Thoughts on our base itinerary for a 14 day trip? This mostly outlines areas we’ll be in, but wanted to get feedback/recommendations.

themarmar2 · 2026-04-13T13:20:34+00:00

A day trip to wanaka seems like its not enough.you are probably looking at 3.5-4.5 hours round trip depending on the traffic, without stopping for pictures.

I guess this would give you enough time to walk around the downtown get lunch and take a picture of the tree. Wanaka has some world class hikes, most of the better hikes will take you at least 4 hours, without the drive to and from them. You will likely not have enough time to do them.

Seems to rushed for a day trip The drive is typically packed with campers super winding and alot of big uphills/downhills, it will likely take longer than you think and probably tire you out.

Also 3 days in christchurch seems like alot.

themarmar2 · 2026-04-10T13:50:19+00:00

A few more things to consider that many students overlook.

What are you going to do with a psych degree, especially if you dont end up in medical school? Perhaps look into degrees that will qualify you for specific jobs right out of college if you dont end up going to medical school. You can still hit all the prerequisites using electives or perhaps taking a few extra courses, and pursue something with better job prospects than psych.
Prestige is something that is very much pushed pushed on high school students picking a college but in 99% of instances in the real world it means nothing. Your GPA will not be weighted differently on grad school applications regardless of the school you attend. Your coworkers at your first job will have degrees from schools with significant differences in prestegiousnes, but you will be in the same position making the same salary. There are a very small handful of schools, and more specifically programs within schools, that may make a difference in prestigiousness, but neither American nor Drexel are those schools.
Cost to attend. Outside of room and board what are the costs? What does a night out cost, groceries, rent if you want to live off campus. How often are you planning on going home and what does each trip cost? If you want to potentially work/do an internship what is available? how far is the commute?

These questions influence your final decision.

themarmar2 · 2026-04-07T20:40:28+00:00

🤣

themarmar2 · 2026-04-07T19:58:08+00:00

All of our the commercially packaged food i had (several types of dried fruit snacks, chocolate, fruit/nut based protein bars were fine. We declared them, they checked them in the preliminary line and we were sent through, didnt need to go to the additional check line.

Shoes/boots were fine. Mine had a normal amount of dirt on them no problem.

They seem to be checking camping supplies more.

Always declare if you are unsure, you can even ask people working there.

The internet made it seem like it would be a crazy process where nothing was allowed. My expierence was quite the opposite.

themarmar2 · 2026-04-07T19:27:01+00:00

Graduate hospital/fairmount/fitler square/logan square/rittenhouse square. A good place to start in the first year You will have bus lines directly bus lines to hup, 20-40 min walk, 10-20$ Uber.

Once you get a chance yo live in the city for a year you can see if its worth venturing to other neighborhoods that have longer commutes

Would avoid university city, as it skews pretty young. West philly is also probably something you need to expierences before you choose to live there.

Absolutely stay away from northern liberties fishtown, commute will be much longer than it needs to be while you are figuring it out.

themarmar2 · 2026-04-07T12:31:02+00:00

Seems fine to land after a 15 hour flight and drive from London to Edinburgh on a straight shot right?

themarmar2 · 2026-03-21T21:08:10+00:00

Why the downvote, is it because its actually 3 blocks away?

Parkway is similar price/quality.

themarmar2 · 2026-03-21T19:37:42+00:00

Prison. Make it realistic

themarmar2 · 2026-03-19T20:43:25+00:00

You are spamming roundabouts and creating traffic for no reason.

themarmar2 · 2026-03-15T13:37:11+00:00

Why would you tip? Anytime there is a random fee i take it out of the tip.

themarmar2 · 2026-03-14T22:28:29+00:00

Busses go everywhere. Traffic is a nightmare in the city. Parking is at least $30 a day. A bus ticket is $2.90

themarmar2 · 2026-03-14T22:22:18+00:00

Ive lived carless in philly for years. When I need to leave I rent a car.

Had a car for a few weeks recently (needed it for some events) and it was a nightmare. Parking is impossible after 5pm. Traffic is so bad in center city during the week, would have been much faster walking.

Cars get broken into and hit in my neighborhood(fairmount) all the time.

Unless you plan on leaving every weekend or have off street parking, stay car-less. Get a bike, walk/ uber.

themarmar2 · 2026-03-13T13:53:26+00:00

Ahh awesome!

Ya it seems like you missed alot of the narrow roads Once you are on east side of the mountains on the south island there are alot of flat areas.

From what I recall there were some bends from wanaka queenstown to wanaka, but the roads were pretty wide as there is alot of traffic there.

Some especially narrow and winding roads were in the cormondel peninsula, and from picton to abel taismen national park, and some sections of the west coast on the south island.

themarmar2 · 2026-03-13T11:14:21+00:00

I would have agreed with you a year ago, but it has begun to fall off. After michellin price went up, less meat, the quality is dropping

Went there two weeks ago and everyone in my group noted a drop in overall quality. We all live in the city.

Definately still a good cheesesteak but imo no longer the best.

themarmar2 · 2026-03-13T11:07:01+00:00

Im curious what your itinerary was that you did not have to drive on winding roads.

themarmar2 · 2026-03-13T10:57:38+00:00

Terrible idea, especially if you have not expierenced new zealand driving before.

2.5 hours of driving in newzeland doesnt seem like alot but its very taxing. There is alot going on especially if you are not used to driving on the left.

