My journey around the world is over. I returned home safe and sound. It will take me a while to bring you all amazing adventures I had, to share pictures and videos so let me just share some highlights of this journey. Slow travel Telling the truth, this was the best part of the whole plan: do it slowly, so as a result I stayed more than 2 weeks in the same place, with the exception of Hong Kong. It worked really well. Two weeks is enough to get friendly with people around, get your bearings, enjoy your stay, figure out how public transportation works, and, most of all, experience how people live in remote locations visited. I don’t know whether this would work for everybody, but I would argue that staying in the same place for longer than few days is beneficial to a general well-being and increases the quality of the journey. Small amusement Each journey, even if the most cost-effective, call for the small amusement along the way. It is really useless to travel around the world and limit yourself just to sleep and eat cheaply. Limiting yourself to the basic needs make the whole adventure stressful, money focused and, after a while, monotonous. Although my trip wasn’t neither budget nor luxury I balanced all my needs on an everyday basis. And from time to time I spoil myself with an evening at the cinema, sweets at Moomins’ Cafe and other things that I really like. It not only made my journey pleasant but also allowed me to experience the way people do things in places I visited. I often tried to capture their way of spending free time and relaxing and it worked pretty well. Meeting people This was one of the most rewarding experiences along the way: meeting people and listening to their stories. I am deeply satisfied with all new friends I met. It is always helpful to know the language so the most difficult and challenging country was Japan, as I don’t speak Japanese. But even there I met two Italian girls and one Japanese guy who were willing to share their stories with me. Keeping my habits This was a real struggle: keeping my jogging routine. I took running shoes and gear with me which was a sacrifice itself because it occupied literally half of my luggage. I tried to stick to jogging at least 3 times a week, but I must admit I didn’t make it. I run a lot on Rarotonga and Auckland, plus I cycled a lot but I was not able to run as much as I wanted nor needed. It was way too cold in Japan and way to hilly in New Zealand, but I was able to run little less than 100 km in these 3 months. After my return home I’m running every second day and feel much better. Sustainable travel I think that many of my colleagues from the blogging community pursue a lifestyle that is unsustainable in a long term perspective. After a year or two of traveling many of them are struggling with obesity, insomnia, being tired or even exhausted all the time. There are many reasons for that and traveling as an activity is really demanding. If someone is telling you it is effortless he or she is lying, because it is not. On the contrary: far from it! And although I think my way of traveling is still missing a bit of care for myself I consider it way above the average bloggers’ journey. Traveling is surprisingly similar to everyday life and if you don’t make an effort to do jogging or eat healthy food the travel will not make it for you. Best things Many people ask me: What was the best about this journey? And is it hard to reply in one phrase, but if you asked me what I consider the best element of this journey I would say: return home. Seriously! The moment I entered my house was the moment of true happiness. Does this make me a lousy traveler? On the contrary, I think. I’m having now time for digesting all information, emotions, impressions, tastes, smells, meetings, smiles, well literally everything I experienced. I need to stay with this for a while to fully appreciate it and enjoy all of my adventures. So although I’ll travel a bit next few months I’m going to focus on telling the stories that I brought with me. OK, true, second best thing about this journey was a stay in Kyoto with a book by Nicolas Bouvier in my hand. This is my favorite way of traveling: reading a book about the place I’m in. Truly fabulous experience! And highly recommended too. This long journey showed me how important it is to have a home. Surprise Last, but now least, I was writing a diary for the whole journey and it looks like a lot of materials to deal with but I’m really hoping to work on it and publish it as a book. I will keep you posted when I have more details. For now, please read my posts from a travel around the world and keep your fingers crossed!  

