Lily the Hobartian

Post #6
Hobart Tasmania

Not much posting as I have been at sea a bit and enjoying some freedom from social media.  And the folk on the cruise haven't been the best spevimens for the World Pursuit Of Happiness.
  Lots of Americans, Brits, Asians, and a smattering of Ozzies and Kiwis, wearing premium level cruise badges.. So I haven't screened much for folks to chat with..
But...
Today we were off the ship in the 10th happiest country..and had a chance to talk with the nice, happy folk the tour is stalking..

Hobart Tasmania is part of Australia. A delightful port town with lots to see and do.. About 180,000 people live in the Hobart city area. We met and had a nice chat with one of them, Lily.

Lily works as a server at Frank restaurant right on the harbor in Hobart..her work day,  I'm sure, is inspired at times with breathtaking, vibrant views of the harbor and distant hills that you can't help but absorb from the inside and outside of Frank Restaurant.
She has lived and worked in other parts of Australia but was drawn back home here..
 Her paycheck is good, she admits, and feels a sense of security with good health care and a pension ready when she is ready to retire...in 30 or 40 years.
She is content enough to reap the rewards of her labor and feels no pressure to go to college to crank up and advance career options to become a competitor in the boosting your lot-in-life game. There's lots of work and opportunity..
  Lily, like other happy countryists I've talked with feels very content doing what she likes, paying her bills without the economic stresses and pressure found in less than happy countries..like USA.. That gives her more time to enjoy life to the fullest and the beautiful ambiance of Hobart and Tasmania

I told Lily of our pursuitofhappiness mission and she is willing to share her thoughts and perspectives on life down under .. If I can find the inspiration to fill some posts with notes and tales from happy people from happy countries.
And, Lily is willing to offer more of her thoughts, and advice to us, on basic training techniques for happiness pursuit..
Thanks  Lily, you are sparking some inspiration..Hoping we hear more from you.

Ho-Ho

Post # 5

Happy Trails..
Sunday Oct 28 NZ time

I'm a Cliff Notes type tourist.
In the most exotic place on earth.. I'm good with a Hop-On-Hop-Off bus ride.. Run the cycle, listen to and even learn from the tour narration.. If something looks interesting hop off for 20 minutes and hop on the next bus... Ho-Ho they call it..

We took the Ho-Ho today in Dunedin NZ

No Ho-Ho in Akaroa, yesterday
 
  For me..touring is like the Father Guido Sarducci "fiva minuta university"
.. I intensely experience 5 minutes or so of touristy things and snap a pic or two while passing by ..why waste time ...that's all I'll likely remember by the time I get home..

  There's close to a terrabyte of photos on the pc external drive of exotic places I've been. Most of which, if I ever looked at them, probably would be unrecognizable to me...except for their grouping in a labelled file.

  But.. There are travel memory bits that last. Manoujkumar our Auckland Uber pilot provided one. The knowledge pursuit on happy countries is making for enjoyable visits...

  Yesterday on the Taurango NZ cruise stop, we toured the town a bit...learned some history, found the big tree, got the prices of homes, and where to shop and eat.. While riding the Pepi Toot.. (Pepe = baby)

After the Pepe Ho-Ho ride we walked back to a beach we passd by and found the perfect roisting bench facing one of the most delightful, awsome pacific vistas.. Water, sand, blue sky, puffy clouds, jutting rocks, greenery all painted on natures canvass..by the sea..it was so delightful it gave me goose bumps and a big smile...love it.
   So I whipped out my LA Times crossword puzzle and my pen..(travel companions)  and proceeded to climb the stairway to nirvana...a memorable spot..

I'm not a notoriously happy guy.. Maybe that's what's driving my quest to find the happy pixie dust in the smiliest countries around the world...
 But...
    ...puzzleing in nature's magnificently textured, idyllic, water view locales seems to be my happy drug of choice.. way cheaper and more memorable than Ho-Ho-ing...even without pictures on the ex-drive.

