THIS morning, when I came back from the supermarket, I bumped into Rodney Hide.

Maybe it’s just me… – but I kind of had the impression he looked angry.

I don’t know why he would have been angry, though – it was such a nice day today, sunshine, Christmas time and the holidays are coming up.

Well, maybe that’s why: holidays. Maybe, he hasn’t figured out how to spend the summer, yet.

 

~ JUST LIKE HOLIDAY ~ (pic: own)

 

 

However, once again I am confident to say that I can help out in this matter and it is my pleasure to refer to Lyndon Hood’s excellent column.

The piece Travel Ideas for MPs on Scoop offers suggestions and advice and yet keeps it simple:

“Or try anywhere else Obama goes”

If you don’t want to go as far as Aleajos (Spain) the “global antipode of Wellington[...]: the place you go when sent as far from the Beehive as possible, and also where you end up if you find yourself in a hole and keep digging.”

No matter which piece of advice Rodney Hide choses to take or not to take in the end, he should keep in mind that Copenhagen Airport is one of the things Kiwis love when it comes to travelling.

As the NZ Herald reported earlier this week, a list, previously released by House of Travel, shows what New Zealanders rated as their “love and loath”-top-ten of travel.

Top Ten Travel cheer and loathing

Kiwis are cheering for

• having an own entertainment system with movies starting as soon as you board
• counting down the number of sleeps until you leave
• realising that you have made it (when you stand in front of the Pyramids or the Taj Mahal)
• getting entrenched in the local customs and culture
• feeling the blast of heat when arriving at a tropical destination
• Copenhagen Airport
• super cheap Thai foot massages at Bangkok Airport
• having someone else to make your bed in the mornings
• authentic fresh local cuisine (“real pizza”)
• planning your next trip when getting home

and loathing for

• passport photos
• virtually every airport in the country “making some changes”
• early morning international flights
• having to take your laptop out when going through security
• “fighting” for the arm rest
• realising that you have only one sleep left before you go home
• hotels and beaches that look different from their website pics
• humid holiday spots causing “bad hair days”
• leaking toothpaste, shampoo or moisturiser
• tipping

 

(pic: simpsonscrazy.com)

 

I agree with most of the bulletpoints.

Passport photos, for instance. I got told I look like Sideshow Bob (RIGHT) - and that is only the most recent one. The prior picture showed someone (well, let’s face it: me), who looked like a member of the band Europe.

 

EUROPE (pic: getback.com)

 

I also agree with most of the other points. Finding that your moisutriser was leaking all the time, when you are just about to unpack your bag, sucks.

Authentic fresh cuisine sounds good. And to realise that you have made it, is a pretty damn good feeling.

But what does Copenhagen Airport have to do with all that? I mean, why – all of a sudden – Copenhagen?

Have all Kiwis ever been to Copenhagen Airport (as well as to other airports which they can compare Copenhagen with), so that they can say for sure that this is a great airport?

Well, I haven’t been to Copenhagen – neither to the city itself nor to the airport. (But – mind you – I am not a New Zealander, either). So I can’t really tell if Copenhagen Airport is special or not.

Must be special, because it’s on the list. Or is it special because Copenhagen is big news because of the climate summit?

Then we might as well just take Lyndon Hood’s advice – and go wherever Obama’s going. And he knows Copenhagen Airport for sure.

IT GOT pretty quiet around Rodney Hide since he paid back the money he spent on his infamous super-city-trip, but yet again a politician is in the limelight after a questionable overseas trip.

The debate about Hone Harawira and his email exchange with a member of the New Zealand public, in which he justified a private trip after skipping a tax payer-funded conference goes on for about a month now.

WORTH A TRIP? - Europe is a common destination for our politicians' big overseas experience (pic: art.com)

Instead of staying with an official delegation and attending a taxpayer-funded meeting in Brussels, Harawira had gone on a private trip to Paris.

Former Waitangi Tribunal director Buddy Mikaere approached Harawira via email on this matter – and got a rather unpleasant response.

TVNZ uses the term “strongly worded” to describe the reply Mr Mikaera got, the New Zealand Herald calls it an “angry email”.

Fact is: you needed almost as many blank-out-stars like this * as actual letters, if you wanted to display the context…

But “star”-struck displays in all leading media outlets and accusations of having made racist comments when reacting to the emails (referring to Pakeha as “white motherf.******”) were not the only results, Harawira’s actions led to.

The Maori Party announced to consider his future while Harawira was banned from Parliament for the last two weeks.

