What would you do on a five-week vacation?

My uses for that much time in one shot would be among two choices:

I would like to go on a conservation expedition, either in Africa against poachers, or on the ocean. I've always wanted to go on a Cousteau expedition, or would consider a turn with an outfit like the Sea Shepherd, too.

Or, I'd spend some time in one of the poorest places on Earth and see if I could make some small difference while doing some kind of missionary and service work.

 

It really is a great country with so much to like. What struck me as odd was when I told my Kiwi friends I was considering studying in New Zealand, the one consistent response I got was "won't you be bored?" I was only there for about 10 days, but if that was any kind of sample, I highly doubt I'd find living there boring.

 

My first (incredibly unoriginal) thought was Australia, somewhere I've always wanted to go but never thought I had the time to visit properly. Perhaps European capitals?

I really don't like long-distance driving, but a trip across the country has intrigued me since a friend did it to get from New York City to Los Angeles for college. He drove back and forth several times, and once traced all of historic Rt. 66. I'd like to go as a tourist, stopping whenever distracted by cool-sounding stuff on road signs. But I fear my inner journalist would kick in and I'd wind up with a blog... but not necessarily about anything original.

 

I have a couple of Kiwi friends who agree that it's not the world's most exciting place to live. Any place is what you make of it, but I get the idea that fairly large swathes of NZ are pretty ... insular, is perhaps a nice way of saying it.

One of them has occasionally suggested that she might go back, but when push comes to shove, she never does.

 

I've been thinking about this because I'm a lousy tourist. I hate the idea of going to look at museums, try to see as much as possible in a certain span of time. One of my favourite things about my job is that I get the chance to go someplace new and just live there for 5 to 7 weeks. You visit places on your day off, etc. but you get a really nice feeling for the place when you stop at your regular coffee place every day on the way to rehearsal, etc.

Although 5 weeks on my bike in Europe would still be pretty cool.

 

A slight threadjack/shout-out to our SportsJournalists.com friends in British Columbia:

We're heading over to Seattle this summer and looking to fit in a day/overnight trip to a nearby area.

My wife suggested taking the ferry to Victoria for an overnight, and asked me what I thought.

After reading about Vancouver Island and all the cool outdoorsy stuff to see and do there, I want to spend the whole week there.

If you add in the city of Vancouver and the Canadian Rockies, you probably could spend 3-5 weeks just wandering through western Canada.

 

Victoria is nice, always pretty to walk around the harbour but I think you have the right idea to explore more of the island depending on your time.

Tofino and Uculet are pretty awesome and the drive to get there is pretty. The towns on the East side of the island have lots to offer, nude bungee jumping once a year in Nanaimo for something different.

Lots of pretty towns with good vibes. Saltspring Island is very worth a visit even if you don't like hippies.

 

I'm a museum person. I love them.
Art museums and art galleries in particular.
Fyi, learned on a recent trip that Colorado Springs has a really nice little art museum at it's Fine Arts Center. I thought it was better than the Denver Art Museum.

 

At risk of outing myself, although enough people on this site already know who I am, I live on the Island, there is a ton to see. Victoria has a lot of real neat things, but I find is almost too touristy, stillvery beautiful. Tofino is paradise. Go surfing or just hang out on the beach. Again a small tourist-driven town, but you don't go to Tofino for the town. Uculet is nice too, and is south of Tofino by about 30 minutes. Nanaimo, about 1:45 up the east coast from Victoria, has plenty to offer for a day or two, but is often overlooked. Parksville, just north of Nanaimo, is famous for its beaches but they are nowhere near as nice as Tofino's. There is a lot to checkout all over the Island. A lot of hiking and exploring and a lot of places where youc an just go and chill out. If you want to know more, PM me.

 

Admittedly, I stuck to larger cities (Wellington, Dunedin and Auckland), so perhaps I didn't get the full measure of the place. That said, after dealing with Jakarta for four years, a place not being the most exciting doesn't bother me all that much.