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Plan a trip to the "Land of Down Under" While the world is in turmoils, ISIS brutal killings in Iraq and Syria, not sure the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is over, I certainly won't travel to any country in Mid-East. I won't go near Russia and Ukraine when there is war between these two countries. Africa has Ebola pandemic spreading, so is NOT a ideal place. Europe has financial crisis (I have been to England, France, Holland and Belgium during past marriage). So, I am thinking to go travel to Australia and New Zealand where are still safe and peace and I have never been to. Any one have suggestion? My mom had been to Australia and New Zealand 3 months after 9/11/2001 with her senior citizen organization. The airfare and prices of the trip were the lowest at that time due to the fear of terrorist attack. At that time, I was working as full time pharmacist, so my mom traveled with her younger sister and joint senior organization. My mom passed away a year ago after I took care of her for 5 years. I couldn't go back to work as a pharmacist after 5 years lapse. I love to travel just like my mom. The recent world turmoils made me thinking where should I go? I have been to China and Japan. So, I choose Australia/ New Zealand I booked a 15 days trip to Australia and New Zealand with "Women Traveling Together" in early of 2015. Honesty is the best policy. |
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goannaoil: Remember, New Zealand is the first country to celebrate New Year Day of 2015. Australia will be next, 2 hours later.  Honesty is the best policy.
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G' Day, Mate: Wish you a merry Christmas and happy new year !! 72 - 32 = 40. 40 / 9 x 5 = 22 C Honesty is the best policy.
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I just Google it. 1 AU - $0.92 - $0.93 U.S. dollar, so 1 U.S. dollar = $1.08 AU dollar. Anyway, I will buy some Australian money when the whole group of women do. At airport or hotel??? I use my credit card and it will calculate the currency exchange for me. According to my smartphone, Los Angeles time is 5:51 p.m. Tuesday, Dec 23, 2014 at 72 F, while Auckland, NZ is 2:51 pm ib Wedbesdat Dec 24m at 61 F Sunny, Sydney is 12:51 pm at 72 F a shower day. Honesty is the best policy.
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I will go with "Women Traveling Together", so I don't plan the itinerary. This is my first trip to the "Down Under" ever and 1st time travel with a group of women. I heard that New Zealand wants to have referendum to change their flag. Honesty is the best policy.
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Hello pharmacist2 and don't forget my city Perth Western australia
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Kayra: You are NOT member on Chinese FriendFinder either, so you can't see my 42 photos with my profile. I took many photos in different places. I probably will post more pictures upon return from Australia/ New Zealand trip. I am a contrarian investor. I am doing fine with real estate and stock, so I reward myself to travel. My kids are adults, so I travel alone. Most of time, I travel with agencies. This time I join with "Women Traveling Together" and paid annual membership $45. I like to do things in simple ways, so I let travel agency and "Women Traveling Together" group to arrange airplane, hotels, and itinerary, .... while I can enjoy the natural scenery and take pictures. I have been on Chinese FriendFinder for 10 years. I have dated many guys (especially in 2005 - 2007). I have a best friend since June 2006. He is a banker, a CEO/President/Chairman of his bank with 3 branches. He is very smart (2 master degrees from American Univ. in Washington DC) I like his personality, very kind gentleman. He is a Caucasian, 7 years older than me. I can talk to him in every level, politics, religion, stock market, real estate, traveling, current events, .... except romance. I have known to him over 8 years, thousands emails, many phone calls, lunches together, .... He is a very busy businessman. He travels a lot. Today he is in Russia. He gave me many good advices and helped me in many cases. I am very lucky to have a such good friend. Honesty is the best policy.
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beautiful Kayra: Traveling is my passion. This time (first time) I joined "Women Traveling Together", so that save me time to arrange airfare, itinerary, hotel, ... Most of importantly, I feel safe with a group of women and will have a female roommate to talk with, watch luggage, or take picture of me. Thanks to tell me "SIM card". I will find out if I need it. My son (24 y/o) lives with me, I hope he won't need to call me during my trip to Australia & New Zealand. Honesty is the best policy.