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“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.” This quote from J.R.R. Tolkien masterpiece came to my mind the moment I saw Shaun. He was sitting there in one of the cafes of North Shore of Auckland waiting for me. And I am pretty sure he was thinking about Hobbiton this very moment. Because that was the reason for our meeting. Interested in details? Where to start? How about if Shaun tells for himself what brought him to New Zealand? “In 2001 and at the age of 12, I watched The Fellowship of the Ring in the cinema… Having no clue about the LOTR books I left the cinema feeling pretty annoyed – how could an awesome film just end like that! A year later and after a bit of research the Two Towers came out and so began my new found love for film! After a final film, 3 extended editions and hours of special features later, I was obsessed! I needed to visit New Zealand – the landscape just looked incredible! My love for film continued to grow over the next few years – I wanted to be a filmmaker! I chose to study film at college then went on to study it at university. After making a few short films and in my second year of uni I found myself losing interest in filmmaking, studying it was destroying my passion! The same year I bought a little SLR and began experimenting with photography. During the last year of university our final film project had to be documented in photos and I quickly became the go-to guy for the on set photography. After shooting a few other uni events, I had found my calling. I ended up working with a kiwi photographer in Liverpool who helped develop my photographic skills. Last year 12 years after the first Lord of the Rings was released I finally managed to get to NZ. Now, being a photographer, I can share images that hopefully inspire other people to visit this beautiful country. I can’t wait to spend a few more years here!” After Shaun came to New Zealand he was taking pictures in many The Lord of the Rings locations, including Hobbiton. When he visited the Hobbiton Movie Site he shared his pictures with them and it happened that they really liked it. Eventually, after working for them for a while he became the official photographer of the Hobbiton. How cool is that? Through his excellent skills and interest in Tolkien books and Peter Jackson movies, his pictures taken in Hobbiton became iconic. You probably saw them more than once and I’m pretty sure watching them made you thinking How on earth there is a place like this? We were sitting in this cafe, talking about books, pictures, New Zealand, migration, bare feet, wines, Waiheke, well pretty much about everything what comes to mind in a warm summer afternoon. Shaun is a delightful person. It is rare to combine excellent skills and great passion just like he does. You can see it in his eyes when he is explaining the way he photographed Milky Way standing in front of his camera in a cold dark night in the middle of nowhere. I mean, what else would draw him there? So no he is living in New Zealand immersing himself in Kiwi chill out. Wonderful weather and breathtaking views make the South Island his favorite place on earth. So far. For me, this was not only a real pleasure to spend my day with him but also a great privilege to discuss the issues related to photography, Hobbit, New Zealand and traveling with a person like Shaun. I hope his pictures not only make you happy when you look at them but will also bring him satisfaction and fulfilment.  About Shaun Shaun Jeffers is currently Auckland based photographer specialising in event, commercial and landscape photography. Originally from Liverpool, at the age of 25 Shaun has worked with some of the biggest companies in the UK and in New Zealand. If you don’t follow his Instagram account and like beautiful pictures you should start following him today! Find out more about Shaun and his photography here: Official site – Facebook – Instagram – Twitter Disclosure: all pictures courtesy of Shaun Jeffers.  

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Flowers in my hair came a little bit late on this journey but when they eventually came they were spectacular! Instead of buying a lousy rose in San Francisco I waited until coming to Rarotonga. This tiny island is a major hub to all Cook Islands and few other countries in South Pacific. This was the first time I went to a paradise like island and let me tell you this: it’s not the easiest journey I made! I will start my story with one afternoon spent on learning how to create a traditional flower garland called ‘ei. I went to a flower shop just around the corner and asked Victoria: “Will you teach me to make ‘ei?” She looked at me and answered: “Yes! Why don’t we do it right now?” It is a good example of how islanders are doing their best to meet you in half way. I loved the idea and got back after 15 minutes with my camera. Victoria already waited for me with fresh flowers. And a smile. “Women do not use makeup – she started her story. And each of us is capable to create her own ‘ei. Girls that are working everyday instead of makeup they cut flowers from their gardens and produce a fresh flower garland in the morning”. And this is so true! For 2 weeks I saw amazing variety of flower garlands: some of them were plastic but major part is out of fresh flowers. A waitress with exceptionally beautiful ‘ei told me shoe does them every two days. “When I come back from work I put it into water and the next day it is fresh again!”. Women has their own tricks everywhere, don’t they? There is a special ‘ei for a wedding day. For the official business women are sometimes asked to follow a particular colour code but one thing is sure: all flowers used by women on Rarotonga are beautiful! If they do not have enough time to prepare a flower garland they stick a flower into their hair at least! It is much easier than elsewhere as gardenia – the most popular flowers and also one of the symbols of Cook Islands – are flowering all year round! There are trees covered with flowers and you can have how many you want collecting just they ones the fell! Green grass covered with white flowers is so beautiful! Not to mention a powerful and very nice smell. I spent a lovely afternoon with Victoria. She showed me how to create my own flower garland. She told me how important and appreciated it is to women on the island. And I eventually experienced it: when I drove to a Hobbit premiere in my flower garland a guy working along the road stopped working, smiled and waved at me. I think he liked it. Well, I did. Hobbit premiere was a good excuse not only to make ‘ei but most of all to wear it all day long! I think the story of ‘ei tells about how people on the island are: kind, ready to embrace your enthusiasm, eager to teach you something, ready to share their heritage, focused on appreciating small things and most of all, they really love their island!    

