Brandon O'Brien

Tuesday, November 26, 2019 @ 10:00 PM in 2019 New Zealand

Day 3

We flew from Wellington to Christchurch this morning, departing around 9:30am and getting into Christchurch at 10:30. Air New Zealand is amazing and runs like buses would in most cities. If you're flying domestic, you don't need to go through any kind of security checkpoint (which blew our minds when we just walked right up to our gate from entering the airport). The fares are also extremely cheap. This flight for example was $29. A similar duration flight in the US would have easily been 3x that much.

After we landed in Christchurch and got our car, we went to the Air Force Museum of New Zealand and checked that out for a while. Mike and Anne love checking out places like that and it was a good way to spend an hour or so (we had to wait a little while to check into our hotel anyway). There was a group of veterans at the museum all meeting up for some tea. It seemed like they made that a regular tradition and was neat to see.

On the way to our hotel we stopped for a snack at a place called the Fermentist. They had a lot of gastropub style food and we opted for some fried cauliflower and beer. When enough time passed that we could check into the hotel, we drove over there and got checked in. The photos and reviews on Hotels.com made it seem like it was going to be a really nice place, but we could tell upon entering the lobby that it wasn't quite going to be the case. We got into our room and were greeted with a really bad smell, which we later determined was caused by the shower shooting water onto the ground and then making its way into the bedroom carpet, keeping it soaked. We ended up opening all the windows while we went out to walk around Christchurch.

We stopped for more snacks and drinks at a place called Fiddlesticks, then walked over to the botanic gardens, where the roses were in full bloom, and then went to the Canterbury Museum which had a lot of native artwork.

We decided to get some Thai to go and ended up eating on the patio of our hotel room. The Thai was pretty good, but lacking a lot of spiciness.

Teaser photos:

Sam, Anne and I at the Wellington airport

In prison at the Air Force Museum of NZ

The Fermentist for a snack

Native art at the Canterbury Museum

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Tags: new zealand, wellington, christchurch, honeymoon

Posted from: New Zealand

Wednesday, November 26, 2014 @ 8:50 AM in 2014 Asia

Day 1 in Hong Kong went really well. Mike and I got a full night of sleep and started the day with breakfast at the hotel. After eating we headed to the Ocean Park amusement park on the south side of the island. It took us a little while to figure out how to catch the bus down to the park. We were misreading the instructions Google gave us which mean we spent quite a bit of time wandering around before we found the bus. We didn't realize we had to catch a subway trail for a few stops before we were supposed to get on the bus.

We finally got to the park and it was extremely empty. We were able to get on every rollercoaster without having to wait in a single line the entire day. After riding every coaster and ride in the park we went and toured the aquariums and various other exhibits. The park actually wasn't that bad but a lot of it was under construction.

Once we finished up at the park we went over to Aberdeen to check out all the fishing boats. We were planning on eating there but we got there too early and didn't feel like sticking around for a few hours to wait for all the boat restaurants to open. Instead, we walked around through some of the city and got to see some local markets that had a lot of fresh vegetables and seafood.

We headed into the Tsim Shai Tsui area and Temple Street and walked around for a while. Open container laws don't exist in Hong Kong so we had a few beers while exploring the city. We did that for a couple hours until the light show on the Tsim Shai Tsui Promenade at 8. It was pretty cool except for how foggy it still was.

Once the show ended we headed back to our side of the island and started searching for food. We found a local place near our hotel that was a little like a dim sum restaurant except you ordered it like sushi. The food was good and extremely cheap. For both Mike and I to have 4 dishes and tea the total was only $10USD.

Tomorrow we're planning on heading out to visit some beaches although the weather is calling for a 60% chance of rain. We're hoping it holds off long enough for us to get a little beach time in.

Teaser photos:

Pandas at Ocean Park in Hong Kong

Ocean Park in Hong Kong

Laser show on Hong Kong

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Tags: travels2014, hong kong

Posted from: Hong Kong

Tuesday, November 26, 2013 @ 11:05 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 153

I had to get up super early today (from what I'm used to) so I could pack up, eat and get to the train station before my train left at 8:15am. I got to the station just before they started boarding and started talking to a guy from the States who currently lives in Seville. We talked a little bit then shared a cab into the city center since the train station was pretty far removed from there.

The train ride was pretty nice. All of the cheap tickets were sold out so I had to get the "Turista Plus" ticket which meant bigger and more comfortable seats. The ride was about 4 hours and passed through a lot of scenery that reminded me a lot of New Mexico. The landscapes are almost identical. It's pretty crazy.

I checked into my hostel, La Banda Rooftop Hostel, worked for an hour or so then went out to walk around a bit. Seville is a really cool city. There are a lot of old Roman aqueducts, old churches, bull rings, old city walls, etc all within easy walking distance. I went and picked up some groceries and came back to make some veggie fajitas to hold me over for dinner.

I worked for a couple hours then went out to explore the surrounding area at dusk and took several photos of the cathedral. They have the entire area set up for some nice christmas lights but haven't turned them on yet. I think that's supposed to happen while I'm here which would be nice. There are also a lot of vendors selling everything you need to build your own nativity scene.

Every night the hostel makes a big dinner so I signed up for that tonight. We had Basque chicken (northern Spanish chicken with olives, tomatoes, chorizo, red peppers in a sauce), cilantro rice and a spinach with goat cheese. Dinner was at 9 so I needed the little hold-me-over but everything they made tasted great.

I'm pretty worn out from getting up so early and traveling all day. Tomorrow I'll get out and explore a little more but at least the weather is still cooperating. It should be in the mid 60's and sunny for the foreseeable future.

Teaser photos:

Seville Cathedral outside the hostel

Riding the train in style

Nativity scene vendors outside the cathedral

Seville bull ring

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Tags: daily journal, spain, seville

Posted from: Spain