We left Waitomo around 8 AM and headed to Huka Falls on the north side of Lake Taupo. On this drive it began to get mountainous and has been that way for most of our trip so far (eight days in). Huka Falls is where the aqua-colored Waikato River flows over a narrow 11 meter ledge. The gap it flows through before falling is relatively narrow, so the water is turbulent and forceful passing through it and over the ledge. We walked on a bridge across the river and down a trail to get a good view of the falls. We [View Full Entry]

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Robert and Vanessa arrived at the Auckland airport at around 5 AM. I picked them up from the airport and we drove (on the left hand side of the road) to the Hilton Hotel on Prince's Wha. They got refreshed and had breakfast overlooking the harbour. We then walked to the Sky Tower and got a panoramic view of the city. Auckland is built on an active field of volcanoes and we could see many of them from this vantage point. We could also had a close view of Waitemala Harbour. Next, we drove across the Auckland Harbour Bridge to see [View Full Entry]

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It was snowing when I flew out of Kalamazoo. Total time in transit, with three flights and the layovers, took about 24 hours. I travelled with a co-worker. The transpacific flight was on an A380... which on Qantas seats 450 passengers (it is a double-decker superjumbo jet). We arrived in Sydney to a temperature in the mid-80s (~25 Celsius) with mostly sunlight. We took a taxi to the hotel, had the windows down, and could smell the Eucalyptus trees in the fresh summer air. I was relieved to be back in Sydney and in the sunlight. After relaxing in the hotel [View Full Entry]

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(Please scroll down to see videos below) Sooo.... skydiving. Definitely something I've wanted to do for awhile, but for various reasons haven't (timing, money, busyness, etc.). Last week I watched the birth of a niece. Why not go skydiving this weekend? The two weeks before I was driving/riding in a car for about 40 hours and traversed ~2300 miles... that was on the weekends. The rest was work and so much else. Which led up to last week. Last week I was on a torrential push to get things done. Here is the quick rundown.... Besides accomplishing various things at work [View Full Entry]

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Jamas arrived on Thursday night. I went to the International Airport and waited for a little over an hour. Jamas' flight was a little late and I waited in a little seated area while mosquitoes swirled around and other friends and family awaited other passengers. Eventually, Jamas ambled out and we headed to the hotel. It was great to to see Jamas and great to have him in India. We only got about five hours of sleep before we had to get up to get ready to go to Delhi. We had a great flight to Delhi on Air India (Indian [View Full Entry]

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"...a stint in India will beat the restlessness out of any living creature;" - Author's Note, Life of Pi It almost beat the restlessness out of me (until I went to Pench National Park). India, in the words of my friend Roberto, is intense. More specifically, Bombay ("Mumbai" since 1995) and Delhi are intense. By the end of my stay in Bombay, I was questioning how much I wanted to travel in the future. I was reading "The Art of Travel" and it mentions how the dreams of travel don't equal the realities of it. And the realities hit me well [View Full Entry]

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LA. Historical. Overdone. Over-promoted. Maybe the most well known city in the world. I wasn't sure what to expect. At one end is the Hollywood-side perception (films, beauty, plastic surgery, fake). Another perception is of a crime-riddled, riot prone danger zone. Yet, one more, is the laid back beach scene -- surfing, volleyball, sunning, leisure. And I could see those aspects in LA. But it seems like any mega-city -- it cannot be easily described or stereotyped. ---- Around 6:30 AM I left cold Michigan for the 80 degree LA -- just missing a massive snowstorm that cance [View Full Entry]

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Well, after some persuasion I've decided to post an entry on Pikeville, KY. I guess if an entry from the remote parts of the world outside the U.S. are worthy of blog entries, why note remote parts of the U.S.? Pikeville, KY is nestled in the Cumberland Mountains (part of the larger Appalachian Mountain range); it is a good two hour drive from the closest city -- Charleston, WV, and about two and half hours from Lexington, KY. Its main business is coal mining, and with a short drive around you can find coal mines in operation. It was an interesting [View Full Entry]

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It had been a long week at work and I was very much looking forward to a break. One of the first signs I saw at the airport was "Aspen welcomes your mind, body and spirit." Amen. This was my first "traditional" vacation.... I can't count the huge swaths of time I took off during my first two jobs. This one I actually used "vacation" time to go to some spellbinding locale and knock around for awhile It took two connections (Chicago and Denver) to reach Aspen on Friday, January 18th. It was night when I flew in. The descent towards [View Full Entry]

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Okay... about that surf trip. ;) Shawn and I got up early and headed to Bondi Beach to be picked up (later learned they pick-up at Coogee Beach, as well). After breakfast at a sidewalk cafe, we waited outside Bondi Backpackers (a hostel). After waiting about 15 minutes, a guy came running up and asked if we were going on the surf trip -- we then followed him a few blocks, joined some other people in the van, and off we went. With the trip, they apparently determine which beach to go to each day depending on the waves and the [View Full Entry]

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