 What nobody actually tells you about New Zealand or that's just a little bit as an American who's lived in New Zealand for seven years now, I have been jotting down things that are kind of insider tips on things that you may not be aware of if you did not grow up here. So if you are from New Zealand, this is going to seem normal, but if you're visiting, traveling, moving, these are my insider tips that nobody tells you about New Zealand. The in-flight safety video. When you fly Air New Zealand to New Zealand will be your first experience into New Zealand culture, its beauty, its humor. They're so good. I don't think that they're on all airlines or on Air New Zealand and you should only be traveling Air New Zealand to New Zealand because it's amazing. Not only is it amazing plane service, everything, it just gives you the feel of New Zealand. It represents New Zealand and its culture very well. You may be shocked to know that when their kids go to school, when adults go to work, they will literally pack sandwiches with what's called Vegemite or Marmite on it. Not peanut butter, not peanut butter and jelly, not anything else. It's Marmite. Marmite on toast, Marmite on sandwiches, Vegemite, whatever, whichever one you like. It's like this yeast-based spread and it has definitely unique taste, unique smell. I have not adjusted. I don't like it. It's a little bit like when people talk about it, they talk about it like it's very normal. So if you were coming to New Zealand from the outside, just be aware that that's what that is when people are talking about, oh just put Vegemite or would you like some Marmite on it? It's this weird spread that they, you need to be prepared for four seasons in one day. Now this happens more often in certain parts of the country than others, but you're still on Nyland and it still can be quite variable in terms of temperature. So I always bring a rain jacket, you know, some sunscreen, a hat, maybe some sunglasses, like just think about that when you're traveling out, just be prepared for all different kind of weather. And definitely if you're in the South Island and it's colder, then that would look a little bit different. But I always recommend that people get a really nice rain jacket when they come here. You can bring umbrella if you're in the north, but I'm from Wellington and with all the wind, don't even bother with the umbrella. Fizzy drink actually means soda or pot wherever you're from. In fact, when they say would you like some lemonade, they actually mean Sprite. Like literally it took me years of living here to figure out that that's what the heck they were talking about. I was always confused why my lemonade is always clear. And now I know because it means Sprite. It's like lemon-lined soda is what they mean. But when they say fizzy drink, I always thought they were talking about a totally different drink. In fact, they're just talking about soda. Any type of soda, not a type of just fizzy, anything that has carbonation is considered a fizzy drink. Watties tomato sauce is like a family household staple. And in fact, they're passionate about the Watties tomato sauce. Now, I don't really like it. I prefer Heinz because that's what I'm used to. If Heinz is saltier, the Watties is sweeter, but also don't like it at all. But like they're crazy. It's like part of like they value, almost feels like it's part of who they are. They're just very passionate about their Watties. Now, Watties has lots of different products and there's a whole history with that company. It's very cool. But Watties tomato sauce, like don't mess with it. Take a chill, babe. They're on island time here. Nothing's in a hurry. They're not talking fast. They'll take a break, long lunches. It's great. It's great in a lot of ways. But sometimes when you're trying to get something done, don't expect things to be efficient. Don't expect things to be fast, even like applying for a job, take a while because sir, no worries, mate. They're on island time. If you see camper vans, caravans just parked on the side of the roads relatively randomly, it's allowed. Freedom camping is allowed in New Zealand in certain spots and with different regulations. And the fact, since I've been here over the last seven years, has adjusted because, you know, people have been abusing the abilities. But like you can freedom camp. You can literally just park your vehicle and in a beautiful spot and camp there for free with different regulations, depending in the U.S. like you can do that at Walmart, but McDonald's is referred to as MACAS. In fact, they don't even use really the word McDonald's ever. It's MACAS for everything. You even see it on their advertisement, like they're putting money behind that word because that is what their culture calls McDonald's. In fact, I lived here for two years before I realized that they were talking about McDonald's. Like I thought it was maybe a difference. I just didn't think about it. It wasn't until I had friends come to the state, so they say let's go to MACAS. I was like, oh, they're talking about McDonald's. This sun actually feels like it's burning your skin. Like it's so strong, like the atmosphere is so clean and clear here that in the ozone layer situations, it's just the sun is stronger. So like the sun actually heats houses here pretty well. Not amazing, but it also like you feel like it. You can feel it hitting your skin like it's no joke. Skin cancer is a big problem in New Zealand, so just be