a church, the main architectural piece of the town. We kept walking around, grabbed some rip off coffee (we now have extremely low expectations for food + drinks).

Next, I decided to embrace the lifestyle of an Icelandic mother and I drove to drop Kristen off at horseback riding! I decided to opt out of horseback riding cause I dont really like horses and yeah I went and took a 20 minute nap and checked into our hostel.

The rest of the night flew by, we showered, got dinner at a vegan restaurant, then went grocery shopping in preparation of the beginning of our road trip around the island. Now I am writing this from our hostel were it is 9pm and still daylight out cause FUN FACT there’s only 4 hours of nighttime during the spring/summer season in Iceland, so shout out to black out curtains for simulating nighttime for us tonight.

May 13, 2018 - Water Water Water

After sleeping like absolute rocks, we woke up ready to take on the day. We made some oatmeal and hit the road and were off. Immediately we were stunned by the natural beauty outside the city and were excited to see what was to come.

Our first stop was a waterfall, the Seljandafoss Waterfall. It was this massive waterfall that fell off the side of a mountain cliff, and the best part was that there was a path that let you walk all the way around to the backside of it, which, of course, we did. It was super fun going around and getting close, the water was splashing so loudly and of course splashing us that we ended up being completely drenched by the end of the 10 minute walk.

To dry off we walked further down towards two smaller waterfalls in the sunshine, they were not as massive or accessible like the first, but they were still extremely cool. We got back on the road to hit our second waterfall of the day, but before we did that we stopped off to see some horses. But as we got out, the barn people (idk the proper terminology) were beginning to herd the horses to another location and we were stuck in the middle of a giant horse herd going down the highway. It was pretty surreal driving alongside the icelandic ponies.

Then we hit our second waterfall of the day, Skogafoss. It was equally as giant, but no path to get around. But that didn’t stop me, I just went right up underneath it to get the true experience. In the end, I got even more drenched but it was totally worth it.

From there we were supposed to go see a plane crash, but as we were about to start the walk, Kristen read the sign and it said to see a freakin plane it was a 2-3 hour walk. For a crashed plane? No thank you, on to the next stop.

Then we hit Dryholee, they are cliffs of the black sand beaches were next and we layered TF up because it was windy as HELLLL. Legit the wind is so strong the doors of cars can be blown off (as per our rental car guy told us - holla NJ). But it was extremely pretty looking over the black sand and seeing the giant waves crashing, so naturally our next stop was to go onto the beaches, Reynisfjara. Again, extremely windy even down there, but the beach was cool and the sand was black, but mostly it was just giant stones. So i grabbed a few for capn tom driftwood designs.

We were close to a big town, Vik, so we headed there for dinner and found the cutest little place that SHOCKED us with amazing food called, Halldorskaffi. I got a burger, cause I just needed it and Kristen got a salad and some lamb, and we finished the meal with a meringue cake that was DELISH.

Our last and final stop of the day was the Seljavallalug Swimming Pool. This was recommended to us by Conrad, and it was a 20 minute hike and we were walking for what seemed like forever before we hit a concrete pool that was nooked into the side of the mountain. There were changing sheds, so we shed allllllllll our layers in this janky shed. It was comical, Kristen and I were trying to not hit the ground but we kept dropping our clothes and boy oh boy, the experience only got more crazy.

We head to the pool and got it, in was warm like bathwater BUT, the ENTIRE GROUND AND WALLS OF THIS POOL WERE COVERED IN ALGAE. It felt not super pleasant to be honest, but the scenery was insane so it was worth it, but as you can tell from some of our faces, it was a lil gross. So we only lasted probably 20 minutes before we head to dry off and head back down the hike.

Luckily our hotel was on the same little road near the swimming pool and it was beautiful. It was again, another tucked away place and it was super nice inside. We were going to go in the hot tub, but we felt like we needed to wash off all the algae off all the nooks and crannies of our bodies. We were pooped from the day, because at this point it was 11:30pm by the time we finished showering and even though it was still light we PTFO-ed.

May 14, 2018 - Sun Chasers and Birthdays

After getting solid rest after a hectic day, it was time for another adventurous day AND it was Kristen’s birthday! So we headed to our main stop of the day which was Skaftafell National Park for a hike and we saw some amazing views on the way!

