November 2010 Archives - A Cruising Couple

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We Have a Wedding Venue!!!

Nov 152010

Success!!! After many, many, many hours in the car and about nine different wedding venues, we have found the perfect place for our wedding! We were anxious to go ahead and secure a location as we knew we wanted to get married in May (one of the two most popular wedding months in North Carolina), and we knew we wanted to get married at a vineyard. Since Dan proposed at a wine cellar and we both preferred an outdoor location, a vineyard seemed the perfect fit. So we set out with a list of venues that weren’t too far away and that claimed to be “great” spots for weddings. However, we quickly found out the word great was loosely used. The first vineyard was actually just a field with vines that were completely bare. They had just held a vineyard-warming party, so the badminton net and brightly colored Christmas lights made it difficult to imagine a classy, moonlit wedding reception. We actually couldn’t help but laugh when we got out of the car. But that was only the start; each new vineyard brought with it new problems: too small, on the highway, way out of our budget, actually just a trailer, etc. And with each vineyard being about an hour apart, it was hard not to get discouraged.

Luckily, there was one last place we were waiting to see. It was a vineyard in the middle of Chapel Hill and Wilmington, one which Dan had passed countless times on his way to UNC. The name? Duplin Vineyards. We actually knew the events planner there, so we woke up early last weekend and made the drive out to meet her. Thankfully, it was absolutely perfect! Lush, beautiful vineyards, large enough for everyone we want to invite, with a quaint pond and barn shelter. We’re really excited about the location and now that we have a wedding venue we can’t wait to get the planning in motion! So stay tuned because it’s official: Friday, May 20th we will be saying our vows and celebrating afterward at Duplin Vineyards in Rose Hill, NC!

The Best Way to See New Zealand

Nov 152010

By Dan

If you read the About Us page you might recall that my favorite expedition was a road trip through the beautiful countryside of New Zealand. I want to use this post to tell you a little bit about how awesome it was and maybe convince you to check it out if you are ever in the area. The trip starts off with two friends (we’ll call them Doug and Chad) I had met through studying abroad at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia.

We had met earlier in the year and quickly decided that since we were so close to New Zealand we would have to plan some kind of trip to see what it was all about. If you don’t know me, I like to be semi-organized when it comes to traveling. Casey is always more than willing to hop on the next plane to anywhere, which makes for some really awesome adventures, but I like to have my travel plans a little more structured. So I set out a loose itinerary just to make sure we could hit all the key spots: pancake rocks near Greymouth, Franz Josef glacier, Mount Cook, Wanaka, Queenstown, and Christchurch. Of course I included plenty of time on the side for mischief.

I was very proud of how well our trip turned out. We did it right and slept in the car almost all of the eight nights. The only exclusion was our stay in Queenstown where we bathed and re-charged in a hostel. This was well needed seeing as Queenstown is the adventure capital of the world and the birthplace of bungee jumping (from personal experience I would highly recommend the Nevis).

Out of everything I saw and experienced on the south island of New Zealand I can easily pick out two of my favorite moments. The first one would be the sunrise on Mt. Iron in Wanaka (pictured below).

We got up at 5:30 in the morning and hiked 2 miles to the top, which didn’t feel worth it at the time as the temperature was barely above freezing. (Since I hadn’t planned on being cold in tropical north Queensland, Australia I was quite unprepared for this type of weather. Luckily my friend, we’ll call this one James, was kind enough to lend me some of his cold weather gear before we left.) But when we got to the top we had an amazing 360 degree view of the lake and town below, covered in a mystical fog. As the sun slowly rose, the fog literally lifted off the land and glittered gold. It was the second most beautiful thing I had ever seen (Casey definitely takes the top spot ).