   Way back on Monday,  our Ho-Ho bus tour of Auckland included a  ferry ride over to Devonport, NZ right across the bay from Auckland.
Auckland is interesting.. Got lots of pictures for the files and a few stories to tell.
One of them includes Saul.

  Saul is Lithuanian. He is a thirty something guy who has spent some work years after his Lithuanian schooling in the UK and Sydney, landing with his wife last year in Devonport.  He commutes on the ferry regularly as his work office is in downtown Auckland, a short bike ride from the ferry.
I sat next to him and sparked a conversation about my happiness tour.. He chimed in..

  The ferry is fast, convenient, comfortable and inexpensive. 
Big cities in happy countries invest in good transit systems to help real people move around. Granted..not as conveniently as an oligarch's jet, helicopter or limo ride.. But it often works great for the less-than-millionaire budget.

It always makes me mad when we shortchange, under fund, and cheapen our way around transit in CT.  We have a crappy system.. Other nations actually make it better because it's for the people. 

Sydney had a magnificant transit system. Nice new comfortable trains, busses and ferries... Commuting in CT rarely makes me happy...So far I've enjoyed every commuter trip in the happy countries.

  Saul is a Civil Engineer who works on transit structure design.  His skills are easily transplantable.  The physics of design are universal.. The code books from different countries are minimally different and easy to pick up.

Auckland/Devonport is Saul's favorite location so far.. He makes a decent enough living to live near the city.  Housing costs are sky high.. Health care is important to him and he ranks NZ health care as tops for his experiences.  Saul is a citizen of the world. And he is in pursuit of the best place to land.. That's real freedom. And he has a top list of things he wants where he lives... pay, health care, safety, security, ease of transit etc....and he says he's almost there in Devonport/Auckland.
..his beef..Auckland is not the most bicycle friendly city...oh well...
   As we went over the list.. He, like so many other happy country-ists I've met..failed to grasp why Americans don't have those basic needs filled..we are after all, a "great again" country....

Great again.. obviously has a different translation in happy lands...smh

   When I sat next to Saul on the ferry my first question was do you live here.. He said "Yes but I'm from Lithuania."  I chimed in and said to Saul " I'm half Lithuanian, other half Irish. Been to Ireland 5 times and planning to visit Vilnius.. soon, it's on my list." 
   When we arrived at Devonport, Saul gave me his card.. "Feel free to contact me about your happy country writing...and more importantly,  make sure you contact me when you've booked your Vilnius trip.
I'll fill you in on details."

Lithuania is not at all high on the happiest countries list.. And probably easy for Saul to leave for better life options..
But.. this is the question that continues to nag me on this tour..
  ..Move to a happy country ..or..
Being back the happy country play book (and the magic pixie dust) and try to help instruct America on how to climb out of the dreary, dark, sad hole we are in?

Not much posting as I enjoy not hearing about big, sad, dreary news from the hole...

3 days at sea coming up
.then Hobart Tazmania...

Go Sox!!

Hello Auckland

Post # 3...Wednesday Oct 24
         (Tuesday in USA)

Sweet as...

We left Sydney Sunday morning Oct 21 for an easy 3 hour hop over to Auckland, New Zealand..# 8 happiest country.
Take off...lunch, glass of wine 2 movies, wheels down.   - bang -
Ditch crossed .. Easy.

The ditch is the Tasman Sea. The ocean separating eastern Australia from the western shore of NZ. 

Auckland has its own wonderful character.  Kiwis, the people of NZ, are delightful.. Proof is in the fact they call themselves kiwis.. More proof comes from simple observations like the opening line if the health care plan...
"New Zealand's comprehensive health system is built on Kiwis’ inbuilt need to see that everyone gets 'a fair go' in life."
  They care for each other..and for everyone who visits..'sweet as'...(a NZ term for awsome)

We arrived in NZ Labour Day weekend..Monday Oct 22 is the national holiday celebrated on the 3rd monday of October..like ours on first monday of September.

The Kiwis invented labor day..their traditional celebration honoring working folk started before everyone elses.. They have a long and proud history of fighting for workers, building unions and improving the lives and well being for everyone.

