TRAVEL TUESDAYS: INTERVIEW WITH ESTHER OF NZ MUSE

This week we would like to introduce Esther of NZ Muse. Last year she got married and less than a week later flew to Malaysia to kick off a six-month RTW trip spanning Southeast Asia, Europe and North America. Now she and her husband are back in Auckland but are desperately missing Mexican and Italian food. 

1. What inspires you to travel, and how would you define the word ‘traveler’?

I’m inspired to travel by two of my senses: taste and sight. Eating is half the reason I travel. The other half is a desire to see places in the flesh – cities, ruins, landscapes. Pictures are one thing; being there another.

Envy also drives my wanderlust. Seeing friends’ photos or hearing their stories stirs up my itch to travel. 

I don’t really like to get into the ‘traveller vs tourist’ debate. For me, I guess a traveller is someone with an interest in the world around them, beyond going on a beach holiday or a shopping trip abroad.

2. How do you afford your travels?

Hard work. I’ve always been a saver and almost always had side hustles. The majority of our RTW trip was funded by savings and I earned some income online while on the road. We travel pretty frugally (including stints volunteering and couchsurfing) and generally only splurge on food and the odd experience.

3. Where was your first international trip and how old were you?

I think I was about four – I don’t remember any of it. We were living in Malaysia but came to New Zealand for a visit and stayed with my aunt’s family.  We moved over four years later.

4. Where has been your favorite destination?

As a country, Italy. I love the food and I love the culture.

As a city, New York. If you’ve been there, I don’t need to tell you. If you haven’t been, all I can say is GO. There really are no words to adequately describe New York City.

5. Where has been your least favorite?

Probably Brussels – we were only there overnight, but weren’t particularly taken with the city in that time. It seemed grey and a little dull.

6. Have you ever had high hopes for a destination, tour, etc., only to be disappointed in the end? Or any travel mishaps?

I had really high hopes for Naples. I knew it would likely be dirty and tough, but I still wasn’t prepared for just how gritty it was. And because we went in August, it seemed like half the city was away on holiday, so it was really quiet and a lot of the local restaurants were closed. Luckily, we still had tons of really great food, and that was the whole point of visiting Naples.

Oh, and despite reading up about all the visa scams at the Cambodian border, we still wound up being taken to a fake visa office by a sketchy tuktuk driver. I absolutely refused to pay them, though, and we walked out and fortunately managed to make our way to the border crossing and the genuine offices, which turned out to be just down the road.

7. What’s the funniest or weirdest cultural idiosyncrasy you’ve either witnessed or experienced?

I think it was meeting locals in Asia, mostly in Vietnam, who couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that I was ethnically Chinese, born in Malaysia, who lived in New Zealand (and was married to a white guy) and was now visiting Vietnam. That sort of mobility was very foreign to a lot of them, many of whom will never leave their own country.

8. What keepsake do you have to get at all your destinations? 

I’m really not into ‘stuff’ at all. My thing is food – sampling the local cuisine. I guess the one small thing I might keep is probably ticket stubs.

9. How about the one thing you cannot travel without?

My camera – I’m no pro by any means, but photos are the main thing I have to remember my travels by.

10. Why did you begin blogging? And how did you come up with your blog name?

I was bored one afternoon. That’s really about it! I’ve been writing ever since I can remember being alive, so writing on the internet seemed like a natural thing to do. I picked eemusings as my username because I like the letter E (and it’s my initial) plus it reminded me of ee cummings. My blog title was Musings of an Abstract Aucklander since that’s where I’m from and I figured I’d be rambling a lot on the blog. I changed it to NZ Muse when I went self-hosted and decided I needed something snappier for the URL and title. I asked for suggestions and a blog reader actually came up with that  🙂

11. You’re not a travel-only blogger, but also a finance blogger. Being obsessive over money while having wanderlust, how do you balance the two?

Well, I’m not the only blogger who also writes about the financial aspects of travel – what things cost and how to fund travels. That said, I don’t know any other personal finance bloggers (emphasis personal since I don’t always write about money, though it is a passion of mine) who have gone on extended trips, and certainly not NZers – we tend to go work abroad usually. (If anyone knows of any Kiwi RTW travel bloggers, please link to them in the comments!)

I’m definitely very money-conscious, so I try to get the best deals and track everything we spend, but I’m not Type-A about it – I’m happy to splurge when warranted and not the kind to beat myself up about going over budget – I learned along the way that I’d much rather hustle harder and earn more to enjoy our travels than stress over every dollar and making it last.

I find myself in a strange place, actually. We travelled RTW but unlike most, we’re not permanent travellers nor do we want to be. And thus we’re not bare bones frugal. We occupy that middle ground between normal people (who work full time and take short trips/holidays) and long-term travellers who are location independent. THe former usually can’t fathom how we spent so little in six months, while the latter berate me on my blog for spending so much. /shrug

12. What’s in store for 2014? 

No firm trips planned – our new work schedules mean it’s going to be hard to fit in travel, so we might knuckle down and focus on building up our bank accounts – we’ll see how it goes! I certainly still have places on the bucket list and am still subscribed to a ton of email lists, and am hoping we can do something cool for our first anniversary in May.

Traveler Toss-ups

Backpack or suitcase? Backpack

Window or aisle? Window

Solo or group? Solo (or couple)

Tapas or sushi? Tapas

Beach or mountains? I really, really hate sand. That said, I like the ocean, so I put up and shut up! Beach any day!

Be sure to follow along with Esther:

Visit Esther’s site: NZ Muse
Follow Esther on Twitter: @eemusings
“Like” Esther on Facebook: NZ Muse