-
A New Zealand Adventure
This New Zealand adventure was the last international trip we took before the COVID pandemic (or possibly during the start of it depending on how you look at it). My husband and I traveled to Australia and New Zealand in February 2020 right when COVID was mentioned as a possible threat, but not yet recognized in the United States as a serious one. I recall a distinct memory from our trip when we landed in the Sydney airport and saw many people wearing masks and thought “hmm maybe this is more serious than we are being told…” (more on that later).
A Quick Jaunt Down Under
Australia is a place that is very dear to me as I lived there for 6 months when I studied abroad in the beautiful city of Perth as a college student. Perth, which is in Western Australia is known for some of the most pristine beaches in the world (you can literally exfoliate your skin with the sand there). While living in Perth, I spent about a week in the Eastern cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, but the majority of my time abroad was spent in Western Australia.
On this trip though, our focus was on New Zealand so we spent two nights in Sydney en route to New Zealand. We stayed at the Shangri-la hotel after reading some glowing reviews online. We spent the first day in Sydney hiking along Bondi Beach, which is an iconic beach spot. The next day was spent touring the Sydney opera house and walking around Darling Harbour. I highly recommend touring more than Sydney if you do find yourself planning a trip to Australia as every city has a unique identity and offers something completely different.
The one thing that I never loved about Australia was the food. While there’s a lot of Asian influence infused throughout the cuisine, which I typically enjoy, much of the staple dishes are actually pretty bland and flavorless. My husband who enjoys all his meals slathered in cholula sauce had a hard time getting access to any form of hot sauce. After getting a good sense of what Sydney is all about, we were off to New Zealand!
Kicking off our New Zealand Adventure!
New Zealand consists of a North Island and a South Island. I had done some research beforehand and looked into what each island has to offer and decided we wanted to spend the majority of our trip on the South island as the topography is unrivaled. We flew into Auckland where we stayed at the Cordis hotel for one night. I had read online that while Auckland is a beautiful city, time in New Zealand is best spent exploring the more scenic parts of the country so we only spent one night there on the advice of other blogs and I’m glad we did it that way. We spent our one full day in Auckland walking around the city and going to the observation deck at the Sky Tower. For dinner, we went to Viaduct Harbour where there’s a stretch of outdoor resturants and bars. We had dinner at Frida Cocina Mexicana and Tequila Bar, which was pretty good Mexican food, but we mainly ventured there for the scene and the Frida Kahlo theme.
Queenstown: A place as regal as its name
The next day we took a flight to the South island and landed in Queenstown where we started the more adventurous part of our vacation! We rented a car from the airport (we had read that driving the South island is really the only way to do it). Queenstown is an incredibly scenic place, which offers a plentitude of hikes and has lots of restaurants and shops. We stayed at a hotel a few minutes from the main town called The Rees Hotel. On our first day, we perused the shops in town and took a gondola to the top of the mountain to take in the views. The second day, we embarked on what was described as an “easy” hike, Queenstown hill walk trail, but honestly I would rate it as moderate given it was pretty steep most of the way through. We then spent the evening at Amisfield Winery where we had to make reservations ahead of time. This place is a culinary dream. We enjoyed a 7-course chef’s tasting menu that included dishes like venison, quail, and duck.
Milford Sound Day Cruise
The next day, we embarked on an unforgettable excursion when we took a small plane to Milford Sound/Fiordland National Park often referred to as “the eighth world wonder” and then hopped on a boat to explore the gorgeous Fiords. The experience of getting on this small plane was harrowing, but the views from both the plane and the Milford Sound day cruise are so worth it! The Fiords are like nothing I had ever seen before-monstrous rock formations created by glaciers and waterfalls cascading off cliffsides. This was one of the main highlights of the entire trip and I highly recommend everyone do this!
The next day, we did the one hour drive to Wanaka of course to visit “the most famous tree in the world.” We also stopped at Glenorchy and took in some Lord of The Rings-esque sights (apparently a lot of Lord of the Rings was taped here). Every minute of the drive through these parts of the South Island is breathtaking and surreal. There are a lot of hiking trails, nature preserves and bodies of water such as Lake Hawea and the Blue Pools, which we also stopped at on the way. We took this route as our final destination on our New Zealand adventure was the majestic Mount Cook.
