After experiencing the sulphuric geysers of Yellowstone National Park last month, I figured it couldn’t get stinkier than that. I mean, we’d end our days in the national park, and when I’d wash my hair in the evenings, I could actually smell the sulphur/rotten egg smell getting rubbed out of my hair and scalp. That’s how deeply embedded the odors were on our bodies.

Then, we arrived in Rotorua today, and it’s as though the rotten egg haters’ worst nightmares were fulfilled. It’s known for its geothermal activity and mud pools, and… it does not disappoint. You really can’t walk far in this town in New Zealand without being bombarded by that terrible odor. Even our Holiday Inn lobby and the hallways on the higher floor that we were staying on reeked of the smell. And don’t even get me started when it comes to actually being at the geysers and in front of them; it’s so bad that at times, I was gagging and holding my scarf over my mouth and nose.

It’s certainly an experience, though. To be around these wonders of nature is a bit surreal, and to think that things like this exist kind of blows my mind. The natural colors that come from these areas — the nearly florescent blues and electric greens and bright oranges and reds — seems like someone just painted it all and claimed it was real so that they could justify charging high prices to visit these sites.

That doesn’t really happen in a place as pure and gorgeous as New Zealand, though. They don’t even allow GMOs here. And I’m positive that their farm raised fish is 100 times safer and healthier than ours back in the States.

On our first full day in Hamilton Island the day before Chris’s cousin’s wedding, we decided to take a hike to the tallest mountain of the island called Passage Peak. It didn’t seem that strenuous from the description of it, but as soon as we started, I realized how steep the walk was and immediately became tired within just five minutes. It didn’t help that it was getting hot and sunny very quickly. When we stopped at Hilltop Lookout, which is the first stop that overlooks Cats Eye Beach and the resort area, I was all at once exhausted and impressed by the view that when we left to continue going up the mountain, I left my DSLR on the bench at the lookout point. I did not even realize I didn’t have it around my neck until we reached the mountain’s peak, when I asked Chris if he could hand me the DSLR. Then, I immediately went into freak-out mode and started running down the hills…. and went the wrong way. A New Zealander island worker ran into me, and I asked if she had stopped at the lookout point and seen my camera. She immediately became worried and decided that she’d come down the mountain with me on another route, to then come back up with me to get to the Hilltop Lookout (Kiwis are the kindest, nicest people on earth). She said if we didn’t find it, she’d take me to the Los and Found on the island to report it missing. Chris eventually called me and said he got the camera, and so she left me to continue her hike (on her day off… I felt so bad, but she insisted it was fine).

That’s the thing about a place like Hamilton Island. It’s privately owned and an expensive place to visit and spend a holiday. So chances are very slim that anything you have left out unintentionally will get stolen — because who else wants a random low-grade DSLR, anyway? Now, if only people everywhere could be that honest.

And thank God nothing happened to the camera because we’re both idiots and haven’t backed up the memory card since last November. I’m so behind on photos and scrapbooking.

I’ve never been on a piece of land where cars were not allowed until we arrived on Hamilton Island today after a short layover in Sydney. Only commercial vehicles are allowed on the privately owned island of Hamilton Island. If you need transport, you have a few options: 1) walk, 2) bike, 3) catch the shuttle bus, which supposedly makes regular stops at major points throughout the small island, or 4) rent a golf buggy. We rented an apartment for our three nights here for the wedding, which came with a golf buggy hire. Even though I haven’t driven it yet, riding in it is so much more fun than being in a car. They have very limited speeds, so it’s not like they could do that much damage, and you can call out to other passersby and buggies quite easily while on it. This is the type of transport I’ve been missing out on all my life.

And to make things even better for the environment, golf buggies are electrically powered. Take that, cars.

Traveling to Australia from the U.S. always feels so strange, especially since you lose a day in transit. This time, we left on a Saturday to arrive on a Monday. What happens to Sunday? How do I compensate for Sunday via my 1 Second Every Day app/videos? One day, it’s Saturday, then suddenly it’s Monday. One day, you’re in a corn syrup infested obese person’s and Trump land, and in the next, you are in grass-fed cows, sheep, and kangaroo land. How does it only happen in about 20 hours?

This will be my sixth time visiting Australia. Every time I come back, it’s like a real home away from home, except this time, I won’t be going back to Melbourne, but to Hamilton Island for the first time. I can always expect a lot of Chris’s family’s excitement at our arrival, and many hugs and kisses along the way.

I never seem to get that type of excitement when I arrive in my own home.

So AA’s Twitter responses were paltry. Then, their original email response was unacceptable. So I responded with an additional email with even more details and told them their response was egregious and ignored the core concerns I had, and they called me to formally apologize… and also gave me 15,000 miles to help me reconsider moving my loyalty elsewhere (which is what I threatened. You have to threaten businesses to get what you want. This is a capitalistic world we live in here in the U.S.). So I got the compensation I wanted. And we’re even filing a claim through the travel insurance provided by our credit card to get our hotel reimbursed.

It feels good to win and be vindictive.

Airlines should really be banned from allowing such tight connections. Our flight from Bozeman down to Dallas was delayed for weather reasons, and so that caused us to miss our connecting flight back to New York. Then, in one of the most appalling airline customer service experiences ever, we were denied compensation for our hotel or meals, and treated in a condescending manner by an airline agent and even her supervisor.

It’s all right. I attacked them on Twitter, then told the Executive Platinum AA agent on the phone about the experience, then wrote a detailed account of our encounter to AA’s customer relations portal. I will get what I want out of these people – they have no idea who they are messing with.

When it comes to the national parks of the United States, everyone loves to talk about wanting to visit Yosemite, Yellowstone, or Rocky Mountain National Park. At least one of them would be on the average person’s “bucket” list if s/he enjoys nature and natural scenery even in the slightest bit. All that makes sense since Yellowstone was the first national park of the U.S. (and the world), Yosemite is easily accessible in California, and Rocky Mountain is famous… for its rocky mountains. But what about national parks that are lesser known? Are they somehow less worth visiting or exploring?

Take Seoul or Jeju Island in Korea, for example. Ten years ago, Jeju Island was pretty much unknown to most of the non-Korean population, and it was famous only domestically for being the honeymoon destination spot of Korean newlyweds. I knew about it then only because of the Korean dramas I watched alongside my Taiwanese dramas, and because I had a Korean-obsessed friend who studied abroad in Seoul for a semester and traveled around the country every chance she got. Travel magazines and people who make an annual international tri once a year never visited Seoul much then. Now, it’s on the top destinations list for pretty much every travel publication, and people rave about Seoul, its nightlife and shopping scene. Jeju Island is also a destination that tops the well-traveled wander’s list, as so many articles mention it.

I resent judgments that certain national parks, cities, or countries of the world aren’t worth visiting. Some just have yet to be discovered by the rest of the world. And why would you just want to visit places that are oftentimes talked about and constantly visited – so you can be like the rest of the masses who do what “everyone else is doing? Wouldn’t it feel good to go some place that was gorgeous, untouched, where in a decade or two, “everyone” started going to and discussing, and you could say you’d already been there before the local environment started dying due to our carbon footprint and the hoards of followers started coming?

That’s why Grand Teton was so incredible. It’s known for being untouched, with flora and fauna that have continued to exist for the last thousands of years because of lesser human foot and car traffic. It’s what makes the place special, and it’s also a reason Glacier National Park is so spectacular (even though global warming is causing the glaciers to slowly melt away permanently, but that’s another story for another day).