Just sharing a quick photo from our day at the beach in Barcelona - yes even in November.  This post was created during the filming of this video about travel blogging.

In the 130+ days that we’ve been on the road, we’ve shunned mechanical and otherwise costly means of doing laundry and relied on doing it ourselves.  The system works very well and we’ve reached a point in the evolution of the system that we’re ready to share.

The choices for doing laundry on the road are to visit a laundromat, use a hotel’s laundry service, do it yourself or have a local do it for you.  In India, to send your laundry out meant that it might be washed in polluted water and dried on the same beach where people defecate. Our advice is to proceed with caution. 

Getting laundry dirty needs no explanation, but it happens all too quickly in the tropics.  Further, it is up to the individual to negotiate the point at which something must be washed.  T-shirts and underwear are the most frequent offenders for us with shorts being the least offensive.

What you need:

• A sink or shower
• Soap (or shampoo)
• Towel(s) for drying
• Places to hang clothes
• 5-7 minutes for each article of clothing

Step One:  Fill the sink enough to wet an article of clothing (about ¼ full). If the sink doesn’t have a stopper. use a plastic bag or do without.  Wet the article completely.

Step Two:  Apply soap to stain or “problem” areas (armpits, collar, bottoms) and scrub together. Apply more soap to the water and article before kneading it like bread.  Squeeze and scrub.  If suds do not appear…rinse, repeat. 

Step Three:  Using cold water, rinse the article until soap is gone. Wring the article to remove as much water as possible and repeat these steps with the next article.

Step Four: Lay a towel flat and place the article on the towel, with about 8 inches of towel above it.  For shirts (whose sleeves will not often fit in the towel) fold the 8 inch part of the towel over the top of the article and fold it over on itself once.  Then, fold the sleeves onto the top of that fold, giving them a place to be dried. 

Roll the towel up like a burrito and wring it, forcing the water into the towel. You might even stomp on it. 

Step Five: Unroll the towel and hang the article to dry. The best scenario for drying is in a room with air conditioning and a ceiling fan.  AC is almost essential for quick drying, but a ventilated area will work well too.  To dry a nylon/polyester shirt in an air conditioned room will take 2-3 hours, for a cotton shirt, 5-10 hours (a good reason NOT to travel with cotton clothes).  And…Voila! Clean clothes…for free.

NOTE: Shortcuts can be used to speed the process.  Washing more than one article at a time is possible.  Drying clothes with a blow-dryer (provided by hotel), directly in front of the air conditioner or in direct sunlight helps significantly.  The best shortcut I’ve found is to find a sympathetic fellow traveler to give you a hand (wink-wink).

In exploring both islands, I’ve done my bit of driving in New Zealand

(over 3000 miles) and overall I’ve been impressed with the quality of the roads and the civility of other drivers.  However, there are some differences from driving in America that we’ve learned the hard way and would like to provide some information we wish we had had.

Everything is Opposite

For an American driving in New Zealand, there is one unmistakable and overwhelming fact – everything is opposite.  You’re driving on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road and shifting gears with the wrong hand.

In getting started with driving opposites, there are some things to keep in mind.  First, as the driver, you should always be nearest to the center of the road.  If you look out the driver’s side window and see the shoulder, you’re in the wrong lane.  Also, when you first get started, it will be strange to have the width of the vehicle on your left side and your tendency will be to run off the road on the left side.  You have to get used to keeping yourself toward the center of the road- if you’re looking down the middle of your lane, you’re too far left.

Another example of everything being opposite is where you look when entering traffic (or crossing the street for that matter).  Americans grow up learning to look left-right-left before crossing.  In New Zealand it’s right-left-right.

Interestingly, driving on the left side also governs pedestrian behavior.  When approaching another person on a sidewalk in New Zealand, the default is to yield to the left.

Signs and the Metric System

In New Zealand, there are more “give way” (yield) signs than stop signs, more traffic circles than stop lights and less pedestrian right of ways.  From what we can tell, the strategy is to keep traffic moving and it often works.  Without the volume of cars like you’d find in the US, traffic does seem to keep moving and I like the difference.