Mount Cook Glacier Hike
We made our way to Mount Cook National Park, which was about a two hour drive from Wanaka. Besides experiencing the Fiords, the Mount Cook glacier hike we embarked on was the most memorable experience of the trip! We stayed in the main Aoraki Mount Cook lodge in Mount Cook as we wanted to be as close to the mountain as possible. The day after we got there, we had booked a helicopter ride, which we took to the Tasman Glacier and then set out on a glacial hike! As you can see in some of the photos below, there is a lot of soot (brownish material) covering the snow, which was a result of the far reaching effects of the Australian forest fires of 2020. Another devastating consequence of climate change is the rapidly melting Tasman Glacier. Since the 1990s, it is estimated that Tasman has been melting about 590 feet per year. As a result, a lake was even formed at the end of the glacier. As parts of the glacier break off and fall into the lake, there are potentially catastrophic repercussions such as the creation of avalanches.
The day after our celestial hike, we started the journey back home. On our uber drive to the airport, our driver coughed and then immediately said “don’t worry, I don’t have COVID-half the country has already been tested for it and we haven’t had a case yet!” I glanced at my husband with a look of concern-little did we know what would await us back home a week later….
New Zealand is an extraordinary place with something to offer everyone. Whether you’re a scuba diver or a nature enthusiast or a fearless adventurer, the diverse terrain of New Zealand accomodates all kinds of visitors. It’s definitely in my top 3 favorite destinations in the world and I feel so lucky to have been able to experience this New Zealand adventure right before the US went into lockdown.
COVID Policies
Notably, New Zealand has often been referred to as “the poster child” with regard to containing COVID and adopting a zero-COVID policy. Prime Minister Jacinda Arden has been lauded for effectively utilizing a science-informed approach since the start of the pandemic. To date, New Zealand reports 53 deaths and about 80% of the country is fully vaccinated. Currently, travel to New Zealand is restricted (as it has been throughout most of the pandemic) and only New Zealand residents are able to enter the country with some exceptions.
Those granted permission to enter the country must be fully vaccinated and present a negative COVID test within 48 hours of travel (this rule also applies to New Zealand citizens). They must then enter into a mandatory quarantine, which was originally 14 days, then decreased to 7 days for vaccinated individuals and then recently increased to 10 days again. Everyone also needs to book their quarantine lodging ahead of time and show proof of this prior to boarding.
https://covid19.who.int/region/wpro/country/nz
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/new-zealand-travel-covid-19/index.html
-
Coffee Chat: Vaxxing and Masking is our best defense against COVID-19
🗣 With the emergence of the omicron variant and the delta variant fueling hospitalizations across the country (and likely more variants to come), it continues to be important to mask indoors along with getting your booster shot when able to. Several studies released over the last year reaffirm the importance of masking:
😷 A retrospective case-control study out of Thailand showed a 70% reduction in risk of infection during high risk exposures in those who reported having always worn a mask compared with those who did not wear masks. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7588529/
😷 A randomized study including 340,000 people in Bangladesh revealed that symptomatic infections were reduced by 9% in villages randomized to masking and in villages given specifically surgical masks, it was reduced by 11%. The study also emphasizes the importance of distributing masks, role modeling and promoting them which tripled mask use. https://www.povertyactionlab.org/evaluation/impact-mask-distribution-and-promotion-mask-uptake-and-covid-19-bangladesh
😷 We also know that masking in schools is an effective strategy for reducing spread. In counties where school mask mandates were enforced, children under 18 contracted covid at a rate less than half of the rates of counties without mask mandates. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8486393/ A report out of Arizona revealed schools without mask mandates in two of the most populous counties in the state were 3.5 times more likely to have covid outbreaks than those with mask mandates. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7039e1.htm
😷 With regard to flying, another report indicates that masking prevents transmission on planes. Infected passengers on flights 10 hours or longer did not appear to infect other passengers or crew members in the 14 days after the flight. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7543400/
These studies and more can be found at cdc.gov #maskup #letsgetvaccinated #covid19 #covid #vaccinessavelives #covidbooster #deltavariant #omicronvariant #defeatcovid19 #sciencewins #schoolmasking #maskmandates
-
A Love Requited and the Search for a Vail Ski Lesson
I visited Vail, Colorado for the first time this December (2021) to celebrate my husband’s 40th birthday along with his family. I’ve always had a deep infatuation with the idea of Colorado and have often envisioned myself living there deep in the mountains, surrounded by wildlife and trees spending my days embarking on long hikes and then hiding away with my books in quaint coffee shops. Part of this obsession has to do with my veneration for nature and specifically, the mountains, but the other part is the culture of Colorado-I just feel like I would fit in there. It’s a running joke in my marriage that I always talk about how much I love Colorado without ever having been there so to say that I was excited to go is an understatement. However, as someone who is not a skier (I had gone a few times in middle school with close family friends who skied), I was apprehensive about the skiing part of the trip. My husband’s family are expert skiers so I resigned to sitting in the ski resort with a good book and sipping hot chocolate, but then I thought how about I give this skiing thing another shot? I started my search for a ski lesson in Vail.