When we got there it was rainy and gross and we could see the sunshine, but it looked like we just missed it. So we sadly ate our lunch of bananas and PB+J and waited out the weather. Within 15 minutes the rain had let up! It was still a small drizzle but we were tough enough to face it, so we went along with our walk to the Skaftafellsjokull glacier. It was a pretty easy hike, nice and flat but quite long to get out to the glacier, but once we did we were the only ones out there. The glacier was insane, surreal even, and after we were done being in awe, we collected some water from the river to drink and it was the best damn water I’ve ever had.

We were driving to our next stop when we saw a parking lot full of cars, so we decided to pull off cause that must mean there is something to see. We walked through some gravel hills to discover a beautiful, icy, glacier lagoon! The water was so blue and there were actually icebergs that Kristen and I both referenced the Titantic at the exact same time (shout out to Jonathan for making me watch the Titanic movie 5million times as a child, but only the second VHS when the destruction and chaos happens…..)

Then we were walking back to the car talking about our next planned stop when we realized the glacier lagoon was our planned stop, Jokulsaron, we didnt even realize! So that was comical, and at that point we were only an hour away from the hotel so we just drove our lil booties to Hofn where we are staying at a quaint, posh-ish hotel on the water.

May 15, 2018 - the open road

Today was our first really big long day of driving since we had about 4.5 hours of driving between our starting point and ending point. We were planning to drive through the east fjords of Iceland and then through the mountains to Lake Myvtan. It was aggressive, but we had faith that we could complete it.

The weather was beautiful when we started our day, we made small little stops to take pictures because the scenery was absolutely glistening in the sunlight and was just screaming at us to take pictures and stop. We had fun during one of our stops in the middle of the road (cause it was v barren and empty).

We were driving and so distracted by the views that we passed one of our points of interest by an hour. We were debating going back, but it would have added way too much extra time to our trip, so we kept going which allowed us to come across some unexpected sights. Our first cool, unexpected stop was in Djupivogur since Kristen and I both had to use the bathroom. We found one, and then found a cool grocery store. But the town was adorable! It was a harbor and there were tons of boats and it was just so picturesque. And 15 minutes down the road was a pull off onto the coast to some cliffs and beach, so we stopped there too to take some pictures and explore a bit before continuing on the long drive.

The driving was getting a bit long and tiring, so we had to take a stop and we had a little dance party in front of some extremely temple-esque mountains. It was much needed and beautiful, despite the rain we needed to stretch out a bit. The fjords were long long long thats all I can say, but finally we had come inland to the mountains which were snowcapped and absolutely stunning. They blended right into the clouds and were panoramic, surrounding us on all sides it seemed.

But once we passed the mountain ranges, the inland part of Iceland is pretty barren farmland. We stopped in Austerland for some snacks and were hit with a WALL of MANURE SMELL. IT WAS EVERYWHERE. We were honestly shocked and had to run from our car into the gas station cause it legit was disgusting.

BAck on the road Kristen was looking up directions and she stumbled upon a place called the Mytan Nature Baths. We did a lil research and found out that our hotel was located next to these geothermal baths and immediately we knew we had to go there. Knowing there were baths at the end of our car ride gave us the motivation to finish the last two hours of the car ride, we listened to some comedy and PUSHED THROUGH to the end.

When we finally arrived at the nature baths were were exhausted but excited to relax and unwind, our backs needed it. We had to take showers before we entered, which was reassuring to know that it wouldn’t be gross like colony pool (my chatham peeps will understand this). It was nice and quiet and relaxing and much needed after a long day in the car.

Afterwards, we settled into our nice hotel, had a wonderful dinner where we listened to a british man explain ALLLLL the dating apps to his father at the table next to us. It was quite comical and we had to hold our mouths closed so we weren't audibly laughing at them. If you want to recreate this experience have a young person explain dating apps in a DEAD QUIET dining room to an older person. viola. guaranteed laughs all around. and went to bed.

May 16, 2018 - country roads, take me to my airbnb

Today we had the longest drive ahead of us - 6.5 hours of driving thru mountains and cliffs. After accidentally turning off my alarm this morning, we slept in a little bit before grabbing breakfast and hitting the road.

Our first, and pretty much only substantial stop, of the day was the Godafoss waterfall. Woah. It was huge, from afar I felt like it looked like a smaller version of niagra falls which was pretty cool. We walked around and got to experience the falls, there were even some stairs leading down to the river the waterfall went into and you could legit just climb down there, no signs, no railings, no safety message, clearly we are not in america since I didnt have to sign a waiver before going down these giant stairs.