aware to always bring your sunscreen. It's just more of a staple. Hats are very common. In fact, children are not allowed to go out to recess unless they have a hat on. Like they take the sun very seriously because it can be very dangerous. It just feels like it's burning your skin. No air pollution. Like it's one of the biggest shockers when you come here. Like there isn't billboards everywhere. In fact, you could drive like 50k and see three billboards total. Like they very much believe in keeping the air space. Like they value that. Like you just don't have a lot of commercialization. You don't have a lot of billboards. I'm in like one of the biggest cities in New Zealand and there's not a lot of billboards heading into the city or even in the city. So just all of that. They just look at that as like air pollution and they don't have it and you don't see all of those advertisements that you constantly. It's so great. When you get off the plane and you go get your coffee in the airport, they're going to say f-posts and you're going to be like what? That's how they pay. It's f-posts. Electronic funds transfer point of sale. Point of sale. Yeah. F-posts. So just so you know, get your familiar with that word now. I just helped you. You're going to get off the plane. You're going to be like yes, Kiwi Americans helped me. I know what that means. It just means debit. Okay. It's a little bit different than debit. Just for general understanding, it means debit. So just use your debit card. If you have the pay wave thing, you can go like that, but f-posts. That's the first question you're going to get and you're not going to understand what they're saying because it's going to be an accent, but that's what it means. You will see people walking barefoot everywhere. Very normal in the stores, in the restaurants, school, in church, like bare feet is normal. Now it's not normal everywhere because parts of this country are very cold at certain times of year, but just be aware that people are walking around barefoot and there's no signs in the windows of the stores going no shoes, no shirt, no service. That's not there. They could walk in barefoot. There's this thing here called wearable arts. I don't know if this is common where you're from, but I have people say that word to me multiple times. I'm like, what are you saying? Wearable arts. In fact, in Wellington they have like this wow show it's called every year where they have wearable arts. So it's literally clothes, anything that you would put on a body. It's hard because it's not just clothes, it's all these things. I've been to it once. It was pretty cool. It's art that you wear. In fact, when my kids were in primary school, they had their own wearable arts unit where you created an outfit from recycled material or whatever like whatever your art is brained in, it's wearable art. One of the biggest things that you will be shocked about the fact that there's nobody here, especially if you are from like countries with billions of people, there's like only 5 million people here. There's not a lot of people. That's like really nothing. And they're spread out and you just feel like there's not a lot of people here. You'll go to the beach and there'll be nobody. There'll be like one person. If there's one person, you could go to the next beach and there would be nobody. Like there's nobody here in the States a lot of times when fighting crowds for this or like you got to get down early to the beach to get a spot. You know, I have any of that. There's only 5 million people here and it feels like there's nobody here. They have these things called tramping hunts. First of all, let's start with the word tramping. Tramping means backpacking, okay? Why it's called tramping? I get it like tramping through the woods I guess, but it definitely has all our connotations so it makes it a weird word. Anyway, tramping equals backpacking and then they have what's called tramping hunts. So you backpack into the bush which is amazing and I highly recommend. But they have these things called hunts and it's very normal for people to book hunts and you have to do it quite a bit in advance on certain walks for sure. And you basically have just like this very basic cottage that you sleep in with a bunch of strangers. I've even been into tramping hunts where there's just like a room of just mattresses, like these little cheap little mattresses, but mattress, mattress, mattress. You know, like they're just sleeping with all these strangers in the tramping hut. I'm just saying for some people that's unusual and just be aware that that's what that is and it's very normal. It's really nice because when you're tramping, backpacking, you have a place to go. It's like raining. You can always kind of rely on that because it protects you from the elements of the weather which could really ruin your experience if you have to sleep in a tent. There's plenty of options for you to just sleep in your tent as well, but I'm just making you aware of a thing called tramping hunts. If you want to have more understanding of the Kiwi culture and understand how to travel or work or live in New Zealand, check out my training hub. It has all the little training videos they're sure easy to listen to on finding out more about New Zealand. Definitely comment below. Let me know what your questions are and let me know if you're coming here because I am happy to help anybody and everybody coming to New Zealand. I'll see you next time.