I’ve had a revelation, an epiphany.
Riding a helicopter for the first time in my life was not the highlight of my day. I love having new experiences and trying new things. It brings me great joy to be in a place that I’ve never been before or have have an experience that is completely new. But what put a smile on my face today, what made me beam, was an hour and a half visit with a friend.
This morning I went to work feeling down and quite seriously tired. I’d had a rough night with little sleep and I was really not in the mood to work. I ran into Chris before I even made it to the office. He said, “Go get your jacket and a camera.” Now that was a surprise! What on earth would I need that stuff for? “Why?” I asked. “I booked you a helicopter ride to the glacier for 8 o’clock,” he responded. Oh, okay. That wasn’t on my agenda today!
Nevertheless I headed back to my house and grabbed the required materials and Chris sent me down to the helicopter headquarters. I was thinking to myself, “I don’t feel like riding a helicopter today or seeing the glacier. I’m tired.” But I’m never really up to doing something that wasn’t planned as my friends will tell you. When the boss says he did you a favor like this you go and do it--especially when it is free to boot!
When I got to the headquarters a group of Asians were checking in. They were loud and rambunctious and once we got into the van to take us to the helipad, they wanted to know all about me. They were so friendly, especially Sally the only female in the group. They laughed and joked and helped me relax about it.
They kept me distracted so much that I didn’t really realize we were lifting off until we were already in the air. I have to admit that I wasn’t that brave about taking a helicopter. It’s not like they are the safest things in the world, but I had been swept into it by my boss and now by this group of enthusiastic Thailand tourists!
I can’t really describe the views, but it was fun to see the landscape from the sky. I enjoyed seeing the little river running through the fields. The mountains began to dwarf this little helicopter. The pilot came very close to the mountainsides. I hadn’t realized just how steep these rainforest-covered mountains were!
What surprised me the most was that Mt. Cook, the tallest mountain in New Zealand, was literally right there. It was just right there! Mt. Cook is over 12,000 feet high and we were hovering right next to it! You can see Mt. Cook from the lowlands down here in the township, but I hadn’t realized how close we really were to it!
We landed on the neve’ of the glacier, basically right on the snow above the glacier. The pilot let us out and we got to walk around the top of this mountain in the bright sunshine. My Thailand tourist friends took a billion pictures and kept offering to take pictures of me. I think I was quite overwhelmed though and only let them take a couple pictures. They even had me get into a picture with them. I can only imagine them showing this photo to their friends and saying, “Oh and here’s the American girl who came with us!” Although Sally admitted to me that she doesn’t really look at her photos she just takes them for something to do!
On our way back to the township the pilot went down the face of the glacier. He twisted and turned like crazy. I felt like I was parallel to the ground. It was beautiful, but I was grateful when we were back on solid ground! I’m very glad I had this experience and I look forward to doing a heli-hike in the future.
But what really made my day was getting the courage to go knock on Maureen’s door. I really wanted to visit her for two reasons. One was that she had stopped by my house earlier in the day for a visit but I was not feeling well so we just said hi. The other is that she just moved into a nicer, cuter place and I wanted to see it. I’ve never been one to just go and knock on a person’s door without calling first so I was feeling a bit of trepidation. What if she wasn’t there or what if I came at a bad time?
Everything turned out wonderful. She was glad to have me. We never ran out of anything to talk about. Our discussions ran from guitars and music to travel and the winter olympics! Maureen is quite musical. She showed me her travel guitar and played me some songs. I love her enthusiasm for music and instruments. Maureen clearly not only loves music, but she loves the instrument. She is very careful about not taking it out into the heat and has even purchased equipment to keep her guitar from warping. I was just enchanted by her passion for it all.
People are truly what make travel wonderful. I can visit all the most amazing sights in New Zealand and participate in all the awesome tourist activities, but if I don’t get to know the people what’s the point? The way I felt after talking with her was so different from how I felt after taking the helicopter ride. I’m not ungrateful for the experience, but I know that the elation I felt from getting to know Maureen far outweighed the excitement of flying in a helicopter. These experiences today have just reminded me why I love to travel for months rather than a ten day trip. I want to know the people and know the land. I want to live among and be a part of this country. I feel like both my experiences today have been a chance to do just that. But somehow the time with Maureen meant more to me than any helicopter ride.
No comments:
Post a Comment