We hit the gift shop after before embarking on the rest of our journey, which was 5.5 hours, lol yes we made it so far without making a stop…

The rest of the drive was uneventful, the landscape was beautiful but the drive was still long and for the most part rainy. We listened to some comedy to pass the time which helped and suddenly we only had an hour and a half left, but I needed a break, so we stopped for some coffee at an adorable little B&B type in Borgarnes.

This place was so cute, and there was an adorable baby who crawled right up to me and made my day, along with the brown sugar meringue pie that was ABSOLUTELY TO DIE FOR. At this point, I just wanted to get to our AirBnb, so we hopped back in the car, threw on my throwbacks playlist and carpool karaoke-d our way to our stay.

Our airbnb is located across the water from Kirkjufell Mountain, an extremely famous mountain. And it’s super modern and clean and, for Kristen, there are horses located right near us. Unfortunately, we are in the middle of nowhere so we did have to venture back into the car to grab some food, but after that we just laid horizontally and did a lot of back stretches.

May 17, 2018 - one last drive

We woke up this morning with plans to hike the national park that we were staying by, but the weather did not want us to do that. It was rainy and windy and really gross, so we decided to drive through the park instead. Unfortunately, the park was flat and the road didn’t go through much of the park part, so it was mostly a flat road like the rest of our drive.

We stopped at a cute coffee shop and decided that we should just head back to Reykjavik and then hang out there around the town instead of trying to see nature while the elements were against us. So we went on with our drive, and about 45 minutes in we saw some people pulled over petting horses. Naturally, Kristen had a heart attack and we pulled over to interact with them.

These Icelandic ponies are pretty cute I have to admit, but still not a big horse person. While Kristen was in heaven, I was just trying to figure out where to pet the horse with it hitting me or licking me with its giant tongue. It was still super cool and surreal getting up close and personal with those horses.

Then, we just went for it and finished our drive. It was nice to have the car parked and not have to get in it and drive for multiple hours, so I could successfully say that our road trip of over 1000 miles was finally complete, multiple back knots included.

We decided to walk around the town again and do some shopping since the past ⅔ days were spent mostly in the car. It was nice to be out and about in a city rather than the tiny towns we were stopping through, even though the weather was still absolutely disgusting. Kristen and I bought cool matching rings to signify our trips finish.

Dinner was had at a thai restuarant that was actually amazing, then we spent the rest of the night exchanging photographs and videos and chilling in the hotel while Kristen helped me massage out my back knots that were absolutely KILLING ME. Literally I could feel the knots myself BLEH. I never wanna drive again...

May 18, 2017 - on to the next.....

Today we had to catch morning flights, so Kristen and I said our goodbyes and parted ways. She back to America and me off to my next stop on the list - London!!!

To Iceland - thank you for the views, the nature, the peace, no thank you for the food, I need sustenance that doesn't cost a bajillion dollars.

Make sure to subscribe to get all the updates on my future euro adventures coming up! :))))

My European Adventure Starts TODAY!

May 11, 2018

Hello friends and family! Today I am reviving my travel blog as I'm back on the road, embarking on new adventures in Europe for the next five weeks! First, I'll be in Iceland doing a road trip of the entire island, from there I will be bouncing from London, to Barcelona, to Porto, to Lisbon, to Lagos, to Amsterdam, and finally, to Paris! This blog will be your one stop shop to all my adventures, pictures, and videos so hit that subscribe button to get updates along the way, or follow my instagram @jpolise_fotos for more real time updates!

in the land of kiwis (aka New Zealand)

June 18, 2017

This past week I spent driving through New Zealand with my two best friends of abroad, Monica and Eva. We started in Queenstown, then rented a car to go to Mt. Cook, Wanaka, Franz Josef, Christchurch and a million views in between. It was the most amazing week, so read my post then check out the video I made documenting our week at the end! 6.09 NEW ZEALAND

Today we left for New Zealand, Monica, Eva, and I were about to embark on the trip, and classic, we all waited until the morning of to pack, so that was extremely stressful, but we all managed to finish right on time to head to the airport. The flight was pretty short, but soooo bumpy for the last hour that Monica almost vommed and I wasn’t feeling too hot myself, but we made it in one solid piece.