My second favorite moment: stargazing. We had just finished up our day hiking Franz Josef Glacier and drove about twenty miles out of “town” until we could find a place to sleep. We eventually found a little campsite next to the beach and decided this would suffice. We pulled up and used our headlights to set up our 2-person tent for the 3 of us. After assembling the tent we decided to journey to the water and check out the beach. As soon as the car lights went off our eyes adjusted so we could see. Stars filled the sky like I had never witnessed in my life. Wilmington, NC lies on the coast but is quite a bit city with beach houses filling the coastline. The stars are cool, but mostly drowned by the residential lights. Your best chance at seeing the stars back home is to look straight up. But in New Zealand, we were miles from any power source and you could literally see stars from horizon to horizon. I’m not sure if it had to do with how clean the air is over there, but I have never seen such an amazing skyline. We could actually see the cloudy, glimmering band of the milky way galaxy. Absolutely stunning.

It’s moments like these that I enjoy the most; moments like experiencing the beauty of a new place with close friends. But words only do so much justice to a trip like the one we took. So if you are ever around New Zealand, I definitely encourage you to rent a car and some camping supplies and spend a week just driving around, exploring the country often deemed ‘the most beautiful in the world’.

How To: CouchSurfing

Nov 102010

One thing you’ll probably hear us mention a lot in our blog is CouchSurfing. It’s mentioned on the page The Road Ahead and is one of the major tools we will be using on our road trip. So what is CouchSurfing? Basically one of the best ways to travel without paying exorbitant amounts on hotels. Even hostel prices add up quickly when you are traveling for an extended amount of time. CouchSurfing is an awesome way to get around that by finding couches (and many times beds) where you’re going and then crashing there for free. The best way to get started is to check out the CouchSurfing site for yourself. It is basically a social network that connects travelers with the locals. You start by creating an account which then enables you to search through millions of users who have a place for you to stay.

Why would anyone voluntarily let you come into their home for free? If you go to the CouchSurfing website you will see that their motto is to create accessible travel for everyone while sharing inspiring experiences. Their big goal is to spur worldwide connections between people in an effort to really make the world a smaller place. In our personal experiences, it really varies. Some people want to host CouchSurfers as a way to learn more about other cultures. Others want to give travelers tips and tell them about the best things to do and see in their city. And some have CouchSurfed themselves and simply want to repay the favor by hosting other travelers. But regardless of why people choose to host, it really is a great tool to take advantage of. Not only do you get a free place to stay but you meet incredible people who can give you all the inside information on where you’re going. We have had hosts make us homemade pesto in Italy, pick us up from the airport in Madrid, and give us the keys to their house in New York. And every time we have met remarkable people and learned a lot from them.

If you’re not familiar with CouchSurfing then you’re probably thinking it sounds pretty dangerous to go stay with random people. But if you check out the website you will quickly see that there is actually quite a lot of information available to keep you from sketchy situations. For one thing, you have the person’s profile. This includes pictures, an about me, general random information, etc. Of course you can’t really trust just what one person says about themselves. That’s where fellow surfers’ comments come in. Whenever you look at someone’s profile you also get the opportunity to look at references left by other people who have surfed with them. People write about whether or not their experience was positive or negative, and why. The best part about it is that a member cannot delete or change any of the references left on their wall. So when you come across a profile that has hundreds of comments from people around the world that all say they had a great time at said persons house, you can be pretty sure that you are not putting yourself in a dangerous situation. And just in case that is still not enough for you, CouchSurfing encourages members to go through a verification and vouching process. If a person is verified it basically means that they have gone through a certain procedure which has enabled the CouchSurfing organization to confirm that their name and address are in fact correct. Vouching is when a member shows their support for a fellow member and takes responsibility for any action that he or she does. So if I vouch for someone and they turn out to be a creeper, it reflects on my credibility. This ensure that people are only vouching for people when they have insight into their character. The website has their own safety and tips page which fully describes all the measure you can take to ensure that your CouchSurfing experience is safe and enjoyable.

The best way to figure out if CouchSurfing is for you or not is to check out the website and read all about it. If you want a luxurious hotel getaway it’s probably not your best option. But if you are on a budget and want to meet the locals, we definitely recommend it. All of our experiences have been fantastic, and we definitely support their mission of connecting people across the world.