Adventure of the month

How to travel New Zealand on a budget tip #2: Skip the Waiheke wine tours. But-and I can't stress this enough- don't skip Waiheke and/or its wineries. Don't do that!! Really, don't. If your tastes run toward picturesque islands, chill beaches or more vineyards than you can shake a wine glass at, this is a day trip you want to take. All I'm saying is that all those wine tours that all the agencies push are totally unnecessary.  It was my second day in New Zealand and with sleep deprivation behind me and perfect weather ahead of me, I was ready to explore but at $130+ for three wineries,  the  tours seemed a bit pricey. Staying in Auckland, which I had already covered pretty well, also seemed unappealing so I went straight to the port and started asking questions.  Turns out that for $60 , you can get both a r/t trip ferry ticket for the 35 minute ride across the Gulf of Haruki and a voucher for the hop-on/ hop-off bus to get you everywhere you want to go. ...

My plans for this year's vacation went through some changes. Initially, I devised an itinerary that would take me to Cyprus, Lebanon and Iraq. Yes, that  Iraq.All my research pointed to the Northern Kurdish portion being quite safe, welcoming to visitors and easy to get to. I could just fly into Erbil, no visa required. And then the push for Kurdish independence starting gaining steam and the Iraqi government shut down the Erbil airport, meaning I would have to enter via the more treacherous land crossing through Turkey. Time for a plan B. This consisted of randomly plugging in multiple countries into search engines and trying to see where airlines miles could take me. After plenty of false starts, I hit upon one that would work. I had just enough miles to get me to New Zealand if I went from Dec 6- Dec 25. Taking into account the day you lose going over, this would only leave me with 18 days in a country with over 1000 days worth of things to see. It wasn't ideal but it w...