After living abroad and traveling the world in short bursts, I can attest that there comes a point during travel when you have reached your peak.
(Sometimes but not always a literal peak like the Tongariro Crossing)
Although the time it takes to reach that pinnacle of experience varies, I can say that personally it sets in around day 5 or 6 a certain location or adventure. Usually after a week, I feel like I have seen and done enough to placate my adventurous soul for a while and I need space to decompress and internalize my experience. I can also say that extending your trip too far beyond your pinnacle can result in a gradual decline of wonder, discovery and physical ability.
I am used to the highs and lows of travel and more often than not they track physical challenges that are usually the highlight of my travels. However with these incredible physical accomplishments like the Tongariro Crossing in NZ, biking the Aran Islands in Ireland, and biking the temples in Cambodia, comes extreme day-after exhaustion. It is a physical low met with an emotional high of accomplishment and self-satisfaction. After massive physical accomplishments it is crucial to have several days of rest and recuperation if I am continuing my travels, or my trip must come to an end within a few days.
Thankfully our New Zealand bus tour was almost at an end after our triumphant completion of the Tongariro Crossing. The very next day we were on the bus all day driving to Wellington for our last night with the group. While I mostly slept, we did stop for some side-of-the-road antics in Taihape.
Gumboot throwing! We had a little competition to see who could throw the gumboot (Wellington boot or “wellies”) the furthest. As the two token Americans, Linda and I stepped up to the plate (concrete slab), warming up before giving it our best shot. We take competition very seriously.
Linda absolutely destroyed me with her magnificent tennis-trained swing. My throw was absolutely pathetic and does not even need to be mentioned. Linda was very close to winning farthest throw for the ladies! In general, everybody was a lot better than me and it was fun to watch.
The winners! I think they won a piece of candy. Haha.
4 hours of driving later, we pulled into Wellington, the southern-most city of the North Island. After dumping our stuff in our hostel, we walked along the harbor in the blistering cold wind to the Wellington Museum where we learned about the city’s relatively short history. But we had to rush back to the hostel to get ready for our last night with our Stray Bus buddies who were generous enough to throw me a “Hen Party”, also known as my first Bachelorette party!
Our massive group gathered at the bar next to our hostel and we spent the night celebrating by drinking, dancing and singing along to ridiculous early 2000’s hits. Of course we ended up at karaoke and I wowed the crowd with a rendition of “I Want It That Way” of course. It was the perfect Hen Party and I felt so incredibly honored and moved by the support of my new friends.
After just 7 days of adventuring on the North Island, we were a tight-knit group of various ages and nationalities. While most of our friends were continuing on to the South Island, our journey was over. The next day Linda and I were due on a 8-hour bus ride directly to Auckland. We had reached our travel peak and were determined to go out with a bang in honor of my upcoming nuptials!
Although the Tongariro Crossing was the definite pinnacle of our trip, my very first bachelorette party thrown for me by my travel friends was the perfect ending to a wonderful journey. There is truly no better culmination of a trip than a final gathering and celebration of the future.
I know that New Zealand will always be one of my favorite travel experiences, not because of the things I accomplished, but because of the people I shared it with. People like Linda, my amazing mother-in-law who made this trip a reality. Thank you for your unwavering support and your courage to follow me and my crazy travel schemes.
Cheers to you, my friends.
