Welcome Back to Breakfast with Lisa & Josh!

Soundtrack for this newsletter: Salamanca - Sarah, the Illstrumentalist

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New Zealand is sticky.

Not like duct tape sticky, but sticky to the mind.

Ever since we wrapped up 3 straight weeks in a tiny campervan in New Zealand, we can't stop thinking about it.

Images like these keep coming back -

There really is no place like it. Nowhere as dramatic. Nowhere with as much natural beauty mixed with friendliness and interesting culture and untamed nature.

Mountains right next to glacial lakes right next to countless delicious fish and chips shops.

And, as we found out (if you haven't seen our video yet, check it out here), there's really only one right way to do it all.

A road trip. Preferably in a campervan.

And that's a very good thing because it may very well be the most perfect road trip location on planet earth.

With a few good weeks of hindsight to clarify our thinking, we came up with this, Our 7 Rules of Thumb (or is it “Rules of Thumbs?” asks Lisa) for the Perfect New Zealand roadtrip.

1 - You really do need your own transportation.

It's not like New Zealand doesn't have public transportation. It absolutely does.

However, everywhere we wanted to go was not be accessible by it.

So you very much need a car or a campervan to see this country properly.

Most of the best things here are very far away from the main towns. These campsites, these hikes, these mountains.

A trip to New Zealand is very much a DIY experience. Lean into that. Explore, drive until your body aches, and you will be rewarded.

2 - Paying for campsites is optional (here me out)

No, I’m not talking about skipping out on payments. Part of what makes NZ so incredible is the amount of trust and honesty all around, amongst locals and travelers alike. Many of the campsites are unmanned and self-register sites based on the honesty system. Many are even donation based. It’s a beautiful, kind thing—let’s definitely keep it that way. :)

That being said…

If having the most campsites per capita was a metric of running a country successfully (which we definitely think it should be) - New Zealand would be the clear winner.

They're everywhere. Just take a look at the 1000+ in the great Rankers app.

Fancy RV sites with all the bells and whistles, Department of Conservation campsites right in the middle of cities, sites right in the middle of national parks, sites at the foothills of mountains.

And, almost everywhere, free sites.

Some are in less desirable locations like parking lots in the outskirts of cities, but they are available just about anywhere you'd want to go. They all have bathrooms, usually running water, and other amenities.

Some are even truly breathtaking.

There is one small thing - you have to have the right gear to access them - a toilet and a grey water tank in your transportation. And, most importantly, you have to have this sticker.

Yes, if your campervan is self contained, the doors to New Zealand's beautiful and free campsites scattered all around the country fly wide open for you.

You'll also have to rethink much of your trip around these free campsites - some are a drive from the city centers and national parks you'll be spending most of your time in, usually in a compact parking lot right next to your neighbors, and you usually have to arrive early, especially in high season, to ensure a spot.

We found that starting the day early, seeing everything we want to see, and then cooking our own dinners at the campsite each night was the right strategy for us.

But, if you can change your mindset to match, you could theoretically do your entire trip here without spending a penny on accommodations.

And that means more money for fish and chips.

3 - Takeaway fish and chips are a way of life

There are these wonderful little shops all around New Zealand with big red signs that say "TAKEAWAY".

These are your lifelines. Your happy place. The site of your daily spiritual fish and chips ritual.

All the best food at the best prices is contained within.

You know you've found a great one when they also sell sweet and sour chicken and nasi goreng and chow mein. Those are also delicious, but the fish and chips are what you're here for.

For the low low price of $7 US, anywhere in the country, you can get this 3 KG pound  bundle of joy - a massive, almost comical amount of fried goodness wrapped up tight in yesterday's newspaper.

4 - Reduce your width, increase your depth

This is a lesson we learned much too late.

When you look at the map of New Zealand, it can be really easy to say, especially if your from the USA and used to long drives -

"Oh, that's not so far, we'll be able to cover a lot!"

Wrong.

The roads here are something else. Construction, endless orange cones, and the tiny windy 2 lane roads that cover the actual entire country all add up to one thing -

If you're not careful, you'll end up spending almost all your time on this trip driving.

What we found is that we needed to reduce our expectations of how far we'd be able to go every day, and instead, focus much more on diving deep into the things that were around us.

