Travel

Travelling is one of my primary passions. When I was a child, my parents made made an effort to go on road trips to some of the major sites that the United States has to offer, including the great National Parks of the western states, the sites, culture, and museums of cities like Chicago, Washington DC, and San Francisco, and the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico.  I think that these early experiences influenced me to continue my exploration as I grew up.

While I was in college, I went on yet another family vacation, but this time internationally - all the way to Ireland! We spent a week travelling the countryside, and I became facinated by both the beauty of the land and the slight differences in the Irish people's livestyles. I enjoyed it so much that I knew I would have to go back.

A year later, I was given that chance - I applied for and was accepted to study abroad in London, England. This gave me a semester to live in an amazing city with great people and an endless supply of things to do and see. It also afforded me the opportunity to explore Europe as a whole, and I had the opportunity to see a number of the great cities of history.

Before I finished college, I had the opportunity to take a 3 week trip to Peru - my first "3rd World" country (although that is a silly term, really). My friend Mike and I hiked the Inca Trail, sand-boarded down sand dunes, white water rafted, and saw our first wild penguins! It was an amazing trip, and I finally got to use my admittedly small amount of Spanish language skills.

Sadly, after college, my first real job began to limit my time fairly substantially. Luckily, I got to spend a few weeks with my brother in Europe (he did the same program in London as I did - cheater!), and I had the opportunity to add Luxembourg, Spain, and Morocco (Africa - it counts!) to my list of countries visited - so I was quite happy. Plus, I had a monkey sit on my shoulders in Gibraltar, so that makes any trip worthwhile.

Eventually, I was hired by Yahoo! and got to move to Sunnyvale, California, so I was able to see quite a bit of fun new things around the area - California is AWESOME! Unfortunately, I was laid off not all that long after starting. Fortunately, I got a fairly large severance package - and this ultimately allowed me to travel more substancially than ever before.

So, my first couple months after Yahoo! were spent in Central America - hiking through lush tropical rainforests and climbing volcanos. That trip ended much to soon, so I followed it up with another few months in Southeast Asia, dancing on the beach in Thailand and Scuba diving of the coast of Malaysia, as well as exploring ancient temples and palaces. Yet again, this ended much to soon, so I did a bit of travelling and hiking in the States while I looked for a new job. This allowed me to check a few more national parks off my list, as well as a few more summits off my mountaineering goal sheet.

As luck would have it, I eventually found a new job - but it happened to be in New Zealand! So, that is where I am at now - Queenstown, NZ. I hope to get to see all this country has to offer, and have great expectations!




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