4 ms·

I lived in NZ (mostly Christchurch) for about a year, and I think your characterization is way too general. NZ has a similar population to Colorado (where I now

by gibrown 13y ago

I lived in NZ (mostly Christchurch) for about a year, and I think your characterization is way too general. NZ has a similar population to Colorado (where I now live) and a similar land area. It is far away from where my family lives (and hence I am not still there), but "crushing" "isolation" it is not. Kiwis are some of the warmest folks I have ever met. When my wife and I arrived at the airport our friends had forgotten which day we were arriving and had a 3 hour drive to get to us. The random woman who's phone we borrowed proceeded to argue with our friends over the phone about who's house we would stay at that night. We saw similar hospitality everywhere we went. Its a stark contrast to the US.

demallien 13y ago
You're selling the US short. When I was there last year, I was passing through Gettysburg, and stopped to get something to eat. You might expect a town like Gettysburg to be really over tourists, but whilst I was trying to figure out how to make a parking meter work, the first random stranger walking past offered first to give me done change, because he thought that was the problem, and then once I had explained that I was a clueless Aussie who couldn't figure out how to make the damn thing work, showed me what I was doing wrong. Or when I was in a small town in Virginia with a friend, we were in a shop, and discussing whether the museum there would be open the next day. The shop assistant overheard and offered to call them for us. Even people in DC were wonderfully polite and friendly! So much so that I'm heading back for another holiday in a couple of weeks time.