The Weekend: I don’t know how to travel

Madeleine Chapman reflects on the week that was.

This week we’ve been talking all about travel, from Joel trying his darnedest to get from the bottom to the top of the country without a car or plane, to our senior writers detailing their greatest ever trips. What has become immediately clear is that people love hearing about other people’s travels. I’m the same. I relish scrolling through an excessive social media post about every meal a friend has eaten while overseas. I watch videos of people visiting new places and reviewing the coffee there. And I love a travel movie where the protagonist learns an important life lesson from a local old lady.

But at the same time, I suck at travelling. I am really, really bad at experiencing another country.

Take my big OE, for example. When I was at university, I had no social life. I had few classes and lots of free time but spent most of it watching movies by myself and sleeping. It’s OK, I thought, I’m saving for my big OE and that’s when I’ll do lots of things. Thanks to being on a full scholarship, receiving a student allowance, cobbling together a number of jobs through Student Job Search and being dangerously frugal, I managed to save $12,000 by the time I graduated.

As somebody who sucks at travelling, I gave no real thought to finding an interesting, unique country to spend time in for my year away. Instead, I went to America because my grandma and other relatives lived there and I could stay with them. The thing about travelling in America is that a lot of America is far less interesting than New Zealand. And my grandma lived in Nebraska. So off I went with my $12,000 to spend my big OE walking from my grandma’s house to the cinema to watch movies by myself.

Despite saving a lot of money, I didn’t know how to spend it. I had lived my whole life figuring out the cheapest way to do everything that I never considered doing something fun just for the sake of it. I caught a 27-hour Amtrak train from Alberquerque to Chicago because it was cheaper than a flight. Did I take that opportunity to explore the midwest and all its quirky tiny towns? No, I just sat on the train for a long, long time. And then the train was so delayed I missed the event I had tickets for in Chicago.

I then took the overnight Greyhound bus from Boston to New York, meaning I was cramped, sore, and didn’t see a single part of the east coast out the window. All because it was $30 cheaper than taking the bus during the day.

In the five months I was there, I didn’t spend a single dollar on accommodation. Instead I couch-surfed. Something that is cool and fun to do if you’re wanting to meet new people and party with them as they show you around the city. That wasn’t me. Of the seven couchsurfing hosts I stayed with, six of them remain in the top 10 weirdest people I’ve ever met, and one of them still holds the crown for creepiest.

After five months of essentially having a somewhat miserable time for no reason (the one break being when my seasoned traveller cousin dragged me along on her own road trip, but even then I inexplicably declined a number of cheap activities), I found myself in New York. My couchsurfing host was a highly paid, very young web developer who appeared to host travellers simply to have fixed-term friends. I was deeply uncomfortable and when he yelled at me for walking behind him during a Zoom call, I realised I wanted to come home. I still had $6,000 and was in New York City, but did I splash out on some accommodation to enjoy the famous city for a week before coming home? Of course not. Did I just book a flight to another city (I had always wanted to see New Orleans) to stay there? No, because I hadn’t lined up free accommodation there. Instead, I booked a very expensive flight home for three days later and left having barely done anything.

When I think about my long, failed attempt to travel, I can’t help but feel regret. My version of travelling was to simply move my body from place to place for as little cost as possible. Now, I am at least more aware of the possibilities of travel, and the costs required if you want to be comfortable and have some peace.

Last summer, my partner and I drove a van around the South Island, staying at campgrounds along the way. It was the most fun I’ve ever had on a trip, even though we were technically just moving our bodies from place to place and spending very little money. Only this time it felt like a choice, not a trap.

This week on Behind the Story

After receiving a tip-off from an Elemeno P fan about a suspicious sounding new song from Elemeno P, staff writer Gabi Lardies followed the trail to a Ukrainian music producer, a distribution platform being sued for half a billion dollars, and the unresolved question: If it’s not Elemeno P, why is it on their official music pages? Gabi sat down with me for Behind the Story to discuss the new world of stories about AI, and the frustration when you can’t quite crack the case.

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.

What have readers spent the most time reading this week?

The US election and the longest commute dominates this week

Comments of the week

Joel MacManus with the Back 9 Creative Studio social football team in Invercargill. Thanks for the invite kipperontoast!

“We’ve had two pairs of cats that actually enjoyed fireworks – in the old days before home fireworks were seriously troubling. The cats would line up outside beside our children & eagerly watch pretty showers of multi-coloured sparks with dodgy names like golden rain – almost no bangs then. Second cat pair kept it up long after children grew – they sat in windows and watched the sky for neighbour fireworks. But with the explosive noise, damage & waste of today’s I’m all for stopping private sales”

— ClaraJ

“What a great idea! I’m currently in Europe and can’t get over how easy it is to get around with public transport. My next trip is comparable to yours in distance: from France (Lyon) to Spain (Seville) by train: 1,600km, 13h.. for only 120€/220nzd !”

— Welly2612