New Zealand Tourism?

[Jake Featherston]

My tv got left on this evening, and a program has just begun about the virtues and pleasures of tourism in New Zealand. The funny thing is, while New Zealand certainly appears to be a lovely country, there is very little there (in terms of its natural beauty and outdoors activities, which is the apparent sole focus of this program) that we don't have right here in California. I don't understand the logic of paying to fly all the way to New Zealand in order to fish and water ski and bungee jump. You can do all those things right here!

Travelling to places like Britain, France, Italy, Greece, and Egypt makes sense to me, because there are things there (the Colloseum, the Great Pyramids, the Eiffel Tower, etc.) that I would like to visit and see for myself. The thing is, that should be obvious to pretty much anyone. What I think is going on here is that people today are too stupid/ignorant/uncouth to care about visiting the Louvre or the Parthenon. To most people today, the only purpose of travel is to basically star in your own Mountain Dew commercial. Not that there's anything wrong with outdoor pursuits, but its difficult to justify travelling all the way across the Pacific to do the same stuff we can do outdoors here. It just seems sad to me that travel has become an activity completely divorced from any sort of intellectual/cultural/educational experience, and is now being marketed as basically nothing more than an opportunity to brag about all the various places one has driven a jet ski.

[Ahknaton]

Maybe it's not a very rewarding prospect for a Californian, but for a time during the 1990s it was cheaper for a Japanese businessman to have a weekend of golf in New Zealand than in Japan. Besides, if you are serious about outdoors activity it actually does make a difference WHICH particular mountain you are climbing or forest you are walking through. It's not like mountaineers climb a single mountain and then retire because... hey, seen one, seen 'em all! I certainly hope to experience the American Great Outdoors one day (perhaps even ruminate on the JQ while strolling through the Appalachians), even although I can and do go hiking in NZ or Australia whenever I want to. So why go to America? Because Great Outdoorses are not fungible.

[RuneX2]

Do you have fjords in California?

[Larrikin]

Do you have fjords in California?
Something like Milford Sound in high winds with heavy rain sure is something you don't get to see in California, I guess. And it's well worth getting soaking wet taking a cruise then. Amazing.

[shanemac]

I like to travel interstate. It's so exciting to watch TV in a completely different state.

[Ace Rimmer]

New Zealand is apparently infested with Jewish hikers.

[Jake Featherston]

Do you have fjords in California?

Probably one or two. Its a good question, actually.

EDIT: Apparently the nearest one is in Washington. Someone on the Internet has claimed that there is a fjord on Santa Catalina Island, but I can't find any verification of that.

[Jake Featherston]

I like to travel interstate. It's so exciting to watch TV in a completely different state.

Its amazing, however, how much better the fast food joints that operate in poor areas (translaton: White people work there instead of Mexicans) of the USA are. Whenever I visit my friend in the San Joaquin Valley, I always like to stop at the Merced Taco Bell. Its fucking ten times better than any Taco Bell here in San Jose, yet for the same price. of course, even in Merced, there are definitely better places to eat....

[harjit]

It just seems sad to me that travel has become an activity completely divorced from any sort of intellectual/cultural/educational experience, and is now being marketed as basically nothing more than an opportunity to brag about all the various places one has driven a jet ski.

There isn't any particular indication that people are traveling less for cultural or educational experiences.

[Jake Featherston]

There isn't any particular indication that people are traveling less for cultural or educational experiences.

Perhaps not, but the way they were marketing the idea of tourism in New Zealand just struck me as depressing.

[John Abney-Hastings]

Why visit New Zealand when you can just watch Lord of the Rings? :rofl:

[Ace Rimmer]

I lived for 18 years near the entrance to the Abel Tasman National Forest and only met two Israelis (two men traveling together) in that whole time.

It's a joke :D

http://www.thephora.net/forum/showthread.php?p=453176#post453176

http://www.thephora.net/forum/showthread.php?p=454165#post454165

[harjit]

I want to go through Yellowstone National Park some day, if you want someone to go with send me a PM.
I want to go too, sometime.

The idea of you and me going together is hilarious. We'd both be trying to get the other eaten by a grizzly bear. :rofl:

[Jake Featherston]

Why visit New Zealand when you can just watch Lord of the Rings? :rofl:

Why have a picnic in the park when you can just pop a pill?

[harjit]

Unlike you Harjit, I don't have any intentions of physically harming people just because they disagree with me.
No, you just want to tear them out of their homes and put them on a boat to some land they've never seen because they have a different skin colour. :rolleyes: