The People That Make Your Day

So I’ve told you all about vegan-hating Alicia (the wwoof host that made it known that she didn’t agree with my lifestyle choice), as well as Michael who is better known as the naked yoga man. While these people have given me very interesting (and in retrospect, very funny) stories to tell they don’t exactly paint the best picture in terms of people I’ve met since being in New Zealand. For this reason I want to tell you about 3 people that I have met that made my day on numerous occasions.

The first person was the driver of one of the buses that I was on for about 10 days, from Able Tasman all the way back up to Picton, at the top of the South island. Now I’m sure your thinking  “a bus driver well doesn’t that sound boring” but this was no ordinary bus driver. First of all she was vegan! That in itself says a lot. Second of all she literally exudes happiness, happiness that is incredibly contagious. Her bus commentary normally ended with phrases such as “sweet as” (a typical kiwi phrase) or my favorite “happy days”. How can you not feel happy after hearing that? She is by far the most optimistic and laid back person I have ever met. A perfect example of this was when we were pulling up in front of our hostel in Wanaka, there was a small car parked in the bus park. Kea decided that she would pull in in front of it. All seemed to be going well until she started straightening out... which was when we heard a very loud crunch. She got out to inspect it and all I heard was a laugh. I’m pretty sure the rest of us on the bus were more worried then she was. Lucky for her it turned out to be the car of one of her friends. Which just goes to show that when you don’t stress over things you can’t control things normally end up working themselves out.

The next two people are Skip and Scarlett, retired teachers and rangers in Yosemite national park. I had the privilege of being on the same bus as them for 10 days as well and let me tell you those ten days really did make my entire trip just that much better.  Not only did they do everything that the rest of us did and fit right in with the much younger average age of the bus (and I don’t mean for that to sound rude at all) but they also knew how to have a good time. Our last night as a group was in Queenstown, a place known for its partying (FUN FACT: there is a bar for every 54 people), so all of us went out to the bar... and sure enough Skip and Scarlett were there drinking and dancing along with the rest of us.

They were really just so inspiring! I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who loved life more then this couple. They were living proof that the adventure never needs to end, it doesn’t matter how old you are you are never too old to travel and try new things!