I had just travelled to Sydney and the South Island of New Zealand. I was wondering if I should write a travel blog about my two wonderful trips or a guide of sorts for those who needed suggestions. My trip itenaries were ordinary, however, they were special just because I was travelling to these places with my best friends. So this post will touch nothing on the places we went, but rather some afterthoughts of the trip with my besties.
I spent a week in Sydney, and met up with 2 friends (Nessa and Pat) from the Philippines. I befriended them in Nagasaki University during our student exchange program in Japan. Since then, they had migrated to Australia for good. Christy and myself; students from Malaysia; together with Toi (Thailand) and Johan (Indonesia), forged a strong friendship in Japan. Whilst we still keep in touch with each other by Facebook and Instagram, we hardly knew how everybody was doing. Christy suggested we make a trip to Sydney, to meet up with Nessa and Pat. I jumped on the idea enthusiastically.
Despite having booked our plane tickets, Christy and I were so busy going about our daily lives that neither of us had time to make any plans for our 1-week trip in Sydney. Nevertheless, things worked out as well as it could. Nessa and Pat had planned a fantastic town tour for us, and that was all we needed. We walked around then we sat down, and we talked; we shared so many things about ourselves. We knew so much more about each other in just 2 days; something which would not have otherwise known from each others’ Facebook or Instagram accounts/posts. I was so glad to have made the meet up happen after 8 years. It made me ponder on what had been holding me back these past 8 years or why hadn’t I taken the first step earlier to make this meet up happen.
Urusai gathering
New Zealand was already part of my solo trip itinerary; however, Selwyn and Chee planned to meet me in NZ and we planned a road trip to travel the south island by camper van. It was my second time travelling to NZ, but I was so excited about traveling by camper van. I also thought it would be exciting for Selwyn and Chee as this was their first trip to NZ, they would be able to see the beautiful sceneries seen in the movie ‘Lord of the Rings’. Despite the magnificent scenery, the most memorable part of our trip was not the Hooker Valley trail we trekked, nor the lonely tree we saw in Wanaka, it was the meals we cooked together in the camper van, the stars we saw when we stepped out from camper van sharing just one blanket, and the movie we watched from YouTube in the motel.
Best trip in NZ
Traveling with good friends gives us the chance to understand each other better, to realise what has changed in them throughout the years, and let them have the chance to speak so we have chance to listen and to speak to them too, because when we are in relaxed condition, we tend to be able to speak out our mind, our feeling to our best friends.
I know I am still an old-fashioned man who thinks traveling overseas is something not so easy to do. It used to cost a lot of money, a lot of time to plan, booking a hotel was not as easy as it is nowadays, and then, there were also language barriers. I needed to throw all these concerns away, as many them can now be overcame by a few clicks clicks of the mouse.
This post acts as a reminder for myself that travelling overseas to meet friends or to arrange a travel with friends is not as difficult as I thought. I hope it could remind others too when anyone happens to read my blog. It is always one first step to take to make things happen, don’t you agree?
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Another awesome trip that filled with so much love!