A Return to Travel – New Zealand

Photo by Laura Flippin

I’ve traveled to a lot of beautiful places in the world, but it would be hard to top New Zealand – one of the most remote locations on earth, but certainly worth the trip, even on a long haul flight from the United States. More incredibly, New Zealand is also a stunning place to see either in winter or in summer.  I visited both the North and South islands in the summer, though, and so had the benefit of the warm weather.  

I could say that my favorite memory of New Zealand is eating green mussels at a restaurant on the water at the harbor in Auckland. Or going on a day hike on the Milford Track and being constantly surprised by the sights during the journey. Or cruising around the Bay of Islands, looking for penguins so I could snap their picture (or cruising around Wellington looking for Peter Jackson so I could snap his picture). Or finding out that New Zealand is so small and friendly that when you fly between cities and towns in a prop plane, you don’t check in with your ID, as the pilot just knows your name.

But truly, the best thing about New Zealand may be just sitting on a hillside looking at the beauty of all that it offers, on land and on water. As of this writing, New Zealand has gone 100 days without any community coronavirus transmission, making it the envy of the world. But I’ve known for much longer that it’s a special country, even before the COVID pandemic, offering a place like no other. As the country’s travel slogan says, it’s “100% Middle Earth” – and you don’t have to be a fan of The Hobbit to know it’s like being on another planet, indeed the most amazing planet on earth.

-Laura Flippin | Wheels Up