There are about 4.6 million people on the 2 islands of NZ.
Auckland has better than a quarter of the total population in its metro area.. Very similar to the Massachusetts/Boston population relationship.

  Upon arrival, and an easy passport and customs entry, we summoned an Uber to get us to our hotel.. This holiday the trains weren't running and bus/shuttle options were a bit complicated or slow.. It was the perfect happiness tour commuter option. Our Uber pilot was terrific.

Manojkumar, a delightfully conversational -man-with-an-incredible-life story, driver was born in India, spent work years in Kenya and landed in Auckland about 13 years ago.. It's his home..not going any where else, he says.

Manoj..drives full time.  He was a grocery store manager for many years but wanted the freedom of "being able to go to the beach when the sun came out".  His beef was he couldn't even see the sun in the store and surely couldn't punch out and take a beach day at-will. So he quit the grocery biz and now drives when he isn't distracted by the joys of life or impulsive sun worshiping.

Funny thing about the real freedoms blossomed by certain elements of economic security.. Which are found more often in happy countries than in billionaire serving oligarchies like USA.

Manoj.. Had the freedom to choose his lifestyle. 
*He makes a decent living wage from driving... Because people are paid well here...
*NZ has a comprehensive government health plan that is not tied in to employment...everyone has it.
*When he is ready to retire there is a guaranteed pension...

True freedom, by my definition... Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose...when u want to change jobs for beach day access.. Sweet as..

Our 20 minute Uber conversation was one of the best I've ever had, thanks Manojkumar.  This guy had an
incredible world view and understanding of global socio/economic cause and effect..
He knew a lot about USA politics and gets exactly how bad Trump really is.. And he has a magnificent relational view about how things should work..
India..Kenya..vs NZ.. He's seen a lot..and learned from it all.  How do we help people to understand that? 

Raising the level of thinking and seeing bigger pictures and lowering the level of blind tribal politics...??

One other critical element in the happiest countries winning criteria is how the nation treats its immigrants, Manoj.. being one here.
He told stories of his warm integration into the welcoming arms of New Zealand.. In comparison to other places he's been in his life..it's great here..

Auckland is pretty tame when it comes to crime and violence..but kiwis still shudder and complain about crime... Manoj.. Says...it really isn't that bad... Crime is not good at all, but you don't know the bad crime and violence until you've lived in Kenya, for example...
It's all relative...and folks in the happiest countries do tend to like lower crime rates...
"I'm now a Kiwi.. I like it here..It's my home and I'm not leaving", said Manojkumar..

Yep..the happiest countries do have people that seem happy to be there.. Pixie dust? Maybe..

I just wish....

We're in New Zealand 6 more days... Up next...Saul and more stories are sure to follow...

POH-WT. Australia

Post # 2
The happy land down under

  We arrived in Sydney Australia about 26 hours..plus one day.. after heading out the door in Windsor CT.. About 10,000 miles away.

   Our quest is to set foot in all of the top 10 happiest countries in the world..and have as many conversations as we can with the happy natives of those countries and maybe do a bit of social, economic and cultural research to add to the color commentary..

Why do this?  It's silly, but my country doesn't seem happy these days..and appears to be trending more frown-ward. There are happier countries out there..and our goal is to visit them find and bring home some of the secret magic pixie dust that seems to be floating about making them happier than US..

   For the sake of full disclosure.. we are happy to travel, explore, stimulate all senses in places we've never been..and our lives and careers have landed us in a spot where we are fortunate enough to do stuff like this..

  We have stepped in 6 happy countries over 3 months..4 more of the top 10 will be visited before the pixie dust is shared in the US of A... Maybe around March 20.. The International Day of Happiness 2019

http://www.dayofhappiness.net

Our second Pursuit trip .. Part Deux.. Brings us in a loop around Australia and New Zealand..# 10 and #8 happy countries.

  Sydney is a magnificent city..way more vibrant, texture-rich and interesting than my perception had been. Seeing, smelling, hearing, touching and feeling the good vibes impresses my observations way more than reading about it..

