As a professional guide, one of the things I love most is not just to show you around our beautiful backyard but to meet many different people and ethnicities to learn from each other. There is nothing more rewarding than getting a big thanks and hug at the end of a journey, sometimes departing as newfound friends. New Zealand’s friendly and down-to-earth people will be one of the things you will treasure most about your visit. And for me, I cannot tell you how grateful I am to have met so many kind-hearted and exciting people from so many backgrounds.
Years ago, I had my first visitors from a Middle Eastern country. I prepared for the visit and learned about the rules; for example, I should not shake hands with people of the opposite gender.
This group was wealthy Omanis with several younger children, and as such, they were accompanied by a Nanny. We travelled the first day for 4 hours to Russell, a small Peninsula in the Bay of Island North of Auckland. One of the sons was only three years old, and like many families, he was dictating when we started in the morning and when to stop for a rest.
While concentrating on the road, I heard a conversation between the son and father. “Dad, can we stop for lunch at McDonald’s?” “No.” Said the Father. A few minutes later. “dad, why can’t we eat at McDonald’s?” Father: “because we do not support any businesses from America. Silence and screams, “BUT I WANT TO EAT AT MCDONALDS”. Father, red-faced, turns to me and asks me to stop at the next possible option at an American fast-food chain. A prayer followed lunch towards the Kaaba (the giant black cube in Mecca) in the McDonald’s facilities. I learned many things from this family, and they also learned from me. I was rewarded with a big hug from the entire family when we had to depart and say goodbye. I left and passed from my family.
I had to accompany a smaller group of family members from India. The leader of the group had travelled extensively due to his business.
For many in his family, it was the first time they visited another country outside India. So, a speech about their expectations and differences was delivered to me. They advised how operators would depart on time with no exceptions. I shared some insights into our culture and mentioned that we greet most people with a friendly smile and hello; whether shop owners or labour workers, we all get treated the same way, with respect.
I explained that New Zealanders don’t like to bargain and that we are a clean and green country trying to keep the environment as pristine as possible. I thought the information was well received and so we started touring. As we are aware of cultural differences, we apply a strategy of starting with earlier departure times so we know we can make it to the desired destination in time; this compensates for any cultural variations in punctuality.
While stopping at various coffee places for snacks, it was not unusual for me to collect the wrappers of some of my guest’s lunches from the ground. Naturally, this started to upset me. Then, one day driving through our pristine rainforest, I noticed that one passenger had opened the window and thrown out the packet of chips.
I could not hold it in anymore and stopped the van as soon as possible, opened the sliding door, and ordered the culprit to walk back to find the packet and bring it back to the truck. I might have mentioned in my anger that I was not going to start the van again until the rubbish was collected and gave an inspiring speech about the environment around us and their actions' impact.
You can imagine that the drive for the next hour was tranquil, and I thought I might have gone too far and was considering the backlash of my actions. However, to my immense relief, nothing was ever mentioned, and the trip continued with no further incidence.
To my surprise, a few weeks later, I received a very detailed letter of how impressed the group was with the tidiness of New Zealand and how we were an example in taking care of our country.
Two years ago, we had a repeat client from Mainland China arriving with some business friends. He was raving about his last trip to New Zealand and how I had the best local knowledge regarding the best restaurants in our country. He asked me to arrange a dinner for everyone, including me, at an excellent Thai restaurant in Wellington.
Wellington is world-renowned for great food, coffee, and craft beer. Wellington’s food scene is at the heart of New Zealand’s growing confidence as a foodie destination. So I decided, this time, that I wasn’t going to use some of my known locations and took to the online world of reviews with TripAdvisor.
The place I chose had a 5* rating, but I did not bother to check the restaurant myself. To my utter disbelief and embarrassment, this restaurant did not deliver what I had expected. We ended up eating in a small, untidy restaurant frequently visited by low-budget students.
My Chinese guest kept his head high, but I could see in his manner he was troubled and uncomfortable and ashamed, which may lead to loss of face. However, losing face in Chinese culture is about more than being embarrassed. In Chinese culture, you spend your entire life trying to build your social prestige and reputation while avoiding causing anyone else to lose theirs.
After embarrassing our hosts, it was a reality that he would not come back to me for another trip. So I never rely on reviews from others now and permanently check places before we recommend these to our clients.
On Tuesday, 22 February 2011, at 12.51 p.m., Christchurch was severely damaged by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake, which killed 185 people and injured several thousand. I was travelling with a group of 4 New Yorkers nearby when it happened.
In shock, but we needed to continue on our journey. We found one of the last petrol stations open and travelled to our next destination in Arthur Pass in the middle of the Southern Alps. A national emergency was declared on 23 February, and a Nation was in mourning. Many people were stranded, and we had and change routes and flights out of New Zealand.
Some of the coach companies had managed to leave the Christchurch hotels with their travellers unharmed but without their luggage, which was still in the gravel of the hotels they stayed in. We met many travelling in the same direction, trying to find some normality for our clients during this situation.
Two days later, we left one of the large hotels for our next destination in Queenstown, a 5-6-hour drive through some of the most remote areas in the country. Just before arriving in Queenstown, one of my travellers realized he had forgotten his and his wife’s passport and a good amount of cash and jewellery in one of the hotel’s safes.
There was no way to turn back, and under a national emergency, none of the posts or couriers was working. So, in typical New Zealand style, the hotel manager convinced one of the coaches to leave the next day to bring the valued package to Queenstown.
In the meantime, we had to move on to Dunedin, another 4hrs away. But in these moments, I realized how amazing and trustworthy we are in New Zealand. First, the coach dropped the parcel at the Queenstown hotel. From there, a local limousine company collected the valuables and held them overnight; he then gave them to a couple they knew who would fly back from the South Island to Auckland the next day.
In Auckland, they took the passport and money to the Hilton hotel, wherein a few days, my clients would return to depart back to America. Of course, none of the people knew the travellers or us, but everybody jumped in and went out of their way to ensure our groups could safely fly out of New Zealand.
In 2017 we had a family from California that bought their 15-year-old son and his friend to experience local adventures on the South Island. It was a huge success, and I was told we nailed the trip for the teenagers.
They gave us a 10 out of 10 rating. We were rewarded with another visit three years later, but this time the teenager was a young man. His mother was exquisite, stylish, and proper, not as adventurous as her husband and son.
Regardless this was a family trip, so compromises were made, and we booked a fly-fishing lodge for the family. Part of the adventure was to raft in a soft rubber raft from the club through a spectacularly deep canyon to a remote location for a freestyle BBQ on the edge of a rainforest.
The night before, during dinner, we managed to convince the mother that this was a trip of a lifetime and that she should join her family. She agreed to everybody’s utter surprise, and we equipped her the next day with practical, not-so-stylish clothing. She loved this rural journey away from the crowds and landed safely on the river banks.
She announced that she needed to find a restroom; we had to let her know there was nothing of the sort and that she had to use the bush. The experienced river guide pointed her in the right direction, and after the initial shock, she quietly disappeared. A minute later, we heard her coming back with a big grin exclaiming that she had now “peed in the bush”, her face showing a big smile of achievement!
Travel has a way of creating connections between people and providing insights into ourselves. Therefore, I always urge my guests to step out of their comfort zone and experience what they may never have an opportunity to do again. In this way, we seize the day and make each moment count.
