Brandon O'Brien

Sunday, November 24, 2019 @ 10:00 PM in 2019 New Zealand

Day 1

We landed in Auckland around 9:40am local time, then had about two hours to kill before our 11:30 departure for Wellington. Anne got us into the Air New Zealand lounge where we had some snacks and a beer. The lounge was really nice and it felt great to be out of the plane seat. Our flight to Wellington arrived around 12:35pm, which gave us most of the day to get settled in and explore a little bit.

The first thing we did was get the rental car and check into our Airbnb to drop off our bags. The place had a theme of a 50's diner, complete with ice cream and malt to make some milkshakes. After we got settled in, we got in the car and headed down into Wellington proper. First we stopped at a place called Choice Bros to get a beer and snack. I was eager to try as many New Zealand style pilsners as I could, so I had my first one here. New Zealand pilsners are pilsners that are heavily hopped with all the fruity and tropical hops that New Zealand is known for.

After we finished at Choice Bros, we went down to the waterfront and stopped at a place called St. Johns Bar where they had some outdoor seating over looking the harbor. We got a drink there and hung out for a little while, even though it was overcast and cold. Fortunately this was almost the only day during the entire trip that we didn't have really nice weather (which is really odd for New Zealand).

We started to get hungry so we set out to find a real dinner. We tried to get into one restaurant but it was going to be a pretty long wait. Across the street from that restaurant was Mt. Vic Chippery, a pretty typical fish n chips joint. We decided to check it out and were treated with some really delicious fish and chips. After dinner we were all feeling pretty beat from the long travel day, so we went back to the Airbnb and called it a night.

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Tags: new zealand, honeymoon, wellington

Posted from: New Zealand

Sunday, November 24, 2013 @ 9:43 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 151

Last night I ended up talking with some people from the States who are teaching English in Madrid. We went out for some tapas and then found a frozen yogurt place. The frozen yogurt here is a lot more tart than it is back in the states but it was still good. They gave me some advice on places to visit while I'm in Madrid including one of the best places for churros and hot chocolate in all of Spain.

I forgot today was Sunday and that on Sunday pretty much everything shuts down. I didn't have anything for lunch or dinner but I heard about one supermarket that would be open so I went out in search of it. It was in the basement of a department store chain called El Corte Ingles. The place was pretty nice and had a lot of good food to choose from. I got some kind of pasta dish for lunch and then picked up some broccoli and cauliflower and potatoes to go with dinner.

After dropping it off at the hostel and answering some emails I aimlessly walked around town for a bit. There were some outdoor flea markets going on so I checked them out. I found a pair of light gloves for €1.50 so I bought them. It's been cooling down pretty quick and I didn't have a pair of gloves with me. They don't seem to be the most well made gloves in the world but they only need to last me about 3 more weeks.

Before coming back to the hostel I stopped and got some churros y chocolate. It's a big thing here in Spain and I can see why. The churros were fresh out of the fryer, dusted with sugar and cinnamon and they're served with the thickest hot chocolate you've ever had. I guess you're supposed to dip the churros in the chocolate like you would a donut in milk. It definitely adds some nice flavor to them. The leftover hot chocolate tasted really good by itself too.

Back at the hostel I watched the 50th Anniversary Doctor Who special then got dinner going. I still had some beef left over from the fajitas last night so I cooked that up with garlic and pollo asado seasoning (I know... I know... chicken seasoning on beef, but it's all I had to work with). I made some patats bravas with garlic and then cut up and cooked the broccoli and cauliflower and tossed it in with the beef at the last minute to soak up some of the flavor.

After dinner I finished a really bad mystery book that I found here at the hostel. It seems like the target audience for the book is insecure women who are testing the waters away from romance novels. If it wasn't for the fact that it was literally the only book in English here I would have stopped reading it after the first chapter.

Tomorrow is my last full day in Valencia so I'm determined to make it up to the top of the big tower to see a view of the entire city and surrounding area. It looks like it's supposed to be another good day too. I'm looking forward to moving on to Seville on Tuesday. I'll be there for 10 nights but There are a lot of cities around there that make for good day trips.

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Tags: daily journal, spain, valencia

Posted from: Spain