  There are a million interesting components to Sydney..we only realized a few.. Aussies are friendly. It was always easy to get information. The transit was brilliantly designed to connect air-rail-bus-boat in sleek comfy commuting. The city is booming - construction everywhere and lots of crowds in the restaurants. Amazing views, rich architecture, lovely flora and natural texture abound.

My only beef is that my live views of the famous Sydney Opera house didn't match the breathtaking photos that drew me there.

Aside from the visually obvious, there are some base elements that I seem to be detecting that help comprise happiness pixie dust.. It's wrapped around the family economy...
  Here's a few dull points just to keep in mind while we try to compare fruits of labor in the happiest countries...

In Australia - #10 happiest country..the "people" enjoy...
  * A minimum wage rate of  $18.93 AU per hour..among the highest in the developed world..( US  min wage is $10.08 in AU Dollars- almost 60% lower.)
A typical annual family living wage is $38,800AU...min wage provides $39,400AU.
* National health care plans covering everyone with a combo of public and private components with some mandates/options based on income.
* Pension guarantees after age 65 providing means tested and conditional max of $35,000AU per couple annual income, some conditions apply.
*A median individual net worth that ranks 3rd in the world..

  Those are not bad stats when it comes to the possibility, un proven so far.. that some element of happiness can be extracted from higher levels of health and financial security..(secret code word - wealth-sharing)
Hhmmmmmm..

  As we toured about Sydney, we saw, heard, and researched its rich history.. over only a couple hundred years of real growth.. that seemingly steered it in more practical and modern developmental directions.. physically and humanely..than a lot of the world inheriting medieval tendencies.

  I'd visit Sydney again... any time...even after I return there in 2 weeks.

  Off to the cruise.. New Zealand is next.. As soon as I can find a hot spot...More on Australia after our visits to 2 more Aussie ports..

 

World Pursuit of Happiness Tour ..Part Deux

Post # 1
On the road again

  We are 7 days into the second journey in the pursuit to visit the top 10 happiest countries on earth.. Here we are across the ditch, in Auckland after spending a few recovery days in Sydney, adding  2 more happy countries to our list.
       Part Deux
Australia is # 10...
New Zealand #8
       Part Une-  August 2018
Finland #1
Norway #
Netherlands # 6
Sweden # 9
        Fini By March 20 2019
    (world happiness day)
Denmark# 3
Iceland # 4
Switzerland # 5
Canada # 7

Post # 1 on this Deux trip is arriving the day I finally got a good night's sleep.. Amazing how overcoming half-a-world-away-jet lag eases the body and mind.

Coffee helps too...I avoided caffiene to help eliminate all sleep deterrents.. Don't know if that strategy worked, but sleep
...and/or...coffee is helping me focus enough to gather a few thoughts and words for the journal..finally..
And I know.. All one of you who read these posts..have been waiting for the arrival..

We still have two weeks to go on the down-under pursuit of happiness tour.. Waiting to post just adds to the drama..and keeps these thoughts from getting old too quickly..

Today we board the Majestic Princess cruise ship and set off on a 13 day trip with 5 stops along the east coast of New Zealand, a day in Hobart Tazmania, a day in Melbourne ending up back in Sydney.. I am sure the 16 hour leg from SYD to DFW and 8 hours domestic travel time to ORD and BDL will be easier than the ride south..
My attempt to be positive...
We're a long way from home..

We left our house in Windsor CT
At 2:30pm EDT on October 16
Had quick stops in Chicago, then LAX and arrived at the Sydney Airport Holiday Inn at 9:30am local time October 18..
(4:30pm 10/17 CT time)
Portal to portal about 26 hours with 19 hours of wheels-up air time....

Out-of-shape road warriors lose sleeping-on-plane skills pretty quickly...yep...I'm outta shape..
Add 6 hours to the wait time at home and it was a mere 32 sleepless hours... More than enough time to whack my body and mind..

I'm back in reality now.. A half a world away from you guys.. ready to research, observe, inquire and log in the journey and the findings in happy places...

More to come...as I find hot spots of info...and wi-fi portals..
Next up..Post 2...Australia