In cities and towns, you’ll see signs like “P30”, “P15”, etc.  These are parking signs and relate how many minutes you can park there without a ticket.

Like the rest of the world (except the US) New Zealand uses the metric system, so the signs take some getting used to.  Here are some hints:

100 kph equals 62 mph and 100 kph is the maximum speed limit NZ wide.  You can do 110kph max and not worry about a ticket (what we heard first-hand), which starts with a fee of $120 and goes up rapidly.

Round-abouts or traffic circles are everywhere and are somewhat foreign to Americans. The basic rule when entering a traffic circle is to yield to the right.  If you get hit on the driver’s side (right side) in a traffic circle, it’s your fault. When approaching a circle, know where you plan to exit before entering (the sign before it should let you know).  If you look at the circle as a clock and you are exiting the circle from 9-12 o’clock or so, get in the far left lane, yield to the right and follow through.  If you are exiting from 1-3 o’clock, turn on your left hand turn signal and watch for any cars coming up on your left before you exit the circle to the left.  The best scenario is to be behind a car that is going the same way as you.  If you miss your exit, go around again.  It took me a couple of weeks of nervousness and honking horns and to get it down.

In the US, it’s easy to convert miles to minutes to figure out how long it takes to drive somewhere at 60mph. When miles don’t apply, it may seem difficult, but there is an easy way:
When converting kilometers to minutes driving, think about the number of kilometers you need to go as a percentage and then apply that percentage to 60 minutes.  For instance, consider how long it takes to drive 25 kms.  Being that 100 kph is essentially the same as 60 mph, it makes for a handy way to calculate time and distance.   First, think about 25 kms as 25% of 100 (100 kilometers per hour).  Then, calculate 25% of 60 minutes, which would be 15.  So, it takes 15 minutes to travel 25km at 100 kph.

The Roads

New Zealand has very few expressways, except in the urban areas.  Everything else is a mixture of long, straight rural roads and 2 lanes of curvy white-knuckled roller coasters with about a centimeter for a shoulder. The need to pass other vehicles is ever-present.  Drivers in NZ expect to be passed and often pull over to the shoulder and put on the left-hand turn signal.  This says to you “Please pass now”.  Many of the roads have passing lanes every so often and these are the safest places to pass.

I’ve never seen roadkill on the scale I’ve seen in New Zealand.  Like America, it is often the poor possum, which has an uncanny ability to be hit during their nightly scavenger hunts.  Other than roadkill, be aware of the errant farm animal.  Sheep seem adept at escaping and often appear on the edge of the road, eyeing the other side.

The west coast of the South Island seems particularly fond of one-lane bridges – they vastly outnumber the two lane bridges.  Pay attention to the signs when you approach a one lane bridge – they provide information on right of way, which is apparently based on who has the most visible approach to the bridge.

All in All

You’ll be fine!  You’ll get used to it in a few days and in a couple of weeks, the idea of driving on the left side of the car on the right side of the road will seem weird.  You’ll be fine mate, no worries!

Darren at Geeky Traveller turned us on a couple of interesting items regarding that damn jet lag.  First an awesome quote by William Gibson from Pattern Recognition regarding the unavoidable pain of jet lag.

Her mortal soul is leagues behind her, being reeled in on some ghostly umbilical down the vanished wake of the plane that brought her here, hundreds of thousands of feet above the Atlantic. Souls can't move that quickly, and are left behind, and must be awaited, upon arrival, like lost luggage.

Secondly, it appears that bright light and melatonin can reduce the effects of jet lag significantly. 

 Lastly, we've also heard good things about the anti-jetlag diet, which involves preparation for a trip using days of feasting and fasting.

I've put a lot of time into trying to get the right gadgetry for the trip.  A couple of months ago, I got an unlocked Palm Treo 650.  Overall, I’m very happy with it and believe that I’ve made a good choice.  The big test will be how it does abroad.  One of our goals in packing for the trip is reducing size and weight and my goal was to get a device that packs as much punch as possible and sports a strong track record.