I did some research to see where the best option would be for ski lessons and it was a little overwhelming or rather underwhelming as I didn’t find much information. I stumbled on this website for a Vail ski lesson: https://www.vail.com/plan-your-trip/ski-and-ride-lessons.aspx and booked a lesson for one day. You are then given the option of booking your ski lesson at Golden Peak or Lionshead. I could not find much information about either Vail ski school site and which was preferred, but did read online that Lionshead seems to be more popular so I went with that one and I’m glad I did.
We arrived in Vail the first week of December and to our dismay (well not really mine, but everyone else’s) there wasn’t much snow on the ground. Apparently the ski season has been getting later and later each year in Vail (thanks to #climatechange). The positive was that it wasn’t deathly cold like I imagined it being, but many of the ski runs were closed. There were 3 open-a green level, a blue level and the beginner area (yay!). The beginner area was on the other side of the resort so the first day, I went my own way to Lionshead for my Vail ski lesson, which is also where the beginner run was while my husband and his family took the shuttle to Vail Village where the more advanced runs were.
Lionshead was definitely more quiet with less people, but there were plenty of shops and restaurants. I visited one of the ski rental shops and got fitted for my skis and boots and set off for my lesson. I met my instructor and my group (there were 3 others with me) and we started our lesson! I felt pretty confident during my lesson and a lot of the principles from middle school came back to me quickly, but looking back I wish I had gotten a lesson the second day as well. The first day is spent teaching you the basic principles and getting lots of experience on the beginner slope and getting on and off the chairlift, which I always think is the hardest part of skiing. The second day, they challenge you by taking you to the more advanced runs. There is also a 3-day package that two of the people in my group had gotten and looking back, I think it’s definitely worth getting if you really want to commit to getting good. The second day, I went back to the beginner’s area and practiced my turns and then by the third day of skiing I took the shuttle to Vail Village and attempted the green slope. I managed to complete it without falling, but there were definitely a few scary points where the peaks were higher than I was prepared for. All in all, I’m glad I did a Vail ski lesson, but maybe I would have done one more.
I did take a day off from skiing (days off are necessary as skiing can be very taxing) and spent it exploring the hikes surrounding the Vail resort. There are several different hikes ranging from easy to difficult in intensity, but we were looking for an easy one given we were already sore from skiing and ended up doing part of the Gore Valley Trail.
With regard to covid preacautions, the ski resort does check vaccination cards when entering the dining area of the resort and requires masks in their indoor facilities however, there are tons of restaurants and shops in the Vail Village (where the main runs are located) and they did not check our vaccination cards. In general, I felt pretty safe there as outdoor seating was always an option although it was warmer than usual this time of year.
Vail Village Vail Village Vail Village Of course I checked out some of the local coffee shops and these were a few of my favorites: Loaded Joe’s, Yeti’s Grind and Vail Mountain Coffee and Tea (I also visited the Starbucks at Lionshead because duh sometimes Starbucks is necessary).
Loaded Joe’s In terms of Vail restaurants, there are some great restaurants in Vail Village where the main ski runs are located. We ate at Los Amigos, the Red Lion, Matsuhisa, and Big Bear Bistro. They were all great choices, but I have to plug the amazing chicken curry soup/breadbowl at Red Lion and croissant french toast at Big Bear Bistro, which was AHHMAZING. Those were probably my favorite dishes of the trip although I did have another amazing brunch meal in Denver on our way back to the airport and that was the nutella french toast at a place called Syrup.