We got to Queenstown and dropped our bags off at the hostel before heading to Fergberger, which apparently holds the world’s best burger according to CNN according to Eva. We immediately went and were so lucky that there was no line and a table to sit at, as all of our friends who went previously informed us that they waited over an hour and ate on the sidewalk. The burger did live up to its expectation. Was it the WORLDS best burger, not sure, but was it a really good burger, 100% YES.

After the burger, we went back to the hostel to attempt to pregame and go to a bar, but we were so full and tired, that we ended up just walking around the town and hanging out before heading back to get some sleep. We had a big day ahead of us tomorrow and we needed all the energy we could get…

6.10 adrenaline and exhaustion

Since Queenstown is the adrenaline capital of the world, today we were all off to do adventure activities. Monica was going to do the world’s first bungee jump and Eva and I were off to do the world’s biggest swing. I was super excited, especially after skydiving I was ready to do something crazy, but Eva on the other hand was pretty nervous, since I kinda forced her into doing it whoops!

We got strapped into harness and then walked out to the swing through a very tiny cable bridge. Once we were out there, I volunteered us to go first, against Eva’s will, but it was better to go first than to watch people plummet into a canyon, so we got strapped into the swing and we were off…. The video does the whole ordeal justice…..

It was so much fun, and I really think Eva enjoyed it too, at least just a little bit. So once we were done and all reunited, we headed back to Queenstown to hike the Queenstown Hill. To do this we too the gondola up-ed halfway, because we didn’t have time to hike base to summit. We started hiking an accidentally got on the wrong path, but luckily Eva and I noticed so we headed back before it was too far to get on the correct path.

This hike was the most vertical hike I have ever encountered, and it was called an “easy” hike. I swear, we would hike for 2 minutes before Eva and I needed a breather, meanwhile, Monica was legitimately high off of nature bolting up the mountain, leaving us in her trail dying and gasping for air.

Eventually we made it to the saddle and it was great, the views were absolutely insane. It was also pretty cold, and gusts of wind would just absolutely freeze us to the core, but it was all worth it. The pictures don’t even do it justice…..

When we started to walk down, we realized how far we had hiked, as it felt like we were walking down the mountain for what felt like forever, we got to see some sheep in the wild and we got to pee in the most scenic spots. By the time we reached the gondola lodge, we were all pretty frozen and pretty exhausted from the 4 hour hike, and this is just a warm up for what we are going to do later in the week….

Since we skipped lunch, we thought we deserved a huge ass dinner and headed to a fancy ass restaurant (without knowing it) in our hiking gear for some ribs. Little did we know, that these ribs were absolutely MASSIVE. Eva and I spit a rack that was GINORMOUS and Monica got her own rack that seemed to be double the size of her head. Easily the most delicious ribs I have ever eaten, but we were definitely in food comas.

Because the food comas had commenced, there was no way we were able to go out. We attempted to hit the bars, but none of us could stomach a beer without the risk of throwing up the delicious meal, so we just decided to get some shut eye as we had another long day planned.

6.11 milford sound

After facing a car catastrophe the night before, we had woken up and gotten our rental car for the day and our plan was to drive to Milford Sound, go on a cruise and drive back. Even though Milford Sound was technically 46 miles away, because the road is so windy it took us 4 hours to get there, and we stopped maybe twice as we had a cruise to catch.

We literally were driving for an hour before I needed to take a break and nap, so Monica drove for a bit while I got some rest. After I got some rest, I took over the driving, and we were driving through the most beautiful landscapes ever. The roads were pretty windy and sharp, but we made it in one piece, and JUST IN TIME for the cruise, as we hopped on board and they pulled away a minute or two later.

The cruise was also amazing as the views were spectacular, but of course, there was a PA system were some lady was being a tour guide through the entire ride, giving us lots of random facts about the lake we were motoring through. If you tuned her out however, it was quite a peaceful cruise and again, stunning views.

When the cruise was over, there wasn’t much to do, so we started our drive back. Since we weren’t pressed for time, we took it slow and were able to stop along the way to take some photos and enjoy the scenery. When the sun set, we started jamming out to One Direction (because that was the only music on Eva’s phone and she needed to use the USB to charge) and here we discovered how inappropriate some of their songs were, we were all EXTREMELY shocked.

By the time we got back to Queenstown we were pooped and hungry, so Eva and I went back to Fergberger for another burger. This experience was not as pleasant, but nonetheless, I was hungry so I enjoyed myself. We ended up walking around queenstown that night and just chilling in the hostel as we were exhausted from the 8+ hours of driving and sitting somehow.

