Notebook of a Nomad

1/21/25

An EARLY morning with our 5:00 am pickup time for our van that was taking us to Mount Cook. The van driver seemed like a nice enough bloke. An old jovial jock. Until he started talking to the old British couple in the front seat about his admiration of Trump and his suspicions of Fauci. It was Inauguration Day (Australia is 17 hours ahead) and I was hoping to ignore that as much as possible. But even on the complete other side of the world, I can’t escape his bullshit. Not a great start to the day.

Lately, I’ve been thinking that I will probably have to move back home after my year of globetrotting. It’s really hard to leave your home. And leave all your loved ones. But today I’m thinking it might be a lot easier than I thought considering my home is being led by a president claiming to have a mandate from god. And that wouldn’t be as scary if so many people didn’t believe it. I really don’t know what my home will look like in a year. It is a scary time.

Anyway, on our way to Mount Cook, we made a few stops along the way. Here was one particularly pretty stop.

After our 6 hour commute was over, the driver dropped us off at our hotel. 20 minutes late. We had to drop our bags at the front desk and book it towards our experience that departed from the Hermitage Hotel. It was a 15 minute walk and we got to the checkin desk just in time. The only problem was that we were not booked for the 1:15 pm tour like the itinerary showed. We were booked for the 4:15 pm tour. We were all sweaty after our mad dash to get to the excursion desk. After hearing the bad news, we decided that it was time for beers. The line was long but the beers were good. And the view was incredible.

Paul and I had an appropriate buzz once our tour time finally came and we hopped on our bus. There was a short hike to our boat’s launch point.

Finally, it was time to head to the glacier (pronounced glassier by the local guides).

As you can see from the photos, it was a beautiful experience. We couldn’t get too close to the glacier (glassier) because there’s a lot of ice hidden just underneath the surface. But it was still cool to boat around in the lake formed by the glacier (glassier) runoff and pick up chunks of the glacier (glassier) that had broken off.

After our adventure on the glacial lake was over, Paul and I had a nice buffet dinner at the Hermitage Hotel. Over dinner we were talking about overcoming adversity in our lives. I told him that I didn’t really value or acknowledge much of the adversity I faced after my accident because I felt like I didn’t really have a choice in the matter. I didn’t choose what happened to me. I had to deal with the circumstances that were thrust upon me.

Honestly, I value my resilience more when I was graduating from the top civil engineering college in the nation. That was a choice and I could have taken an off ramp whenever I wanted. I could have studied an easier major. I could have become a union electrician. After a difficult sophomore year, I could have refused to adjust and failed out of college. There were a lot of easier choices I could have made when I was a young man in distress. But I chose to man up, do the work, and get the diploma. More to prove it to myself than actually having any desire to be an engineer.

It’s hard to be proud of something you didn’t choose. No one would have chosen my accident or the five years that followed it. While I think I handled myself well considering the circumstances, I didn’t choose those circumstances. The only choice I made was not quitting. And that doesn’t really feel like a choice.

I think the biggest similarity between the two challenges is my refusal to quit/fail. When I was in the hospital and my survival was in question, one of my friends told my parents that I wasn’t going to die because “He’s too stubborn to die.”

Failure was never really an option. I was too pot committed to fold my hand. I was going to stick it out and see how the cards played. The flop gave me a lot of reasons for concern but I also saw great potential in my hand. The odds made me nervous during the round of betting before the turn, but the turn was fruitful. I’m still waiting on that river card but I feel like I’m playing from a strong position. And I have a big stack of chips in front of me.

(For those who aren’t familiar with Texas hold-em poker, you are dealt two personal cards followed by a round of betting. Then “the flop” turns over three communal cards followed by a round of betting. Then “the turn” turns over a fourth communal card followed by a round of betting. And finally “the river” turns over the fifth and final communal card followed by a round of betting. Then the personal cards are turned over and a winner is revealed.)

1/22/25

Yesterday involved exploring the glacier (glassier) from the adjacent lake. Today we were exploring the glacier (glassier) on its actual surface!

A helicopter had to take us to the top so we needed a ride to the airport in the morning. The hotel owners agreed to drive us the 7 minutes for a steep price of hundred New Zealand Dollars ($57 USD). After a weigh-in, a safety protocol, and a wait, it was finally time to head to the glacier (glassier).

We had a tour guide leading our small group (two helicopters worth – about a dozen people). We spent two hours on the ice hiking around, drinking some freshwater, checking out a few moulins, and taking a lot of pictures.

It’s the third time I’ve been on a glacier but I’ve never been in an ice cave like this. It was so beautiful and a moment I hope to never forget.

After our helicopter trip was over and we were back at the airport, we had to decide how we were getting back to the hotel. It was about 3.5 miles away. Paul thought we should just walk it. He wanted to get some steps and after seeing my weight, I wasn’t about to turn down some exercise. It was a hot walk but it was beautiful too. After the walk, we were both sweaty and both tired. I cooled down, hopped in the shower, and laid down for a much needed nap. 

After the nap we had some dinner and beers at our hotel restaurant and watched some Australian Open. Side note, New Zealand’s pitchers for beer are often made of glass and they are quite heavy making it a difficult pour.

Political venting (feel free to skip/ignore):

While I was busy exploring and hiding from the political world, a few newsworthy developments were happening back home. The first piece of news was Elon Musk giving a Nazi salute at Trump’s inauguration. I’m pretty immune to shock these days, but this came pretty close. If you think this shit is funny, you’re a horrible person. 6 millions Jews were slaughtered due to Nazi ideology that Trump has embraced for years. Events like this make me feel vindicated for leaving and justified for cutting off friends and family who support that evil. 

Another bit of news, Trump pardoned all of the January 6th terrorists. The republican party is essentially a terrorist organization. This predates Trump. Reagan colluded with the Iranian terrorists to win in 1980. W stole the election from Gore with the Brooks Brothers Riot in 2000. And Trump directed the terrorists on January 6th. I’m done pretending that they aren’t terrorists. They are.

And it’s not just the republican presidents who have embraced terrorism. Mitch McConnell and the senate refused to convict Trump, which is a clear endorsement of the terrorism that occurred on January 6th. Members of the house were involved in the planning of January 6th. I have a long list of other examples, but I’ll refrain from sharing.

One more bit of news, Trump is eliminating another constitutional right. Bodily autonomy wasn’t enough so now he’s going after birthright citizenship. I’ve been telling people for years that we don’t have a constitution anymore and they look at me like I’m crazy. The constitution only exists if it is followed and obeyed. We have 6 radical justices who were installed with the intent of changing the constitution.

The war against the constitution predates Trump by decades. The Federalist Society was established in 1982. The constitution has been burning since the supreme court stole the presidential election in 2000. The supreme court has been illegitimate since that day and you can’t have a legitimate constitution when it’s being interpreted by illegitimate courts filled with rightwing activists.

If you voted for Trump, then let me make myself clear, FUCK YOU!!! Get out of my life. I don’t associate with Nazis, terrorists, or white supremacists. And if you voted for Trump, then you’re a part of that movement and those are your people. Enjoy being a part of that basket of deplorables. Hillary was too kind. She said only half of republicans subscribed to Trump’s toxic ideology that she described as “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic”. The past decade proves that it was a much higher percentage.

I refuse to be desensitized to Nazis the way that Republicans have desensitized the country to white supremacy. Enough is enough. Fuck this and fuck you if you voted for this. And yes, voting for Trump was certainly voting for this.