So...why New Zealand?

This is the question I get asked a lot. First of all, why not? But seriously, here's the reason...

Back in March I made the decision that I wanted to follow through with this idea I had formed a few years ago. In 2011, I went on this west coast road trip adventure and planned out where I wanted to end up by 2014 and that destination was New Zealand. I ended up not following that plan. Instead, I lived in Arkansas for a period of time before moving to Las Vegas for two years where my life changed completely. At the end of my two year stint, I went back to Arkansas for a month before venturing off to Tel Aviv, Israel. Now, that wonderful experience is a story all its own. I am still mad at myself for not keeping a journal of some sort. I'll always have the memories though, right? Anyway, even before my time was over in TLV, I started freaking out about coming back to the U.S. I was not ready for that…

I got back to Arkansas in mid-February and not a week later, I was in Las Vegas for a week. My reason for going was to try and figure out my next plan of action. I left Las Vegas without much clarity, but was happy I got to see my friends, nonetheless. I got back to Arkansas and started working part-time at one of my old jobs, Western Sizzlin. Even though I had some ideas, I wasn't 100% sure what I was going to do, but I knew I still needed to make some money in the meantime.

I had been toying with the idea of teaching English in Thailand, working on a cruise ship, working as a waitress in the Virgin Islands, making Aliyah to Israel and maybe going back to school, or applying for a working holiday visa (WHV) in Australia or New Zealand which has an age limit of 18-30 years old. "Wait…I'll be 30 in September," I remembered. My reduced-price school idea from making Aliyah was also on a 30 year old age limit, but as much as I want to live in Israel I knew it would be better to put some distance between Israel and me…it wouldn't be the same considering everything…and also I knew I wouldn't forgive myself if I didn't do the WHV.

I started doing some research about which WHV was better by reading blogs for inspiration, asking people who have done something similar for their opinion/advice, etc. I didn't really want to go to Australia as much as I did New Zealand, and also the visa for Oz is in the neighborhood of $450 while the visa fee is waived for NZ. Uh…I think the decision was pretty clear.

I applied for the visa and heard back pretty quickly that I was accepted. I applied March 14, got a response March 18, and bought my one-way ticket to Auckland on March 26 for June 9.

I made zero plans, didn't do any real research (where to live, work, visit), etc because I'm irresponsible I like to fly by the seat of my pants and also didn't want to get my hopes up to be let down.

During the rest of my time in the States, I got to go see my life-long best friend, Siobhan, in Florida and spent the majority of my time working, spending some time with family and friends, and trying not to freak out. I also got to go see my favorite band, mewithoutYou, in Oxford, Mississippi, thanks to Zac as my Secret Shlomo gift. And probably my biggest regret, if I truly had any regrets surrounding my insane decision, is that I didn't wait to see when MWY was going to release their new album/tour dates. Wouldn't you know they started like 2 days after my departure date and release the cd the following week. Maybe they'll decide they need to visit New Zealand.

So, anyway. That's sorta how I ended up deciding to go to New Zealand. Didn't want to live Arkansas, Vegas isn't really home anymore, Israel wouldn't be the same, and it's something I said back in 2011 that I wanted to do. Didn't want to disappoint past Starr.

Stick around to see how it turns out...in the meantime, enjoy this song from mewithoutYou's new album (click here to buy it) :)