Brandon O'Brien

Saturday, November 30, 2019 @ 9:00 PM in 2019 New Zealand

Day 7

We left Queenstown around noon today and got into Auckland a little before 2pm. It took us a while for the Uber to get us from the airport to our hotel in Auckland. When we finally checked in, we realized it was HOT in there. There wasn't an A/C and the only relief was two little floor fans. Oh well, time to open the windows and go explore the town for the small time we were there.

The first thing we did was walk through town and found a place selling Boba tea. Sam and Anne both got some and then we continued walking around and went through Albert Park which was a nice lush green area in the middle of town. From there we stopped for a beer at a place called My Bar before heading over to the Princess Wharf to view the bay.

We weren't sure what to do for dinner until we found the Tanuki Japanese Restaurant which had really good reviews. We made a reservation and were seated pretty fast. We had a good time talking about all our experiences on the trip over some nice sushi and Japanese beer. After dinner we stopped for some frozen yogurt and then walked back to the hotel.

By this time in the trip we were all pretty tired from covering so much ground over the last week. We called it an early night in prep for catching our flight home tomorrow.

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Tags: new zealand, honeymoon, auckland

Posted from: New Zealand

Saturday, November 30, 2013 @ 7:50 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 157

I didn't really have anything planned for today. I did a little work in the morning then went out and did some grocery shopping since all of the shops will be closed tomorrow. Back at the hostel I ate lunch and then started researching some day trips for next week.

I wanted to make sure I got to Ronda, a cool city on cliffs with a big bridge spanning between the city, and found a bus that gets there and back every day. I bought a ticket and will be visiting Ronda on Monday. When I tried to pay with my credit card, my card went into theft prevention mode and I had to call and get everything sorted out. Fortunately it wasn't too big of a deal. I'm also planning on visiting Granada when I'm in Cordoba. The buses have better schedules and the travel time is a little less. Everyone says that I have to go to Granada so it'll be a good way to get out and see a new city for a day.

After that, I went out and walked around for the better part of the afternoon. I've come to realize that Spain is a very social oriented place. All of the bars, cafes, squares and shops seem to be built around people going in groups and hanging out. It's a really cool way of life but it sucks a bit when you're a solo traveler without a firm grasp on the local language.

I made some pasta for dinner instead of doing the big group dinner here. There were about 30 people up for dinner last night and it's a bit too many people all trying to eat at the same time for my liking. It sounds like after the weekend the hostel is going to empty out a bit so I'll probably do some more dinners then. Another crappy thing about weekends are, once again, all of the groups of 3-5 people who show up and don't talk with anyone but their group and do their own thing. It makes it hard for solo travelers to meet people.

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Tags: daily journal, spain, seville

Posted from: Spain