Chicken curry soup bread bowl at Red Lion Croissant French Toast at Big Bear Bistro Nutella French Toast at Syrup in Denver With regard to best places to stay in Vail, we decided to stay at an airbnb in neighboring Avon, which is about a 10 minute drive to the ski resort. We chose an airbnb because we needed a large space for 10 family members and it housed 12. The airbnb was a gorgeous mountain house like the classic ones you see in the movies. If you are planning on skiing the entire time you’re there, the best place to stay in Vail would probably be at the ski resort itself since you will be onsite the whole time.
Overall, loved my first time in Vail and Colorado was everything I had imagined all these years. Hopefully there will be more trips there in the future! Vail Ski lesson, vail restaurants
*For specifics about my food experience, check out my yelp page (Jessica K.)
-
Coffee Chat: Vaccine Mandates
🗣 Let’s talk vaccine mandates. “The liberty secured by the Constitution of the United States to every person within its jurisdiction does not import an absolute right in each person to be, at all times and in all circumstances, wholly freed from restraint,” Justice John Marshall Harlan stated this during the court case Jacobsen v. Massachusetts in which a pastor had violated the mandate for the smallpox vaccine in Cambridge. He went on to say “there are manifold restraints to which every person is necessarily subject for the common good.” This was in 1906 and still applies today, individual right must always give way to the “common good.”
🏥 In March, Houston Methodist in Texas became the first the healthcare system to require covid-19 vaccinations for all its employees. As a result, 153 employees were fired (with about 25,000 vaccinated!). When a lawsuit was filed by the ousted employees, a federal judge in Texas sided with the hospital, maintaining the mandate’s legality. Since that ruling, many hospitals across the country have followed suit as well as private companies and even entire cities.
❓Can public and private employers mandate covid-19 vaccination? Yes, as long as they are not breaking workplace-discrimination laws such as those that may be protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which may allow for those with medical conditions that prevent them from being vaccinated to gain an exemption and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which allows those with religious objections to seek exemption. Even if exemptions are granted, accomodations such as wearing a face mask, comitting to periodic testing or working from home can be made as long as they do not create “undo hardship” for the business.
❓Can the state and local governments mandate covid-19 vaccines? Yes, the legal precedent was set by Jacobsen vs. Massachussetts.
❓Can the federal government mandate vaccines? Probably not, but it can make life unpleasant and expensive for those who remain unvaccinated. For example, getting vaccinated could be incentivized in the form of offering tax breaks like those given for having a child or buying a home. Those who choose to remain unvaccinated, may also be expected to pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes.
While the most important benefit of getting vaccinated is to protect yourself and those you care about, there are also economic and societal implications to your decision. #letsgetvaccinated #covid19 #vaccinemandates #jacobsenvsmassachusetts
-
Coffee Chat: COVID-19 Vaccine and Misinformation
🗣 Let’s talk misinformation and the covid vaccines. There’s been an increase in misinformation about the vaccines especially over the last few weeks. As healthcare professionals, we have an obligation to present facts and keep our patients well informed when making decisions about their health, but when public safety/health is being compromised by misinformation this obligation extends into our personal lives. It can be frustrating when a constant barrage of inaccurate and detrimental information from social media and public figures impedes our efforts and the efforts of scientists and public health experts to keep us safe. When speaking to those who may be hesitant about the vaccines (whether they are patients, family members, friends etc.), I find it best to take an individualized approach and tailor reasoning to their specific concerns. Some may respond better to personal accounts and others want to see the data. Here are some points to get started:
💉The vaccines were developed quickly as the need was urgent, but they were still subjected to the same vigorous trials all vaccines must go through before they are made available.
💉Covid vaccines are proven to be safe and effective and were developed with technology that’s been studied for years
💉The most common side effect is injection site pain followed by headache, fatigue and body aches
💉Possible side effects should not deter anyone from getting the vaccine as the risks posed by getting covid itself are far worse
💉While it is possible to become infected with covid even after vaccination, the risk of developing severe illness, being hospitalized/dying is greatly reduced
💉Given the increased transmissability of the Delta variant and its significant impact on children, it is now more important than ever to get vaccinated both for youself and your loved ones
💉It is also important to still mask indoors even when fully vaccinated due to how transmissable the Delta variant is and to protect those who cannot be vaccinated (children under age 12)
🇺🇸 I cannot think of anything more patriotic than getting vaccinated to protect your fellow citizens! #letsgetvaccinated #covid19 #covid vaccine