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beautiful kayra: Real Estate investments depends on "TIMING" and "LOCATION". I sold a property in June 2007 at high and made 4.5 times profits. I went back to Taiwan and sold my family house (my mom was the owner, but she couldn't walk), wired money back to USA. With these two large sum of money, I went to Las Vegas to buy 5 properties, using my mom living trust name. Why Las Vegas? Because Vegas is a gamble city. Every casino opens 24/7/365, so needs 3 shifts employees. In average, each casino needs 300 employees. Most employees make minimum wages. They can't afford purchasing houses, so they rent. There was "financial crisis" in 2008 - 09, bank foreclose people houses if they can't make payments on time. The recover was slow. I was lucky to have lots of CASH from two sold proceeds. I don't go to Vegas for gamble but purchase 5 properties. I rented out those properties and collect rent. My mom was critically sick and needed me to take care of her. So, I quit my pharmacist full time job in July 2009 to take care my mom in my house. So, these 5 rental income just came in time for me to pay expenses. I also bought a condo in good area in Arcadia, CA which was a foreclosure. I bought a house in Victorville, CA because a real estate agent whose son just passed CA dentist exam and became a dentist, he wanted to open his own dental clinic. The parents needed CASH, so I bought their investment house in Victorville just added $500 on top of their original purchase price to help their son to open dental office in Northern CA. So, I have 8 properties in total (includes my home). My mom was getting worse and the tenants of my 2 properties moved out in early 2013. I decided to sell that two vacant properties and very easy sold both of houses and made double in March and April of 2013. My mom passed away on 9/20/2013. My decision to sell these 2 properties was right because I needed money to pay mom's medical co-payments (nursing home bills, hospital bills) and her funeral. I can proudly said I am a smart investor. I still have 6 properties to collect 5 rent to survive while I am also doing stock market. I have a smart daughter who got scholarships from U.S. Presidential from White House and U.S. Merit from Education Dept and UC full scholarship. She saved me lots of money because her tuition is zero. I only paid for her dormitory and rent. She graduated "pre-med" program with 2 degrees (Psychology & neurobiology), now she is attending an university for her "post-graduated medical school", she also got FREE tuition because she got granted for scholarship. I paid her rent and give her monthly allowance. I am lucky to have an outstanding daughter. Honesty is the best policy.
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goannaoil: To your surprise, I ate snake in Taiwan in 1980, the night before I took plane to USA. That was the only time I had snake, my last dinner in Taiwan in 1980 ( over 34 years ago) I remember snake meat is tender than chicken but tougher than fish, sort like in between fish and chicken. I am interested in eating ostrich, crocodile and kangaroo, ... if possible. I will stay in different hotels in different cities. I don't know if hotel restaurant provide those meats??? You know, Chinese/ Taiwanese eat everything that is eatable. I will bring many gadgets, i.e. Samsung Galaxy S4 (smartphone- for voicemail and text), Google Nexus 7 (tablet computer - no phone, internet use Wi-Fi for email and apps), iPod Touch (for music and small tablet computer for apps) and iPod Nano (for music only, light weight and small) and a laptop PC computer. I have stock accounts, so I hope the stock market won't be too volatile during that 15 days. Forget about stock market for that 15 days. My real estate agent in Las Vegas (Nevada state) is an Aussie and his wife also. He speaks English with a heavy Aussie accent. I can understand him better face to face, but more difficult on cellular conversation when I returned to California. Have you ever came to USA? any state. Honesty is the best policy.
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I hope your country, Australia has "Wi-Fi", so that I can go on internet to communicate with people in USA (I have rental properties) during these 15 days vacation. My smartphone is connected using "Sprint", I think Sprint is NOT in Australia and so that I can't get any call or call out to USA during this 15 days. I will tell my friends and two kids to communicate via emails rather than cellular. When I went to Taiwan in 2011 for 32 days, I have internet connection, but NOT cellular calls. My cellular is completely "obsolete" in Taiwan, China, Japan. The only communication I got was email I know few famous Aussies, such as movie Crocodile Dundee, Steve Irwin (I used to watch his show on TV) - Crocodile Hunter. Unfortunately, Steve Irwin passed away by stingray in Sept. 2006. BTW, Have you ever eaten Crocodile, kangaroo or ostrich, sneak, ...? How do they tasted? Honesty is the best policy.
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goannaoil: You are an Aussie. I know when Aussie meet, they say "G' Day Mate". How about if meet in the evening? Do you still say "G' Day Mate"? What other language or culture or tradition I should know?? Honesty is the best policy.
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beautiful kayra: Yes, I joined Women Traveling Together today and all the trips go with Qantas flights that includes LAX to Sydney, to New Zealand back to Sydney and many inland in Australia. Qantas give Women Traveling Together group rate discount, so I think I can save money on airfare and room share rate. The trip maximum is 18 women in a group. You seem like to travel too. We can exchange some information about trips and places to visit. I am NOT a member on AFF, so I can't email you first on AFF. Honesty is the best policy.
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I booked the Australia/ New Zealand trip (01/30/2015 to 02/14/2015) with Women Traveling Together today. I will have a female roommate to share the room, so that hotel won't charge me extra for double occupant. This trip itinerary start from LAX to Sydney but immediately to New Zealand. So, it will be New Zealand first, then Australia. I joined membership with Women Traveling Together too. So, I can see their other trips in the future. I love to travel but hate to travel alone and pay for double occupancy. Honesty is the best policy.
