Kaplan Vagabonding Comes to a Close

It’s been six months since our last blog. Because we’ve been quiet for so long, and since we’re in the midst of an enormous life change, we thought it was time to send an update on what we’re up to, what we’re planning, and how we’ve made the shift to …

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From Hawai’i to Our Oregon Trail

In mid-April, we said farewell to New Zealand after three outstanding months. You can read about our Kiwi experiences in our three blogs about visiting the islands.

On our way home, we arranged to make a three-week stop in Hawai’i to visit our friends Katherine and Dwight and learn a …

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Kiwi Camping 101

We’ve been in New Zealand since January 16 and are leaving tomorrow. A wistful feeling has descended upon us…of wanting to savor every moment, every vista. In our three months here, we’ve learned a lot about the country, or at least about its landscapes and how to get around and …

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Our NZ Adventures with Lorrie and Bob by Marty, Helen and Donna

Two and a half weeks. Not enough time to see a country but a decent amount of time to see one small region of one island of this magical place. Wanaka, Glenorchy, Manapouri, Te Anau and Fiordland National Park. We knew nothing about them except that Glenorchy is aka Top of the Lake for all you BBC fans and that any place with “fiord” in the name has …

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Our own weird New Zealand triathlon

Greetings from the South Island of New Zealand, where we have been having a blast soaking up great and varied natural beauty and the friendly and easy-going spirit of the people who call this place home.

New Zealand has two sizable islands—the North and the South—and hundreds of small breakaway …

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First encounters in Aotearoa New Zealand

It snowed almost a foot in Bethesda the day before we were scheduled to fly to New Zealand on January 14. The plow didn’t make it to our neighborhood, but fortunately our son Dylan was able to drive us to the airport in his pickup truck. After four connecting flights …

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Sicily: History’s Crossroads

From the initial days of planning our travels, Sicily was on our list. I’m not sure why it exerted such a strong magnetic pull on us, but we were determined to go. In retrospect, it’s clear that we had very little idea of what we would find there. The happy …

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