When my wife and I were planning our honeymoon we both knew we wanted to go to New Zealand. The North and South Island. My dream destination! Number 1 on the bucket list! Filming location o the Lord of the Rings, my favorite movie and book series of all time! We had it all planned out…but it didn’t go as planned, from the start. And that is sometimes the start of any great adventure, just like when Bilbo set out on his journey from the Shire. Little did I know that it would shape how I travel, how I plan, how I document, and how I connect with other people.
Using Google Maps In Earnest For The First Time
As we departed on our first connecting flight to the west coast of the United States we knew there was a chance that we might miss our Pacific flight from California to New Zealand. And as our plane pulled up in Los Angeles, I looked up our connecting flight and it was RIGHT BESIDE us at the terminal, backing away…and leaving. We missed our flight, and because of it, an entire day of travel on the North Island. It was soul-crushing. My wife and I booked our trip through a travel agent for the bulk of our nightly stays, transportation, and big excursions. But the rest of our itinerary was up to us. And what did we turn to? Google Maps.
This is the year 2010. Google Maps was awesome but didn’t have the functionality for planning like it does today. But it did have directions to help us get to each hotel, landmark, and small business we needed to find on our trip. It also featured photos and reviews for businesses so we could make decisions on what to do with our time. Were the prices affordable, high, or low? Was the food good? Did this place have good lamb? (FYI, every place in the country had lamb). From the time we hit the ground running in New Zealand, we started using the app and website version to find our next stop.
My New Zealand Photos Became The First Content I Added To Maps
After seeing so many beautiful photos of the country I knew I needed a good camera and video camera to capture the amazing landscapes and destinations. I took hundreds to thousands of photos while on our trip and wasn’t able to share them anywhere but on social media. I knew business owners could create business pages on Maps and photos existed on Maps but I couldn’t share my own experiences. It wasn’t until after the trip that the ability to add photos to places of interest on Google Maps and my New Zealand trip became my first foray in being a Local Guide before the program existed.
It felt great to be able to not only add photos to businesses but also to national parks, overlooks, historical landmarks and more. Even without getting points for my work, I loved seeing the number of reviews and photos grow when I logged into Maps.
Understanding The Power Of Reviews For The First Time
My trip to New Zealand helped me better understand the power of reviews. I reached out online to a bone carver before our trip, Raglan Bone Carving. He worked on many movies and was amazing! Yet he didn’t have a local listing on Google. I was able to take photos of his business, help him get online, and review it so others could find it. I think about him every time I wear my bone necklace (still wear it today). My wife and I also did some shopping in Queenstown and knew we wanted something made of their high-quality sheep wool. We stopped into a cute little shop that made fun, bright-colored scarfs thanks to a review on Google Maps. We loved the owner and she was so sweet and helpful, that I also felt compelled to write a review and upload a photo for the Little Wool Shop once I returned home.
The hardest thing to pick from when traveling to a tourist destination is a tour company. Some are too expensive, some don’t allow you the freedom to explore or actually spend time at a destination. We found Hassle-Free Tours on Google and couldn’t have been happier. They drove us around Christchurch on a double-decker bus to see all the amazing sites. We learned so much history and fell in love with the city thanks to the company. They are still operating today! See my review of them on Maps.
My Wife & I Started Planning All Our Trips Around Food & Coffee
My wife and I have always been food motivated. But once we arrived in New Zealand and tasted the amazing food, we started planning out the next day’s itinerary around morning and afternoon coffee, where we could get a full English breakfast, who had inexpensive lamb on the menu, where we could get some fresh-caught seafood, and who had the best pastries. While in New Zealand, I found my favorite (even to this day favorite) coffee drink…the flat white. I had one in the Stratosfare Restaurant (which also offers amazing views of Queenstown, nearby luge rides, bungee jumping, and a gondola), our hotel the Heritage Queenstown, and Panetone Bakery in Auckland.
I was able to enjoy my first English breakfast at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Auckland. I could not eat one every day but it is a meal I crave so many mornings because of the experience. Years later, I was able to post my photos and write a review for the hotel to share it with travelers like myself. I read online reviews before our trip about a restaurant/gastropub called Matterhorn. It has since closed but it was my very first gastropub and tail-to-snout dining experience. Google reviews showed me that the actors in the film trilogy enjoyed dining there, so I went based on the review. Queenstown was one of my favorite dining destinations. We ate minced meat pies, the world-famous Fergburger that is best eaten with fries and a Vanilla Coke, and when looking for a great dinner spot we saw reviews for a local pizza place that had Lord of the Rings themed pizza…Hell Pizza. My personal favorites were the Mordor pie (Smokey BBQ Sauce, Chicken, 5-Pepper Pepperoni, Onions, Capsicum and Bacon) and the Envy pie. They also had great beer from the South Island and amazing sides.
Taking My New Zealand Lessons To Become A Local Guide
My trip to New Zealand was magical in many ways. It started out on a rough note due to missing flights but thanks to Google Maps we were able to navigate everywhere we wanted to go, find new places to eat and drink, try new things like riding in a Zorb and bone carving my own necklace. I amassed so many photos and experiences that started me out on writing reviews and adding content to Maps before the full Local GuideProgram got up and running. Once they started the gamification process, I knew I was hooked and took all of my trips with Google Maps in mind.
If you want to see my list about New Zealand Lord Of The Rings film location list on maps, view it here!