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Thank you Kayra and goannaoil. I did some Google about Australia. 1 U.S. dollar = 1.08 Australian dollar Current time in Calif is 9/9/2014, at 3:30 a.m. is Australia time on 9/10/2014 at 1:30 a.m. I know that every year Australia and New Zealand are the first countries celebrate New Year's Day. Honesty is the best policy.
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beautifulkayra: Thank you for your information and research for traveling to Australia & New Zealand for me. I really appreciate you. However, all the URL link address you provided didn't go through. Please sent the URL address without http://asiafriendfinder.com but just the link address itself to pass Chinese FriendFinder sensor. I will add http:// in front of them. Thank you for your understanding. Honesty is the best policy.
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After I did some Google search, I found "Women Traveling Together" that has Australia and New Zealand trip that departure from LAX (Los Angeles Airport) on 1/30/15 to Sydney but immediately change planes to Auckland, New Zealand. This trip started from New Zealand till Feb 8, 2015 back to Sydney, Australia. Will stay in Australia till Feb 14, 2015 and then return to LAX. There is only 1 space remaining, so I have to call them by Monday to reserve a space. The price for room share is $6,196, single $7,523, Non-members add $200. Honesty is the best policy.
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goannaoil: Thank you so much for your information. The travel agency told me January tour is almost full, so I probably need to book for March tour. They only have two tours in a year. Honesty is the best policy.
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I hope a female who lives in Los Angeles area and likes to travel to Australia/ New Zealand contact me, so that we can travel together and save the extra cost of $1,100 hotel room. The itinerary sounds very good to me. The travel agency only provide two trips, January 22 and March 19 in a year. I still have time to find my female travel companion. Honesty is the best policy.
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I have contacted a Chinese travel agency. The departure time will be 01/22/2015 for 14 days and 3/19/2015 for 14 days. Los Angeles winter time is Australia summer and December airfare is too expensive, so they only have 2 times in a year. 01/22/2015 trip is almost full. The total price is $4,699 + tax $600 = $5,299 per adult. If single person needs to pay $1,100 extra (12 nights) room (double occupancy). U.S. passport need Australia visa, but if Australia approved, then no New Zealand visa needed. The price is included round trip airfare, 12 nights hotel room and 14 days x 3 meals, tickets for museum and parks, but NOT include visa fee or tips for driver and tour guide. The itinerary is from LAX overnight on airplane (due to distance and different time zone) 3rd day arrived at Sydney - city tour, the "Opera House", museum, and plant, ......4th day Melbourne, Christ Church, Lake Matheson, Cromwell, Arrow Town, Queenstown, Milford Sound, Te Anau, Dunedin, Oamaru, Wellington, Lake Taupo, Rotorua, Auckland, .... Back to LAX. Honesty is the best policy.
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I check with travel agency and the cost is USD $5,000 for 14 days including airfare and hotels from Los Angeles to Australia and New Zealand. Australia needs visa even I have U.S. passport. If Australia approved visa, then don't need visa for New Zealand. Honesty is the best policy.
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pastforward: Your suggestion for alternative trip to So. America countries, I might go later (older). But for now, I wish to go Australia/ New Zealand for excitement and much more walking. I would like to see Koala, Kangaroo, .... marsupials and alligators. Perhaps, taste different kind of meat. goannaoil: You are an Aussie. I am curious about different country's scenery, custom and tradition. I always see the famous "opera house" as the iconic building of Sydney, Australia and those cute koalas, kangaroos, .... marsupials and vicious alligators/ crocodiles (I couldn't tell them apart). RIP, Steve Irwin, he died not because crocodile but by a stingray. I used to watch him "crocodile hunting" on TV. At least Aussie speak English with heavy accent. My Las Vegas R/E agent came from Australia for 7 years in 2011, he has heavy Aussie accent. I will Google more information on Australia/ New Zealand and visit travel agency. Thank you for your responses. Honesty is the best policy.
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I probably will book a trip with travel agency. I travel alone, staying in a "double occupancy room" (pay double for the room), most of time, breakfast included. My kids have grown-up and they won't travel with me anymore. So, I went to China, Taiwan, Japan, ... alone, ask strangers to take photos for me. I have had two cruise trips before. I took my mom and 2 teenagers in 2004 to Alaska cruise for 8 days/7 nights. My kids stayed in the room and I went to see the shows in the evenings, went to gym in the morning, .... alone. However, my kids ate dinner with me during the cruise. I also had a cruise to Mexico, but only 4 days/3 nights. I prefer stay in a hotel room than cruise room (too small). I don't mind carry luggage to change room for one place to another. Aussie speak English with heavy accent, but still communicable. I will feel safe and peaceful to travel there. I won't go to any Mid-East because they forced women to wear "burka" or cover from neck down, including female tourists. I won't compromise that. Honesty is the best policy.
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