Dawg52
Don't mean to derail the thread but tell me more about NZ. I have always wanted to travel to NZ. Didn't realize they frown on Americans.
Hi Dawg!
First let me say that everyone’s experience is different and I respect that.
We visited NZ
http://www.retireearlylifestyle.com/NEWZEALAND.htm in 2003 and after hearing how stunning the country was, we really looked forward to it. And New Zealand
is beautiful. It has everything North America has, except it’s located in 2 small islands in the South Pacific Ocean.
We carry a short wave radio with us wherever we travel, in order to get news in case a crisis is happening in the country where we are visiting. So, because people speak English in NZ, we listened to the local talk shows.
These talk shows were really ripping up our nation saying that we were ‘too powerful’ and that we should break our country up into 3 separate nations in order to spread the power out more evenly. After all, that would only be ‘fair’.
We stayed in hostels all along the two island trip (fabulous way to travel!) and in the hostels, there were signs saying “
Don’t be like Americans!! We recycle trash here” with an arrow to the different trash cans… (Can you imagine someone putting a sign up in the States saying “don’t be like Germans or Japanese or Chinese!!” Not to mention the fact that America
does recycle…)
We took the Magic Bus
http://www.retireearlylifestyle.com/a_little_bit_of_magic.htm (again a great way to see the islands…) and daily the drivers would berate Americans in one fashion or another (usually in an uninformed, prejudicial manner) but then he would smile and say, “But we’ll take your money! Sign up here to swim with the dolphins, go bungy jumping” or whatever. We found that rather irritating and it got old fast.
We saw a 9/11 Memorial at a Fireman’s Station in one of the cities there (I forget which one…) in which they had a piece of the twisted steel from our Twin Towers as the centerpiece. It had graffiti on it… we went to the Fire Station to thank them for having this memorial for all to see. We took this display as being an act of respect. The Fire Chief seemed quite nervous and made it a point to emphasize to us that this was in respect of the
firefighters who lost their lives, and not for
any other reason… (hey, what about our 3,000 unsuspecting workers in the Towers who were just ambushed… But no point in going there… we thanked them profusely for the memorial and left).
In various conversations all throughout NZ with locals, off and on they would trash the US due to our having ‘race problems’. But because we listened to local talk radio in their own country, we knew that they, too, had ‘race problems’ with the Maori. That this is no little afternoon picnic they are dealing with….
We were told that New Zealand won’t allow our Navy ships to dock in NZ ports (Nords is this true?) and yet, if they were to become ‘invaded’… wouldn’t we respond to help them out?
Listen Dawg, I want to be clear about this.
This was our experience. We didn’t go for a two week vacation, but rather stayed a month and a half, visiting both islands. These incidents were not occasional but rather they were pervasive. We felt they didn’t want our presence, but made it very very very clear, that they would take our money. (How would you feel about that? Would you go out with someone like that? Would you invite them back to dinner?)
And you know what? We are really sorry that happened. It affected our perspective of their nation. We don’t make much noise, we don’t flash wealth or opinions, we don’t trash places, we don’t put other countries down,
especially when we are there visiting with them!
What I think is that 1) it was the timing. 2) NZ is a very new nation (in the scheme of things) and they are insecure about who they are. 3) They have issues between the Maori and the Westerners and they are going in 2 different directions, so they are split apart. They seemed like an adolescent who was having a tantrum.
Would I return?….. Maybe, leaning to yes. The countryside is dazzling. They have excellent lamb and dairy products and decent wine. The men are gorgeous (a nice break for me after being in Thailand so long where the women are real show stoppers…
)
I would never say ‘don’t go.’ But regardless of how you personally feel about our own nation -- positive and negative -- to have someone trash you day after day… It was like -- You know, you can have an argument with your brother or sister and
you can say they are self centered, inconsiderate jerks. But to have someone ELSE say that to you consistently and really rip into your sibling would probably bring up the feeling of wanting to defend them.
That is what it was like. Our nation is far from perfect. But it is my nation. It has offered me the opportunity for a good education, a good career, to be able to retire early and to have the freedom to travel the world. For this I am grateful. I look to try to improve us, not to jump on the bandwagon to tear us down.
Thanks for asking. You probably got more than what you were looking for…
Be well all ways,
Akaisha
Author,
The Adventurer’s Guide to Early Retirement