I’m sitting here with Sachi’s family and we’re talking about Hawaiian Pidgin, which is a local language that is part English with an influence of other languages. Pidgin came from workers who spoke different languages needing a common way to communicate.  Here are some favorites:

Broke Da Mouth -- This tastes really good; As in “Aunty Lottie’s chicken when broke da mouth.”

Ono Kine Grinds -- A flavorful kind of food; tasty; As in “I’m hungry, where can we get some ono kine grinds?”

How’s It? -- How are your doing?  As in “Hey Braddah,  how’s it?”

Bum Bye -- Soon or later-on.  As in “You betta clean up dat mess, bum bye, you gone get it.”

All Pau – All done, finished. As in “I went to help, but he was all pau.”

Shoots Brah – In agreement, confirmed.  As in “Let’s meet at da beach”… “Shoots brah”.

What, Like Beef? – Do you want to fight? As in a situation where two met meet in a bar, one says the other “What, like beef?”

I Stay Come, You Stay Go – I’ll stay here if you’re coming this way. As in “Da movie’s over and I need a ride- I stay come, you stay go?”

Deep Kim Chee – In big trouble.  As in “You know da guy down da street? He didn’t pay his taxes, now he’s in deep kim chee”.

She One Tita – A Large and Imposing Woman.  As in “Oh, she one tita, I bet she could kick my butt.”

 
If you want more, see Full On Pidgin.

Escape Blog points us to a quick how-to on how to communicate with a non-English speaking person.  I like to think it's pretty common sense, but there are some nuggets for sure.

The same page also points to a handy list of how to say "hello" in a number of languages, and how to communicate in a country where you don't speak the language.

Gridskipper pointed me to a new-ish blog that is, so far, doing a great job of preventing people like us from looking like idiots in foreign lands. It's called Escape Blog, and is part of the Fine Fools Network.

A couple of good take homes:

 Coffee in Jordan:

In Jordan, coffee is an important cultural symbol of hospitality. So when you are offered Arabic coffee by your host, do NOT say no. Once you are finished drinking and do not want to have more, shake your coffee cup from side to side. However, should you want more coffee, all you have to do is hold out your cup to the person who has the coffee pot.

Driving in Germany:

 
-The land of beer has strict drink driving laws. The limit is only 0.25 mg of alcohol per litre of blood.
-Don’t flick the bird! Inappropriate hand gestures are forbidden!
-Seat belts front and rear are obligatory everywhere.
-There are autobahns WITH speed limits. Do follow them otherwise, you can get fined heavily. And you have to pay on the spot, too!
-Passing on the right is not allowed!
-It is illegal to run out of gas on the Autobahn so fill ‘er up!
-It is also customary to...switch on your hazard blinkers when approaching a traffic jam to warn those behind you.
-Some may flash their high beams to request that you let them pass.

I wonder if Jon knew these things?  

I just took a look at the site of new Irish friend Justin MacCarthy, who recently traveled to Thailand and Cambodia and may be in New Zealand when we're there. I saw a couple of great posts about practical advice on Thailand and Cambodia.

 Hook up with a local to drink beer on the train...

I thought I’d buy a large bottle of Chang beer to share with my new friend. I called the carriage guy and asked him how much a bottle was. 170 Baht. Ok I knew it would be a little more but the usual price is more like 70 Baht. I was about to say what the hell and buy one, when I saw Tawat motioning not to buy it. No thanks I said.
When the carriage guy was gone I asked Tawat what was up? For you, he said, its 170 Baht, but for me its 100 Baht. He smiled. Yes we charge foreigners more!! So Tawat bought the beer from then on. And our carriage guy laughed it off. So if you want to buy beer on the trains, get to know a local!

And, a really interesting look at his first arrival in Cambodia. 

I knew arriving in Cambodia would be a shock. I had never been to S.E Asia. I had never traveled alone. I knew it would be a culture shock. It was, in spades. For first few hours I thought I’d made a mistake. 3 weeks later I’m fascinated by the country. Hopefully we'll see Justin on the trip soon...