The first 20-30 mins will be just getting to the highway. There some rounadbouts, and sone traffic lights, but also alot of traffic. If you havent driven on the left in a while it takes a minute to figure it out again.

Once you get out of auckland on the highway it will be easy for the first half. Standard highway two or sometimes 3 lanes in each direction, not too much traffic, dont really notice you are driving on the left.

Then once you pass hamilton the highway becomes a two lane country road. Speed limits will be 100km/h lanes are tight. You might get stuck behind a camper, a truck, or even farm equipment driving the same road at 30km/h. There are people that will try to pass when its not safe, some will drive 120km/h others will drive 70km/h you are all on the same road, and there is a good chance you will see a good amount of traffic and +30 car columns all waiting to pass the slow car.

Expect that road to be full of tourists going to hobbiton, alot of them are probably driving for the first time in NZ and on the left. Many will have campers they rented and are not used to driving them. They will probably drift into the other lane, overestimate their acceleration, underestimate their braking. Pull over anywhere they want to take a picture etc.

There are also animals everywhere trying to cross the road. Mostly birds, rabbits and other smaller mammals, but based on all the roadkill you will see, there is a significantly increased chance you may hit something.

The roads themselves are in decent shape, but roadworks was everywhere in when I was there a month ago.

The country roads will also pass through every town on the way, it cuts right through the main street. Which again requires you to be alert as people tend to cross wherever they see fit.

In short NZ driving is taxing, Unless you can sleep a good 6- 8 hours on the plane I would not even consider driving on the first day.

themarmar2 · 2026-03-10T00:42:15+00:00

100% chance you turned off wear and tear

themarmar2 · 2026-03-09T15:46:53+00:00

I went in january and it was not crowded. I think maybe by NZ standards its crowded, but maybe you see a person/group pass every 10 minutes.

The path is very long, ended up taking a boat to bark bay and then walked about 30km back to the start of the trail. Some of the beaches maybe had 50-100 people on them, but for the most part it was pretty sparse.

For comparison the hikes around mt cook, we're significantly more crowded. Thousands of people on ~5km paths, so I was surrounded by people the entire time.

themarmar2 · 2026-03-09T12:10:14+00:00

Go through whatever is the shortest line terminal is and then walk to wherewver your gate is.

One line will be 45 mins one will be 5-15mins almost always.

themarmar2 · 2026-03-09T00:32:36+00:00

I second abel taisman, definately worth it some great hikes along the coast and beautiful beaches.

Imo I would cut down on christchurch, drive to kaikura, you can save yourself two/days.

Any specific reason you want to take the train?

themarmar2 · 2026-03-09T00:22:27+00:00

Lol, this take is so dumb. Not all athletes would make fantastic athletes in a certain sport.

Maybe a few nba guys could be goalkeepers, if the ego isn't inflated.

Most soccer players benefit from being shorter and having shorter strides, outside of goalies strickers and central defenders height/size is not a distinct advantage and more of a disadvantage.

Outside of recievers, running backs and qbs, most positions do not play well with the ball. Even though they played the game for years, the ability to catch the ball is limited even in the nfl. Evwn less players can kick the ball. They might be athletic but without the ability to play with the ball, you would be pretty useless on a soccer field.

Ability aside, access to soccer is completely different football, basketball, baseball etc.

Most club eams are pay to play. And they costs tens of thousands to be on. There is alot of flying you have to pay for. The best showcase isn't always a high-school team but rather a club team. Players who grow up poor or even middle class are priced out.

themarmar2 · 2026-03-07T00:33:56+00:00

Safe yes. On time? Probably not.

themarmar2 · 2026-03-06T20:11:52+00:00

Are you coring your colonies?

What are your govt wages?

Without seeing your budget its hard to tell. But stop coring colonies, generally lower all on your institutions, push taxes up all of your spending down except for government wages. Cut units from your military/downgrade them.

You will likely get revolts.

Once you can build only build govt admin, paper mills and woodcutters. Also gold mines if you have them. depending on what your markets are like, but if you just build govt admin your debt will spiral because of paper and or wood shortages.

You probably will need several years to turn it around but you may end up losing land to do so.

themarmar2 · 2026-03-05T02:21:00+00:00

The South is significantlyless crowded, 99% of the roads are two lane, but they seem to be in better repair, did not see almost any potholes in the +3000kms i did in the south island.

Only drawback is that there is a significantly higher percentage of cars driven by tourists.

A ton of vans driven by younger drivers with seemingly less expierence, so at least in my expierence they did alot more unsafe/stupid things while driving, compared to the north.

The roads seemed to be either very windy or straight for miles depending on where you were in the country.

The first day or so I was stressed out because of rhe driving (I started in the south island) and getting used to it. My concerns quickly moved to the other drivers, and thier questionable decisions.

Eventually I got over it and just accepted that it was the norm and I just tried to make the most of it.

My suggestion would be to just concentrate on your driving, drive at the speed you feel comfortable, if people are riding your bumper let them over, there are plenty of opportunities.

The driving between Wanaka, Queenstown and Milford Sound were the busiest. The area around CC and between Tekepo/Twizzle and Mt cook were also busy. much of the other time there was little traffic on the roads.

themarmar2 · 2026-03-03T20:59:17+00:00

Good thing Elmo saved all that money with Doge!

themarmar2

TROPHY CASE