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I always wanted to travel around the world. It was very close last year when I traveled to New Zealand and back. But this year I am literally traveling around the world. The journey starts this Saturday in Paris and will end in February 2015. I am beyond excited to share this news with you and I am anxiously looking forward to this journey. Travel around the world should be epic. Not only because of places you visit but for two very particular reasons: you always go in one direction (west, in my case), and you cross The International Date Line only once. In my case I’ll cross it flying from Rarotonga on Cook Island to Auckland in New Zealand. Dream Since the lecture of Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne my imagination was dominated by a thought that one day I will travel around the world. Not necessarily in 80 days nor as a result of a bet. But reading the adventures of Phileas Fogg I was pretty sure I will share his travel. This was a powerful reading and I still like this book very much (especially because I have a very old edition that my Dad got in a primary school). Although books are really important in this story there is much more than that! Slow I always do my best to travel slow. I never count countries, national parks or UNESCO world heritage sites visited. I often go to the same place more than once. I enjoy seeing the same place in every possible season.   Slow immersion in places is my thing. And this is the project for this journey too: at least 2 weeks in every location. I stretched my stay in New Zealand to 5 weeks so I could join the summer and outstanding landscapes. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies movie premiere is also in my schedule just as a visit in Matamata filming location that I missed last time. Countries and languages I prefer traveling to countries that I think I am able to understand. Starting with the language end ending with the local celebrations. You may say: how limited your image of the world is! But I see it quite differently. Most of all I appreciate when I am able to contact ordinary people, discuss issues important to them and simply feel like at home. Tradition and celebrations – equally important – are hard to understand without the previous background. And I am not satisfied with superficial “Awww, that’s cute!”. Thus, I am not lying to myself that I can fully appreciate India or Tanzania because I can’t. There is no way I can feel close to the people and their everyday life so  I chose to visit the countries I know about in advance even if it comes for a price. Books My favorite way of traveling is reading a book first and visiting a place afterwards. The world described by somebody in the past is precious. And reading books makes my travel multidimensional. I can compare how things has changed which always fascinates me. After all, comparative education field of research was my job for years! Old habits die hard. Through books about places I visit  I can feel the place with all my senses. I can stretch my perception and imagination. I can fully appreciate of what I see. I can see the history behind objects, monuments and buildings. I can try to understand the present through the past. Now, I’m not saying I am always perfect and I am always successful but at least I am trying very hard to see not only what is visible for the eye. I often carry a book with me about a place I visit and this time it is Nicolas Bouvier masterpiece:  The Japanese Chronicles. Yes, I will go to Japan, I will walk around Tokyo and Kyoto and Nara and will be reading HIS book at the very same time. What else I could ever wanted? I hope to bring you all the places visited as close as possible. Through the social media channels you can follow my journey and share my adventures. See the map below to know the itinerary and stay tuned for more! [UPDATE] …and here is the first post after I got back home!  

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Right. It’s just getting impossible to follow, isn’t it? I mean, I got confused myself in this guest post story… Suddenly all my guest posts and other bloggers’ posts are being published in one week! Crazy stuff but I love it. I really appreciate each and every opportunity to look back, to assess my experience again, to look at my adventure from perspective. It allows me to discover precious things that otherwise would not be discovered. So, one of the guest post exchange I did this week was with Esther from NZMuse. She kindly agreed to prepare a post for me, which was published here last Wednesday, and I prepared a short post on My First Trip To NZ for her. I think that switching the perspective from a tourist to a local is really interesting. I especially like Esther’s paragraph on how New Zealanders appreciate tourists. And I am very happy I could experience it myself. Hopefully, then, you will keep a good record of all guest post and will enjoy the richness of other bloggers’ stories. Good reading! I think this is a great beginning of a very promising year! Stay with me.  