6.12 queenstown to mt. cook

The day started with us getting on the road to Mt. Cook and officially starting our New Zealand road trip. We even had such luck, that five minutes into driving we spotted a rainbow and made our first photo pit stop on the side of the road. Then we continued on our way to our first stop Lake Wanaka. Again, we cannot get over how beautiful this country is, as it feels like we are driving through a post card, the mountains and the clouds all together is just crazy insane. Even though in some patches we hit rough weather, we were able to enjoy it and make many stops along the way.

When we got to Wanaka it was down pouring, so we sat along the lake and ate some snacks. Monica decided to get out and go for a walk despite the rain, while me and Eva chilled in the car and just walked a little bit before wanted to return to dryness. We continued our drive, continuously driving through different sections of sun and rain, we drope the the Lindis Alpine Pass which was pretty beautiful, as it was full of dusty orange mountians, but the shitty weather at this point hindered our ability to stop and really capture the moment.

After about three more hours of driving we made a stop for lunch at a random place called “Wrinkly Rams” where we found the best meat pies and chocolate chip cookies. We hung out here for a half hour or so to take a break from the driving and it was quite the nice pit stop.

Eventually we made it to Lake Tekapo and thankfully it wasn’t raining at all! So we took advantage of the dry time to go and explore the lake a little bit. We first just looked at the lake, then headed to the main street to use the bathrooms. Eva found some tour information, and learned that there was a small church along the water, which was extremely beautiful, then we walked towards the water a did a lil photoshoot. Monica was really struggling as she was freezing her ass off (she’s from south Carolina and hasn’t really experienced a true winter, so Eva and I give her crap for it in the best way possible, also its like high 30s here and the wind chill does get cold, but its not that bad).

Also at this pit stop, I went into the most futuristic bathroom that I have ever experienced. It was a cubicle thing, I pushed a button to go in then an automated voice goes “The maximum occupancy of this stall is ten minutes, the doors will open after that” and then midway through me going to the bathroom the voice COMES BACK and says “Please move around the stall to indicate occupancy or the doors will be opened”. So there I am on the toilet, FLAILING my arms around trying to indicate my occupancy and what comes next? The speakers start playing fake nature sounds like a bubbling creek and birds chirping. WHERE THE HELL AM I? ARE THESE THE PUBLIC RESTROOMS OF THE FUTURE? Overall, the weirdest bathroom experience I have EVER encountered.

After this we were headed to Mt. Cook, it was about a three hour drive and it became pretty painful near the end because it started torrential down pouring. This made me slow down a lot as a driver because windy roads + rain + driving on the OTHER side of the road isn’t easy, but we made it to our hostel in one piece. The weather just got worse after we got there, so we decided to stay in and make some ramen noodles for dinner and hang out.

6.13 inclement weather and adjusted plans

The original plan for today was to hike Mt. Cook, but as we woke up the weather wasn’t any better. When we looked out the window you could barely see across the parking lot as the fog and rain were so heavy, and then the hostel man told us that hiking was not a good idea and suggested we go to a museum. We said F THAT and got in the car and drove back to Wanaka, where we would be staying that night, as the weather reports said there would be good weather there. So off we headed, and we never even saw mt. cook because of the fog… smh….

We drove along and already within 30 minutes the weather was monumentally better, cold but better. So we made a stop around Lake Pukaki, it was a glacier water lake making the water extremely blue from glacier flour. Then we stopped along the side of a lavender farm, although the smell of lavender wasn’t overwhelming, when the wind was strong enough you could get a slight wiff. We stopped a few more times on the way before heading back to the Wrinkly Rams for food, as the day before it was just so good for some reason.

Doing this, we missed a major rain storm, which was great to be inside for, and we got some solid breakfast food. We didn’t stay too long, as we didn’t want to miss our window of opportunity for good weather, and we were on our way. We stopped at the Lindis Alpine Pass along the summit, since the day before we had terrible weather, and then eventually made it to Wanaka where the weather was actually extremely nice.

We checked into our hostel and dropped our bags before heading off to do a quick 2 hour hike. Eva and I again struggled within five minutes of the hike, but it definitely wasn’t as bad as the Ben Lammond Trail in Queenstown. When we made it to the top, we stopped for some photos (here we realized we are basically doing a photoshoot around New Zealand, but why not???). We hung out at the top of the hill for a while, met a nice older new Zealand couple who let us pet their dogs and give us some dinner recommendations.