RENEGADE: Hone Harawira's emails are "star"-struck (pic:spasifikmag.com)

An apology made by Hone Harawira this week was welcomed by Mr Mikaere, who does not expect a “personal sorry”, the NZ Herald reports.

Harawira has made clear his intention to stay with the Maori Party, but a decision has yet to be made by his Tai Tokerau electorate and the Maori Party on whether he should resign. – read more

In a column, published in the Northland Age and displayed on the Maori Party’s website, Hone Harawira gives us more insight in his email inbox:

-Here’s a ‘love letter’ I got in the email. Enjoy it. I did.

“Dear Grim Reaper,

This year you have taken my favourite male actor, Patrick Swayze. You also took my favourite female actor, Farrah Fawcett Major, and my favourite entertainer and dancer, Michael Jackson.

I want to be sure you know that Hone Harawira is my favourite politician. Thanks.”-

 

 

- read the whole column here

- read more about the “angry email” between Harawira and Mikaere here

- watch a TVNZ clip on why Mr Mikaere went public with the emails here

HAWAII, Britain, the United States, Canada – if Rodney Hide had to write a travel guide, those destinations would quite likely  appear in his personal top five.

You can also presume that such a travel guide (“Hide’s hiding spots – a travel guide for NZ politicians on perk progress”, that’s how I’d call it) would not be aimed at the average Kiwi family but to those with a packed purse.

It would rank top hotels and feature recommendations to visit the Universal Studios and in the appendix you would probably find “Tipps & Tricks on how to justify a world trip before the taxpayer“.

PICTURE: WAKE-UP CALL: Rodney Hide has not so much to laugh about these days. (Pic: Chris Skelton/Sunday Star-Times)

Well, our Rodney will have to re-think that, because so far his strategy didn’t work out: the media bombard him with questions, the taxpayers shake their heads in disbelief, and his boss, Prime Minister John Key (recently being labelled as a ‘does-nothing’-Prime Minister by Hide himself) cannot be happy either.

Hide’s bill, including flights, travel fares and accomodation for himself and his partner Louise Crome, is as high as about $25,000 – money paid by New Zealand taxpayers.

Funny how Hide says he disagrees with the perk that enables MPs to travel on taxpayers’ expenses but admits the same time that he used to take his girlfriend overseas. All in terms of his own work, of course, as he was paying visits to super-cities that are stating examples for soon-to-be-super-city Auckland.

[I suppose you could call it "research"... and I wonder why I have decided to become a journalist and not a politician. When I do research, it involves a lot of time at my desk, ringing people until my ears glow and typing into search engines until I suffer from OOS in my hands... If I were a politician, I could pay a visit to the Universal Studios instead...]

Rodney Hide already seemed pretty much with his back against the wall when he was “Caught Red Handed” by Mike Hosking on Close Up on 30 October 2009 (PICTURE RIGHT), but since then he more and more got himself into hot water.

Saying that Prime Minister John Key “doesn’t do anything while ACT did everything and is hated” on a breakfast function in Christchurch last week certainly did not help – although it was quick thinking of Rodney to forewarn Mr Key of what was to come, shortly before the newspapers could pick up the story.

And good on him for apologising to the taxpayers and to Mr Key and for paying back the costs for his partner’s flights and for the trip to Hawaii in June.

In a personal statement released to the press on 8 November 2009 he says: ‘It’s not about the rules, it’s about doing the right thing.’

Right. But I still wonder…

- How come there is a 180°-turn in your opinion within one week (since the appearance in Close Up where you still stressed how the rules -and the Prime Minister himself- allowed you to take your girlfriend on a world trip until yesterday when you admitted that you have done the wrong thing)?

Anyway, what’s happening at “Breakfast With Rodney” on Thursday should be interesting (experience shows breakfasts with Rodney reveal interesting opinions on our government)…

-View another blog on this topic here

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT RODNEY HIDE’S TRIPS OVERSEAS? JUSTIFIED?

Travelling often involves flights – a great horror for many people who suffer from a fear of flying.

But a new iPhone app promises to make flying easier for people affected and quick help in the case of a panic attack.  

DAILYMAIL.CO.UK: The new application for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch launched by Virgin Atlantic is supposed to help people suffering from a fear of flying.

‘Our first iPhone app will bring the benefits of our successful Flying Without Fear course to millions of people around the world who are now using mobile technology to make their lives better,’ Richard Branson, president of Virgin Atlantic, said in a statement.

