NomadGirl Travels

“I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging,  and it's very difficult to find anyone.' ~J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit In honour of The Hobbit opening next month, and premiering in Wellington, New Zealand November 28, I thought I would talk about the Tolkien inspired tours available in Middle Earth (otherwise known as New Zealand). Specifically on the North Island. The first thing I did when I arrived in New Zealand was head to Rotorua. Tours to Matamata, where the Hobbiton Movie Set is located, can be arranged from the tourism office in Rotorua, or at any hostel. I highly recommend it.  www.hobbitontours.com The cost of the tour from Matamata is $75NZD, from Rotorua it is $110NZD (as of today's date). The tour includes Bag End, though I couldn't go up to it and it was behind scaffolding, due to preparations for filming. Usually guests are able to go up to Bag End. The party tree, that was featured in The Fellowship of the Ring , the pub,

I have gone whale watching off Vancouver Island, British Columbia...and did not see any whales! Ten years later, I got the chance to go whale watching again. This time, on the East Coast, off Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. This time I saw whales! I had the option to go as an excursion of my Moose East tour of Canada. Our whale watching experience was through Captain Zodiac in Cheticamp, Nova Scotia. Cost was $30CAD. http://www.novascotiawhales.com/ ~Angie

In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place: and in the sky The larks still bravely singing fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. ~Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae Canadian soldier, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, wrote the war memorial poem, In Flanders Fields , during the second battle of Ypres, in Belgium on May 3, 1915. It is about his fallen comrades who were buried in Flanders.  This poem, and the poppy, have become a symbol of our veterans from the First and Second World War, and the Korean War. Every year, in November, the Royal Canadian Legion distributes poppies and Canadians wear them to honour our soldiers, who fought for our freedom. Poppies are worn in Britain as well, where Remembrance Day is also known as Poppy Day. I was recently in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. I visited the Canadian National War Memorial there. The war monument depicts soldiers on the battlefront, with a cannon behind them. As you walk around the memo

Guy Fawkes was an English Catholic who, along with two fellow Catholic Englishmen, was involved in a plot to blow up the British Parliament in 1605. Their plan was to blow up Parliament and assassinate King James I, thus restoring a Catholic monarch to the throne. It did not work.  Guy Fawkes was in charge of the gunpowder for this plot, and was guarding it when he was discovered during the early hours of the morning of November 5, 1605. This plan to assassinate King James I and blow up Parliament was also know as the Gunpowder Plot. Guy Fawkes has become synonymous with the Gunpowder plot. Every year on the anniversary of this failed attempt to blow up Parliament, monarchists throughout the British Commonwealth celebrate by throwing a dummy symbolizing Guy Fawkes on a bonfire, or with a fireworks display. November 5th is known as Guy Fawkes Day . I have been to a Guy Fawkes party in Canada where there was a dummy thrown into a bonfire.  I also attended the Guy Fawkes Day festiv

I was left behind. By my tour. In Paris. My first night there.  Here's what happened... It was July, I was on a Contiki tour of Western Europe. The first stop on the tour - Paris! Oh was I excited! I had always wanted to go to Paris! After arriving in the city, we went for supper, then left to go see the most famous sight in Paris - La Tour Eiffel! The Eiffel Tower!  The Eiffel Tower I was on the trip with my cousin. On our tour were several Australians, a few Canadians (like myself), some Europeans, Mexicans, and Americans. We had about an hour to spend at the Eiffel Tower. However, it was a really long lineup to get to the elevator.  In the small group of six that I went to to the top of the tower with were: Three Australians, one American, my cousin and me. We went to the first viewing platform and got a few photos of the city from there. Then, we went to the top. It was dark by then, so our photos were not great. In all we were at the top of the tower for about fi