Photojournal // New Zealand
It was a bright afternoon—no clouds, just pure blue lakes reflecting pure blue skies and the sun reflecting off snow-capped peaks. And I was on a bus winding along these empty New Zealand roads, the sound of Leonard Cohen's Live from London concert floating through the bus speakers, his deep voice singing "Hallalujah" in an even deeper valley.
I felt like I was in a movie.
I had a lot of moments like that in New Zealand. And I think that's what's so great about travel: the way it gives our lives these movie-moments that can't be found in the monotony of our usual routine.
***
What's that phrase again? A picture is worth a thousand words? Well, that's not true, I don't think. Photos can't capture the fullness of a moment, can't capture the laughs I had playing a popular French card game with our friend from Lille, can't capture the sound of an avalanche echoing through a valley, can't capture the magnitude of the mountains and just how small you felt standing next to sheer cliff walls, your head straining back to peer at its peaks.
Photos can't fully capture that. But that's okay; they're still fun to look at.
(Read more about my trip to New Zealand here.)
NEW TO AIRBNB?
Use my referral code to get $40 off your first Airbnb stay!
RELATED POSTS:
- Read about my trip to New Zealand in the travel essay, Finding Peace in New Zealand.
- Been to New Zealand already and are looking for another bucket-list worthy destination? Norway is it.
NOW PLAYING
"Revelator Eyes" // The Paper Kites
I like to do this thing where I pick an album or two to exclusively and extensively listen to while on a trip, and The Paper Kites' new album, twelvefour, was what I listened to every. single. day. while in New Zealand (no, really).
I was introduced to this Aussie band by a friend who is always on point with music suggestions. The album takes me back to the 80s glory days that I never actually experienced because I was born in the 90s. But nonetheless, it takes me there, and I love it.
This song is my favorite on the album along with "Electric Indigo" and "A Silent Cause." Please go listen to the entire album and then buy it because musicians need money too an' stuff.
My London is circling Heathrow on our descent while playing The 1975’s “Robbers” on repeat. My London is a tree on Primrose Hill, sitting underneath it year after year, a bit like marking my growth on a door frame.
My London is a Thai restaurant with only six small tables tucked into a room in a square across from the Natural History Museum. My London is a bench on the banks of the Thames, the Shard barely visible behind a brown stone church on the opposite bank.
My London is a mocha and a notebook and all sorts of thoughts ready to wrestle with the blank page. My London is raindrops and wind gusts and grey skies spread wide.
This is an essay on what makes a city feel like home + photos from my trip to London in March 2018.