That means hiking in the parks instead of trying to fit 3 more waterfalls in (although we did get to fit 3 waterfalls in a day at the incredible Tongariro National Park!)

Exploring the incredible museum of Te Papa for a whole day instead of trying to jam in a trip to wine country "just 2 hours down the road" that's actually 4-5 hours away.

Visiting all the great shops and spending time debating on which of the 4 fish and chips shops is the best, and then ending up trying them all just to be sure.

Dive deep into fewer things instead of frantically going wide and shallow on a bunch of things.

The less time we spent driving, the better time we had. We learned to slow down, take in what's around, and tried not to worry about seeing it all.

Plus, it gives us a great reason to come back. Which we definitely will.

5 - Make it a ritual to stop at Pak n Save

If you're on a budget on your trip to New Zealand, and let's face it, who isn't? There's only one right place to spend the bulk of your grocery money while you're here.

There's not much else to say here. It's the right choice. We found many other supermarkets to be significantly more expensive and much less to offer.

Go to the one right place.

And then get a discount code from the register and save money on the preposterous petrol costs.

That's what I call a win-win.

6 - Tiaki

We learned about the word “tiaki” while traveling through New Zealand. Tiaki is a Māori word that loosely translates to “care, conserve, and protect.”

You know that feeling after you’ve cleaned the kitchen or your living room after a complete state of disarray? That feeling— mixed with contentment, inspiration, motivation, extreme care and desire to keep it clean. That’s the feeling we had when traveling throughout New Zealand.

It only took us a few minutes into our road trip to realize that the natural beauty of New Zealand is truly unique. There's just no where else like it.

That means that it's all of our jobs to keep it as good, or, hopefully, better than we found it. We’re guests here, we realized, so we should act like it. That meant picking up our trash, emptying our grey water tank in the right places, camping only where we’re allowed to, and using the provided bathrooms instead of the bushes.

Recently New Zealand had to put significant restrictions on its Freedom Camping laws because tourists were not doing the simplest things, not respecting the land that they were guests upon.

Tiaki.

7 - She’ll be right, mate

According to Wikipedia: “‘She'll be right’ (often followed by a friendly term of address such as mate) is a frequently used idiom in New Zealand culture that expresses the belief that ‘whatever is wrong will right itself with time,’ which is considered to be either an optimistic or apathetic outlook.

The term can also be used to refer to a situation or object which is not perfect but is good enough to fulfill its purpose.”

Like our campervan.

I think it's much more than an idiom. It felt at times like this was the unifying motto of the entire country and its inhabitants.

Coming from the US, it can be easy to feel like everything has to be changing or that we need some sense of control of everything in our lives, especially a big trip to New Zealand. Maybe it’s just me, but it can feel like we're bad at letting go, just letting things be, and especially waiting.

It’s honestly why I have the word “patience” tattooed on my wrist.

So when you come here, try your best to adopt the local philosophy.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

When in New Zealand, she'll be right, mate.

We had to remind ourselves midway through our trip of this motto—not to worry ourselves with all the little and big things out of our control—the weather, the campsites, the roads, and the problems that inevitably popped up on our drive through an entire country.

Taking a step back, realizing that we didn’t need control over every single thing, and fixing problems as they arose felt like the way to go.

We weren’t here to stress and sprint around the country in a hurry trying to check off every single thing from our "must-do in New Zealand trip list" - we were here to enjoy the place and people and culture of this wonderful country.

And we couldn’t do whilst trying to change everything about it all the time.

She'll be right, mate. Just give it time.

Today

Filming 3 Days in Singapore on a Budget :)

The (Near) Future

Back in Southeast Asia and it feels so good (and warm!)

Our Latest Videos

Travel (Support) Thursday is back and on a new channel. In this one, we answer your questions about the ultimate Chase portal, how we stay healthy while traveling, and our top budget travel picks for 2024.

The new home of our video podcasts on youtube :)

See you next week…ish :)

- josh (and lisa)

Oh, and if you want to learn how we afford to take all these trips after quitting our jobs 3 years ago, you’ll likely be interested in our Skillshare course on Travel Hacking and Frequent Flier Miles.

Check it out here: https://skl.sh/3UzMqUx

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