Flying Wothout Fear is a programme in association with Air New Zealand that provides courses for people suffering from fear of flying. – read more

 

NZ HERALD: A global survey shows that New Zealand’s popularity as a migration destination is that high that the country’s population would increase to more than 11 million if it would take in all the adults who wish to settle here.

POPULAR: New Zealand ranks third in the list of popular immigration destinations. (pic: GALLUP)

What is called the Gallup Potential Net Migration Index measures the estimated number of adults who wish to leave a country permanently minus the estimated number of people who wish to immigrate to the country.

New Zealand ranked third after Singapore and Saudi Arabia and before Canada and Australia.

Worldwide there is a number of 700 million people desiring to migrate permanently. – read the whole story

DOMINION POST: “Everything under the sun” works better for families than “Wine Country” – but the new Hawke’s Bay slogal still won’t replace the original.

Hawke’s Bay’s new slogan is designed to promote the region as a destination for tourists and especially for families with children.

“If it’s a bright sunny day, [the slogan] works literally, but if it’s raining, it works figuratively because there’s still a lot to do in Hawke’s Bay”, Venture Hawke’s Bay Manager Janet Takarangi told the Dominion Post.  

The new slogan, however, does not replace the original “Hawke’s Bay Wine Country”, but features in a TV campaign which began on Sunday.

- read the full story here

PICTURE: SUN & WINE: Hawke’s Bay gets new slogan (pic: www.austravel.com/explore/hawke%27s_bay)

STUFF.CO.NZ: Prime Minister John Key put a stop to rumours and confirmed that New Zealand will see the arrival of a royal visitor early next year.

PRINCE TO COME (pic: beourguests.co.uk)

Prince William, grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, will go on his first official overseas trip on behalf of the Queen and will be in New Zealand from 17-19 January 2010.

He will visit Auckland and come to Wellington for the opening of the new Supreme Court Building on 18 January.  – read more

- view a related blogpost here

NZ HERALD: THE number one travel guide publisher Lonely Planet has named the Top 10 travel destinations – and New Zealand is one of them.

Paragliding in Queenstown and kayaking in Abel Tasman National Park are listed as “life-changing experiences” in Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel guide, which features the best and most inspirational travel destinations for 2010.

Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive George Hickton praised the result of New Zealand being singled out as one of the Top 10 destinations “astonishing”.

El Salvador, Germany, Greece, Malaysia, Morocco, Nepal, Portugal, Suriname and USA are also on Lonely Planet’s list.

- read the full article here

WHILE Aussie Jessica Watson is already sailing, New Zealand-born teenager Laura Dekker is still not allowed to set sail and attempt the world record as youngest solo sailor around the world ever.

SPIEGEL: A court in Utrecht, Netherlands, has ruled that the 14-year old teenager keeps being blocked from setting sail until 1 July 2010, when a new decision will be made.

Dekker announced earlier this week that she wanted to finish the current school year before starting her trip.

However, the Family Court in Utrecht said it needed proof that the sailing trip did not endanger the child’s health or mental development.

It is not decided whether Dekker can set sail after 1 July 2010.

Her parents’ rights concerning her upbringing and education keep restricted by the court.

Dekker is going to stay with her father Dick Dekker, who supports her plans, on his boat in Wijk bij Duurstede near Utrecht.

Her German mother, Babs Müller, told media in September  that she’d rather have a daughter that is alive but will never talk to her again, than a dead daughter.

Dekker’s parents live seperated since their divorce in 2002.

Several sponsors have already put their names forward and offered to support Laura Dekker’s trip once she is able to sail around the world and even plans for Reality TV-shows are being made.

PICTURE: WANNA-BE-RECORD-HOLDER: Teen Laura Dekker still not able to head off. (pic: NZ Herald)

- visit the SPIEGEL-website here (German) or here (English)

- view earlier blogposts about Laura Dekker & other solo-sailors here, here, here & here

“I wished I had a bed to sleep in” - I cannot remember how many times that thought crossed my mind on my travels.

SPACE: The new seat beds offer more space on flights (pic: NZ Herald)

BUT it is for sure that every time I went on an aeroplane I wished they had enough space for a soft matress in the cabin.

NZ HERALD: Air New Zealand passengers will soon be able to convert their seats into a ’seat-bed’ to have a good rest in economy class.

If space is available at the time of check-in, passenger will even be able to book a second seat which allows them to turn both their seats into one bed they could spread across.

AIR BEDS: Air NZ offers more comfort to passengers. (pic: own)

Air NZ would be the first airline to offer such seats to passengers and is believed to consider selling the model to other airlines.  - read more