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Saying that New Zealand has amazingly beautiful beaches is trivial but SO true! Quite obviously island has a long coastline and many beaches along it. What is so special about beaches in New Zealand? Variety! You find pretty much everything here: rocky beaches, sandy ones, beaches full of wild animals and also cliffs which means no beach at all. I thought that one gallery with most beautiful beaches of New Zealand will do the trick but just this morning I realized how many of nice pictures I have! As WordPress gallery has a limit of 20 pictures I needed to split it. Today, therefore, have a look at some of the beaches of New Zealand I’ve been to. I generally like beaches but the coldest and more wild the coastline is, the better. I especially enjoy cliffs and very sharp rocks. What I really love about the New Zealand beaches is high daily ocean tide. It means that every time you go to the beach it is so different! The ocean water comes and goes which makes these beaches really interesting to watch at every time of the day. If you’re a typical beach person and you like spending hours at the beach taking a sunbath New Zealand is a perfect place for you! Here is the second part of the gallery with most beautiful beaches of New Zealand.  

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Lakes are one of the most spectacular elements of the New Zealand landscape. Each of them has its own characteristic: size, shape, color, mountain rage surrounding them, beaches and roads. This gallery shows few of the New Zealand lakes. My favorite one is Lake Pukaki- the one colored with impossible turquoise. The water of this lake is milky: you cannot see the bottom even close to the shore. Its color is a result minerals eroded from the close glaciers. Minerals are mixed and dissolved in water of this amazing lake. Lake Pukaki is frequently visited by tourists as it is located close to the highest summit of New Zealand: Mt. Cook. The road to Aoraki  (closest village is situated at the end of a wide valley filled almost entirely by the lake) leads along this lake for more than 50km! With its numerous turns you can watch the lake from many different perspective. But its fabulous color is always hard to believe. Aoraki is dominated with The Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre, from where the alpine quests start and from where the view is breathtaking. Standing in front of the building you can admire a wide perspective with Mt. Cook just before your eyes, with peak covered with snow and spectacular blue ice. If you wish to watch next photo gallery from New Zealand click here: most beautiful beaches! Lake Pukaki is a filming location of the new Hobbit movie: The Desolation of Smaug. I am thrilled with it! I think this site is so beautiful and mysterious at the same time that filming a movie there was a must! See for yourself! Some of the Hobbit filming locations were close to Christchurch – the biggest city at the South Island which was badly hit by the earthquake. Read the full story here.  

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The story behind this post is pretty dramatic: since 36h I have no electricity at home thanks to Xaver and my previous- almost ready!- post was deleted along the big blackout. So, I’m writing it all over again. Hopefully it’ll be good and funny as intended. Just like millions people around the world I am a huge fan of J.R.R. Tolkien, no surprises here. My favorite book is Sillmarilion- the one my best friend gave me many years ago (thanks buddy!) but I also appreciate The Children of Hurin very much. Every time I read this book I am deeply touched with the story told. As all Tolkien’s fans I have closely watched the work done by Peter Jackson’s team while translating The Lord of the Rings to the movie language. And I was delighted with the final result. So the day I bought a plane ticket and discovered I was visiting New Zealand few days before the world premiere of The Hobbit movie I realized how perfect the timing was. Edoras There was a plan to visit all major LOTR locations. It all started with Mt. Sunday which in a movie starred as Edoras. This was a gloomy, windy and cold day so after driving for 1h a  tiny little path deep into the mountains I was rewarded with amazing view. Not the one known from the movie but equally powerful: very wide flat valley surrounded with high peaks hidden under clouds.  Two things touched me deeply: total wilderness of this place (no houses, no electric poles, no roads, nothing!), and its ordinary usage by the locals. Hey, no jokes here: in front of Edoras there are cows and sheep having their everyday meal and wondering about the secrets of the universe. You might think that the magic of the movie was lost for me forever. No way! On the contrary: I can now appreciate how this beautiful landscape was professionally used in a movie without any harm to it! After visiting Edoras my itinerary went further down south and the day ended with camping at Lake Tekapo. The gloomy weather was left behind and a lovely sunset lighten up the lake and far snowed peaks. I was astonished with the beauty of this place. So beautiful I could hardly believe in what I saw. And suddenly I realized that what I see is the landscape filmed in a movie. Scenes from the Fellowship of the ring floated in front of my eyes. And I knew there is no point in riding around, looking for the exact locations of the movie with a navigation system and coordinates. Because the whole South Island is Middle-Earth. And no matter where I go I’ll find the immense beauty of it. The Hobbit movie Just few days ago the world premiere of the second part of Hobbit took place. Some lucky people participated in official meetings and screening. I am sure you wished to be there if you could. But here is what I got to share with you: exclusive photos from world premiere in LA. All for your delight! Apparently imagination of people working on a Hobbit movie has no limits: they decided to bring parts of New Zealand to the US. Literally! They came up with idea to construct a huge pop-up book. All to create an opportunity to all Hobbit fans to get closer to the filming locations. Here are some photos of how the book looked like. The crew was tireless in bringing New Zealand to the American audience. They constructed a very detailed set to the fan’s delight. The set brought to the US allowed the audience to feel just like in the movie or perhaps in New Zealand? (at some point this is the very same thing!) The Hobbit premiere in LA Last but not least let me share some pictures of the honorable guests: the director and leading actors. Here they are! Starting with sir Peter Jackson – driving force of the whole mess! The picture below shows our favorite character Bilbo but I would like to bring your attention to the details: the background of this photo presents Lake Pukaki and I will tell  you the story about it in my next post. For now just remember its color. All pictures are courtesy of Pure New Zealand team. I would like to thank to all people who made it possible (yes, Sarah, it’s about you!). And very last thing: I fully share the Hobbit’s crew delight with landscape of New Zealand. Having this amazing opportunity to actually se the filming locations and the South Island in general allow me to confirm: New Zealand landscape is breathtaking!  

