Stories – about travel

A few Saturdays ago, I was upstairs making lunch while my flatmate Kenny talked about how crazy-busy his night job had gotten – bartending at a local Mexican restaurant called the Flying Burrito Brothers. Since I’d arrived in Christchurch, I had been debating finding some part-time work at a restaurant to bring in a little extra … Read More

Since deciding to come to New Zealand, I’ve been asked several times what my expectations are for my time here. My first reaction was to laugh – expectations? By my second year of college, I’d learned that life is never what I expect it to be, be that better or worse. My time in London was … Read More

In the same spirit of being in New Zealand which has led me to try Milo and Marmite, I recently picked up Tolkien’s The Hobbit. I’d given it a try maybe ten years ago, but never made it through. So far round two has gone well and even turned up a rather fitting quote: “Now … Read More

I’m just settling down in my new flat to watch Flight of the Conchords with a warm mugfull of Milo – a Kiwi original similar to Ovaltine. I am officially unpacked and it feels great. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to this particular flat – just the idea of getting settled in a place – … Read More

I’ve got nothing but time right now, and it’s a beautiful thing. Work doesn’t start until Tuesday as today and Monday are national holidays. Amber and Andy are off at Easter Camp for the weekend with about 3,000 Christchurch youth and I won’t see Arron until tomorrow night. And as an additional consequent of the … Read More

Written my last day in Fiji. Indecision threatened to get the best of me as I tried to choose the right island day cruise for my last day in Fiji. With the cheaper options not offering the best snorkeling options, I was looking at trips priced at over a hundred Fiji dollars. When I was at the … Read More

Written my second day in Fiji. Having gone to bed around 7.30 last night, we were up before the sun today. Breakfast at the hostel isn’t served until 6.30 (never before have I had to wait for breakfast) so we laid in bed a while longer til it was time. It was a gorgeous morning – … Read More

We landed in Nadi (pronounced Nandy) around 5.45am, with two major sighs of relief: One when my bag came out on the luggage carousel, another once I saw a man from my hostel holding a sign with “Candice Riarden” on it. It was close enough for me. It’s funny, I’ve been booking hostels online for several … Read More

So a lot has happened in the past month about which I’ve shamefully neglected to post…well, partly from neglect and partly from a never-ending lack of steady internet. Trips to Tallinn, Helsinki, Amsterdam, Bruges, and Prague along with moving to London – but I’m going to go a little out of order and write about Prague as … Read More

The first stop on our ten-day tour of Scandinavia was a two nights’ stay in Stockholm, Sweden. Landing in Sweden was a big moment for me as I’ve never been to Europe before. Over the summer, I found that each time I had the opportunity to tell someone what I was doing with my life … Read More