The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: nz on June 02, 2014, 08:21:16 PM
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So, 18 months after retiring I have finally bought tickets to the USA. I'll be there for about 4 weeks in March/April 2015.
I land in Los Angeles and will have a couple of weeks by myself before my wife joins me (she still works) for the last 2 weeks when we hope to rent a car and visit the Grand Canyon/ Las Vegas etc.....
Rather than merely playing tourist jumping from motel to motel I was hoping to delve a little deeper into American life and visit or stay with real people.
There are numerous websites that I could join such as house exchanges,volunteer programmes etc. but the MMM community has been part of my life for the last couple of years and I would love to meet some fellow mustachians in the flesh.
In exchange ,I would love to host visitors here in New Zealand. And/Or, I am quite a practical person and would happily earn my keep by digging your garden, building a fence, painting, landscaping etc.
I am very open to going anywhere in the states and would consider any suggestions.
I have spent most of my adult life as a teacher but I also have quite a bit of farming and construction experience.
Have planned this visit for many years and am very excited about coming to America.
So how about it? Want to come to NZ?
Neil
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I'm interested. I love visiting faraway places but I hate staying in hotels. I live a 15 minute drive from the Los Angeles airport.
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I'm interested too. If you are thinking of heading to NZ we are very flexible,but the best weather is usually February.....and it is outside of school holidays.
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If you are planning to come out to eastern NC, let me know.
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Yeah, we have a spare room in central NC, but it's a LOOOOOONG way from LAX!
NZ is one of the few places for which I'd tolerate that long flight. It's definitely on my bucket list!
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It's a long way away, but we'd be happy to host you. We're in the SF Bay area, very close to the BART (so you can get to SF) and also great hiking trails. We host regularly on Couchsurfing (50+ nights) and Warmshowers.org (bad name, but good cause - for touring cyclists). You will be here at a great time of year. You can see the Sierras full of snow, go rafting in the foothills, hike along the flower-filled coastal mountains and enjoy everything in between.
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Swordguy and geekette, North Carolina sounds amazing, what's the climate like in March?
Many Mountains, SF is one of those places I've always wanted to see, how far are you from downtown SF?
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If you end up on the east coast, I am a little bit from Niagrara Fall and am open to visitors.
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What part of NZ?
We spent 5 years in Christchurch (left in July 2011 after enduring the quakes for 18 months). We're planning to go back and visit friends in the next couple of years.
Happy traveling. We live in ATX (Austin, TX), music capital. :)
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Swordguy and geekette, North Carolina sounds amazing, what's the climate like in March?
Variable! March days are usually pleasantly warm, with spring flowers everywhere, but sometimes we'll get show showers, too.
I've always joked that while this is a great place to live, I wouldn't want to visit here. We don't get many tourists (other than golfers), but natural beauty abounds. Four hours to Asheville and the mountains, and less than three to the closest beaches (thought they're a bit chilly in March).
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You can plan to stay at my house near LAX for a little while to recover from your travel. And use my house as your base while you're in Southern California. I don't know how much time I'll be available to act as tour guide, since I have several sick relatives and my dad is 99 and may need me.
I'll have to give some thought to visiting you in NZ.
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NonprofitER - I live on 2 acres on the edge of New Plymouth very close to Mt Taranaki.
We call it a lifestyle block but I think you call it homesteading in the US.
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If you were to take geekette up on her offer in NC, you should try to make this a late March thing, or even ideally early April. Before that it can be hit or miss, one day you're walking around town in shorts and the next it's back to scarves and gloves.
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oldladystache - I really appreciate your kind offer and let's talk some more as the time draws nearer.
I am not looking for a tour guide, just a friendly face who can share their local
Knowledge. I too have elderly parents so I completely understand your priorities.
Gin1984, Basenji - thanks too for your kind offers. All very tempting.....lots to mull over
Any takers for New Zealand?........no one wanting to escape winter later this year?
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Any takers for New Zealand?........no one wanting to escape winter later this year?
Too many sheep!
Kidding. I would love to do an exchange as we plan to go to NZ soon but we live near Seattle which is hell and gone from Cartagena (and Las Vegas). We do have a nice salmon filled river running through our backyard if you like fishing.
(http://i1051.photobucket.com/albums/s435/IGBT/riverrun.jpg)