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Flying is fun! I really enjoy planes and airports. This is where you feel the travel heat. People are in rush or sleeping all over the place, depending on the weather conditions (hurricanes, volcano eruptions etc.) but airports are really fascinating places. I have my favorite ones and the ones I hate. This time, however, I flied with Air New Zealand for the first time and it was a very pleasant experience. Itinerary My journey started in London. It was a sunny and chilly morning and London is fabulous at this time of the year. I went to the New Zealand embassy first to pick up my pass of a Explore New Zealand programme (thanks guys for making it possible!). From the embassy I went straight to the Heathrow airport where a long flight to Christchurch via Shanghai and Auckland started. My plane ticket bought from Air New Zealand was partially operated by Virgin Atlantic and the overall itinerary looked like this: LHR – PVG – AKL – CHC I am sure that you can fly to New Zealand from Europe a million different ways but as this was my first trip there the itinerary was a bit random. Overall, it was quite smooth so if you asked me I would recommend this itinerary. The overlay in Shanghai was long enough to enjoy some Chinese food (second favorite after Italian kitchen). I am very lousy at dealing with jet lag so I was surprised that this time it was much less an issue. Maybe because of 12h difference or perhaps because I was able to sleep in a plane. Needless to say I was very happy to arrive to New Zealand in a good condition. On A Plane I was lucky to come to New Zealand just before the world premiere of a Hobbit movie. Air New Zealand prepared some nice stuff related to the event. I especially enjoyed the safety video. I’m so used to the ordinary boring ones displayed in every airline around the world but this one caught my full attention so I guess the producers are quite happy about it. They really show this video aboard! So funny!   And this one was equally fun to watch: Just another day in Middle-Earth. Great music! What I really love about it is that the whole island sticks to the movies, the LOTR trilogy characters and most of them are really proud that their island became a filming location of all movies. So many activities are organized around the movie and the book that it was hard to believe. And at some point, when you look out of the window in a plane you REALLY see the Middle – Earth. Priceless! Way back My way back was equally successful. There was a nice surprised, though. We landed in Wellington to get some passengers aboard. The landing took place in late evening so the city was illuminated and it looked really nice! I must say, the airports located next to a bay or a lake are so pretty! The stop was really quick and so we landed in Shanghai on time. I had a marvelous lunch (despite of a bizarre early morning hour) at a the same place as previously and was ready to continue the flight to London. It was funny, though, to experience that speaking English is not everything. In a Chinese restaurant located at the airport people didn’t speak English and ordering the food involved watching photos and pointing the meals with a finger. Getting back to the basics was fun. On the other hand, the Chinese food was so good that no matter what had been picked up it was simply delicious. None of my luggage was missing and so I got back home safe and sound. Next post will tell you the story of Christchurch- a city that recovers from an earthquake. Stay with me and follow the link.  

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