Traveling Tips
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Travel: 7 things you must know before going to New Zealand
New Zealand is one of the most interesting places we’ve ever been to. After 78 days of traveling throughout the country, we’ve decided to create a post with our personal tips about touring around the hobbits and kiwis’ land. Get your pen ready! 1. Just like Australia, New Zealand is far. Really far. In our case, we had to take an airplane from Brazil to Santiago, Chile, then, we crossed the Pacific Ocean until we arrived in Auckland. The time difference from Brazil was of 15 or 16 hours—depending on the time of the year. That’s why we strongly recommend you stay, at least, for 15 days in the country…
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Transfercar: our experience of renting a car for free in New Zealand
Write down this tip if you’re traveling on a budget: In the early days when we were planning our project, we came across this collaborative system that allows us to rent a car, or a camper, free of charges. Since then, we tried to organize our schedule in a way that we could find opportunities to relocate cars for the rental companies in Transfercar — a great way to save money and help the companies at the same time. In New Zealand, we drove from Queenstown to Christchurch, stopping in Lake Pukaki and in Mount Cook. We had two days to drive through the 373 miles paying only for the…
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Stirling Point: cycling from Invercargill to the end of the world
It didn’t matter how the person got there. Walking, cycling, or even driving. Everyone who arrived at Stirling Point was greeted by excited voices: “You did it! You’ve arrived here! ” While we were eating our sandwiches (because going to the end of the world made us hungry), we saw a girl, she must have been our age, arriving at the famous signpost. She hugged it tightly and we shared her tears. Wearing dusty, and worn-out clothes, she was celebrating the end of a long walk to the end of New Zealand. Arriving at Stirling Point isn’t about visiting a landmark. Getting there means you went as far as you…
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Backpacking: how we packed for seven months traveling around Chile and Oceania
To understand how hard is to organize an efficient (and light!) suitcase for a trip that combines different weathers, here’s a summary of how we packed for the second part of our trip – through Chile, Australia, and New Zealand – so far: We spent our first fifteen days of the trip in Valdivia, in southern Chile. It was October and besides raining every day, the temperature was around 41°F. So, we needed warmer and dry clothes (what is tricky when there’s no dry machine). Then, we went to Pichilemu. The temperature there was about 68°F, but since we were at a hostel a few steps away from the beach…
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6 tips to those traveling to Australia
1. Don’t cross the Pacific Ocean just to spent a week in Australia. The time difference from Brazil to Australia, for example, is of 15 hours. You will need a couple of low-key days just to get used to the time. If you’re looking forward to enjoying the country to its fullest, we’d say to spare, at least, fifteen days to visit the country. If you have how to stay longer, don’t hesitate on doing that. There’s plenty to see there. 2. The Australian summer is very hot. The heatwaves are so strong that there are warning alerts about them. Although they are great months to enjoy the beach, December,…
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Adelaide: Where to see kangaroos in the wild in Australia
One more gift from Australia: seeing kangaroos in the wild. That’s Belair National Park, the oldest national park in South Australia, a place of exuberant nature where we’ve seen koalas, a porcupine, and a hare. In the middle of our hiking… there were more than 15 kangaroos around us. We kept a safe distance from them (kangaroos can get VERY angry if you invade their space), found a place to sit, and enjoyed the companion of these intriguing animals. As we can see in the picture above, from time to time, they also checked on the ‘intriguing humans’…
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Termas de Colina: How to visit the Andes Mountains when in Santiago
Our list of impressive things to do in Chile grows every day. The experience of swimming in the hot spring waters warmed by the San José volcano, in Termas de Colina, with the view of the Cordillera de los Andes (Andes Mountains), was surreal. We gathered some hot tips in case you want to try this adventure: When in Santiago, the Chilian capital city, you can visit not only Termas de Colinas, but some other tourist attractions — such as the reservoir called Embase de Yeso (picture emerald lake and snowy peaks), waterfalls, and vineyards — on the same day. The hot spring site is made up by nine natural…
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6 things we learned during our first week in Chile
After only a week in Chile, we’ve already learned: 1. If someone sneezes near you, you shouldn’t say “bless you”! People believe that saying something after a sneeze will bring bad luck. 2. If people invite you to lunch, you shouldn’t arrive at noon. Here, people usually have lunch around 13:30, or later. 3. If you’re talking to someone in Spanish and this person says ‘Un rato por favor’, it doesn’t mean you are supposed to give them an animal (rato in Portuguese = mouse). This idiomatic expression means, ‘wait a minute, please’. You may also hear ‘Un ratito por favor’. That’s the same idea. 4. When talking about relationships,…
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Peru: How is it like to visit Machu Picchu
No doubt Machu Picchu went to the top of our list of the most incredible things we’ve done on this trip so far (and it is a hard competition!). The Inca city is one of the UNESCO Heritage Site and we understand why. What a place! Machu Picchu was considered an elite city for the Inca Empire. It was built in total harmony with nature (honoring Mother Earth and Father Sun) and was the home of engineers, researchers, teachers, and religious. At the site, scholars studied astronomy, and how the elements of nature influenced productivity for agriculture, the basis of the economy at that time. The result is an impressive…
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Peru: how is it like to visit Cusco, the Incan city?
What a history class! Walking around Cusco is like traveling back to the 1500s when Spanish conquerors invaded the city and conquered the Inca Empire. In this historic town churches, squares, museums, and other buildings mix Inca and Spanish architecture. Coricancha, the stunning Inca Temple of the Sun, for example, can be compared to the Vatican in importance to the Incas. When the Spanish took the city, they demolished a great part of Coricancha and then built a cathedral on the site. Elements of nature, such as the sun and moon, were replaced by angels and saints. Entire rooms covered with gold were melted and sent to Spain along with…