Queenstown | for scenery and adrenaline rushes

Taking the Plunge (c) 2019 by David Ourisman, all right reserved

Queenstown is my favorite place in New Zealand... and I say that having never made it to Milford Sound or Doubtful Sound. Inclement weather during two separate visits caused the cancelations of our helicopter flights through these breath-taking fjords. But even so, I love Queenstown.

Queenstown Harbor (c) 2019 by David Ourisman, all rights reserved

If you want gorgeous scenery, nothing beats this town set on the shores of Lake Wakatipu. A small resort town, it has everything a nature lover could want. I've always enjoyed the beautiful setting — the lake and the snow-capped restaurants — and Queenstown has great restaurants and many opportunities for productive retail therapy. Shop for possum wool sweaters (warm and so soft), and do drop into Waka Jewelers to browse the hand made carvings and jewelry. Walk upstairs to visit the small gallery and see the owner/artist at work.

Or if you're after an adrenaline rush, nothing is quite so exciting/terrifying than taking the plunge off the Kawarau Bridge. 43 meters above the water (141 feet), I've visited the bridge twice to take in the experience. No, I've never jumped — nor has has any of my fellow travelers, though one of our group was tempted to give it a try — but I was quite satisfied to experience vicariously the sheer terror of the experience. Or for more conventional thrills, there's downhill skiing during the winter months (summer in the Northern hemisphere).

Coming up in my next blogs, three fabulous (and so different) luxury lodges in and near Queenstown.

copyright (c) 2019 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

think outside the nutshell

cloud over Nærøyfjord (c) 2017 by David Ourisman, all rights reserved

Norway in a nutshell® is a registered trademark for an itinerary that's marketed as an easy, fuss-free way to see the highlights of Norway.

The trip has several components, with potential touring components at each stop. You can "do" the entire journey in one long day (13 1/2 hours) ... or spend a day or more at each stop to explore in depth.

During my recent trip to Norway, I experienced two legs of Norway in a nutshell®. We had spent Saturday night in the charming Fjordstove Hotel, a traditional white-framed Norwegian home by the side of a fjord in the small village of Fjærland. The hotel does not pretend to be a luxury accommodation, but this is precisely the kind of place you should hope to stay when visiting Norway. Warm and hospitable, we got to meet the owner and his family, drink his home-brewed ale, and enjoy a wonderful dinner. Rooms were small and simple, but the views were to die for.

rainy day on the fjord cruise (c) 2017 by David Ourisman, all rights reserved

We left the hotel at 7 a.m. on Sunday morning to catch a ferry, arriving in Flåm in time to do some shopping at Mall of Norway before boarding our 9:30 a.m. cruise. The two hour cruise took us through UNESCO listed fjords, and the scenery was beautiful. Had it been winter or spring, with snow glistening off the mountains, it would have been stunning, but it being October, we did encounter a few passing rain showers during our cruise.

The boat was mostly empty — lots of empty seats inside the cabin and very few passengers out on the deck. The cruise was a pleasant and enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours... but, as my colleague Landa pointed out, a fully booked sailing, with every inside seat taken and lots of people crowding the decks, would have felt very crowded and tourist-trappy.

Following the cruise, we experienced the next leg of Norway in a nutshell®. Our driver picked us up in Gudvangen and drove the twisty, hairpin-turning mountain road through Stalheimskleiva. We stopped in the interesting town of Voss for lunch.

Should you do the Norway in a nutshell® tour? My advice:

(1) Don't buy a packaged tour. It will feel like what it is, a rubber-stamped, mass-produced consumer product.

(2) Don't do it in one day. Norway is one of the most beautiful places on earth. Travel slow and savor the experience.

(3) Think outside the nutshell. Work with an experienced travel advisor to help create your own bespoke tour of Norway. Norway is full of charming villages, snow-capped mountains, and gorgeous fjords to fill your days ... and warm and hospitable places to spend your nights.

copyright (c) 2017 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

one of the world's two most beautiful places

black sand beach near Auckland (c) 2017 by David Ourisman, all rights reserved

Travel writing is a funny thing... I typically lose interest in most articles a few paragraphs in, this perhaps being the reason these blog articles of mine are just a few paragraphs long. But I just read one of the best-written travel pieces I've ever come across. Alton Brown's account of his trip to New Zealand was so wonderfully told that it makes me want to go back. Incidentally, AFAR magazine has far more than its share of great travel writing, so if you're looking for a magazine to inspire some life-changing travel, you won't have to look afar (bad pun intended).

New Zealand is one of the two most beautiful places on earth. It is home to some of the most wonderful luxury lodges anywhere — Otahuna, Kauri Cliffs, Huka, and so many more. I'd go back in a second! Just the experience flying into Queenstown, down a mountain valley surrounded by ice-capped peaks, makes the entire trip worth it. (Be sure to select window seats, even if it means not sitting together).

Alton Brown's experiment was this: he would only eat at establishments recommended to him by total strangers. This forced him to interact with local New Zealanders (whom he found incredibly outgoing) and eat at some places you'd be unlikely to find in the usual tourist guide. Read the article for the full scoop.

If New Zealand is on your bucket list, we can help you plan a bespoke trip with our travel partners who truly know New Zealand and can take care of everything. Definitely visit both the north and south islands, and plan to see the mountains and fjords near Queenstown. Helicopter, anyone?

So what is the other most beautiful place? Be watching for an article, soon!

copyright (c) 2017 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

visit Norway | scenic fjords

Norway has always been on the short list of countries I have wanted to visit. I'm flying to Bergen this Thursday (if the volcano gods in Iceland cooperate) and am especially looking forward to experiencing the fjords, glaciers, mountains, and picturesque towns of this Scandinavian country.

Why my fascination with Norway? My grandparents were world travelers, from whom I have inherited my love of travel. Every six months or so, they would travel to some exotic destination, and when they came back, my grandfather would give us a slide show of the trip. His one photograph that I remember most vividly was taken from the deck of a cruise ship sailing into one of Norway's fjords — and so I have always wanted to visit Norway!

Here's a map of our itinerary put together by a Virtuoso onsite in Bergen, The Travel Designer. They have promised to "take you to places only the locals know about, and that even Norwegians dream of seeing and experiencing. You will meet local people and interact with them, and we have great focus on local, high quality food made from scratch." I'll post reports right here from Norway!

View my Norway itinerary in a larger map


visit Norway (search here on Google)

copyright (c) 2010 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.
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