One of the major highlights of my recent trip to New Zealand was meeting and interacting with the local people (AKA Kiwis) in an up-close and personal way. My husband and I had the priviledge of staying in the home of two wonderful Kiwis while visiting a small rural community near Wanganui. Sue and Nick were gracious enough to share their home and their lives with six of our group for a couple of days. Actually, they ended up taking in two more guys on our last night there because of a trip to the emergency room, but that is another story. In addition to Sue and Nick, we met many of the other wonderful people in this community. I was reminded again and again of the fact that people all over the world are much more similar than they are different. The conversations were much the same as you’d hear in any small farming community with topics like rainfall, the price of feed and seed, and who saw who in town yesterday.

Over the past 10 years, I’ve been blessed to have had the opportunity to travel to many other countries. My fondest memories are of the people I’ve met in those countries, especially those people who shared their day-to-day lives with me. The next time you go on a trip outside the United States, make an effort to interact and get to know the locals. You’ll be glad that you did.