The hike was pretty short, so afterwards we drove to the famous Wanaka Tree. At first from far away it was an underwhelming tree, but as we got closer and saw it with the mountains in the background it was quite beautiful. It’s this random, leaf-less tree in the middle of the lake essentially, and because it was low tide, we were able to walk out to it. All in all pretty cool.

We still had some time to kill before it was an acceptable time to go eat dinner, so we drove around the town and sat by the lake and just hung out. It was cool to drive around and see some of the local houses as they had some interesting designs and were super modern for such a small town.

6.14 making (glacier) shit happen

We woke up at the crack of dawn and were on the road by 6:45am this morning, as we planned a glacier helicopter hike in Franz Josef, which was a 4 hour drive from Wanaka, where we stayed the night before. So, we took our groggy asses out of bed and started driving. I was unusually awake and peppy as I blasted Hamilton through the car, and gave Monica and Eva a lesson in American history (thanks to Tommy, shout out).

We saw some amazing views on the way, but since we were pressed for time to make it to the glacier tour by 11:30, we made limited stops. By the time we got there, we were a little bit pooped but ready to start the adventure, until we walked into the tour office and a big sign saying “We apologize but todays tours are not operating due to weather conditions”. Cue huge disappointment considering it was the most beautiful day weather wise that we have been in New Zealand. The skies were clear, it was sunny, somewhat warm, and just beautiful so we were completely confused.

Upset and tired, I wasn’t taking no for an answer, so I suggested we find another helicopter tour as we could see helicopters IN THE AIR FLYING AROUND. Literally the first store we walked in told us they were doing scenic flights and could put us in the next group, so clearly we took that opportunity. We paid, and walked out to the helicopter, it was pretty cool and there were two other people in our helicopter, a mom and daughter from Texas.

Once we got up we flew around for a bit and it was pretty incredible, there was so much snow and we were so close to the mountains. Halfway through, we were let out and allowed to hang out on top of the glacier and take some photos. There was about a half foot of fresh snow and we were like kids playing in it.

We got back in the helicopter to finish our tour, and this is when Monica and I got soooooo motion sick. The pilot was weaving in and out of the glacier and it was just extremely unpleseant. When we landed, Eva said it looked like we were hungover despite the fact that we haven’t touched a lick of alcohol all week.

To settle our uneasy stomachs, we went to get some solid food and then headed to the hostel to take a quick nap before we went on a hike. The hike was to a different glacier viewing area, and we went pretty late in the day so we just hung out since the track was empty. We climbed up on these mountain of rocks and just chilled.

Considering all these little towns we are going in are basically one road, our options are pretty limited in terms of nightlife, so we just got dinner at a bar restaurant before heading back to the hostel to hang out and get ready for our last day on the road.

6.15 last road views

Today we graciously let ourselves wake up at 8am, which was pretty luxurious compared to our 6:15 wake up calls we had been doing throughout the week. We got all packed up and had a quick breakfast before heading back out on the road. The only deadline we had today was making it to Christchurch by 5pm to drop off the car, so we took our time driving the 5 hours to get there making lots of stops.

We stopped in one town called Hokitika for lunch, and it was a cute beach town. But other than that, we didn’t really do much except drive and take in our last views of New Zealand.

6.16 well Christchurch is um interesting

Today was our last day in New Zealand L We had a flight for 6pm back to Sydney, so we had some time to kill in Christchurch, but we haven’t heard great things about the town before coming here, we had just been told that theres nothing to do. Little did we know, that everyone was right. There literally was nothing to do, we even asked people working at the coffee shops and they just told us to walk around……

So that’s what we did, luckily we stumpled upon a little market with a bunch of food trucks, and since we literally knew there wasn’t much else to do, we hung out there for like two hours. We walked in and out of the stores and sent some post cards, overall we just had a chill day because the past week was pretty action packed.

We headed to the airport that evening, and I had to say goodbye to Eva at this point. She was heading to the north island to do a 10 day tour and I won’t see her again because I will be back in the USA by the time she gets back to Sydney. So there Eva, Monica and I were all hugging in the Christchurch airport as this was the final time our trio would be a trio. We shed a tear and then went our separate ways and it was pretty sad….

If you want a more visual experience of my travels across New Zealand, take a look!

https://vimeo.com/222045739