Why New Zealand?

I've been everywhere, man.

I've been everywhere, man.

Crossed the deserts bare, man.

I've breathed the mountain air, man.

Of travel I've had my share, man.

I've been everywhere.

- Johnny Cash

The flippant answer to the question often asked, "Why are you going to New Zealand?", would be a quick and simple "Why not?" The thing is, "Why not?" is not that flippant and is pretty much the answer. Of course there are multiple underlying motivations driving it. 

A few years ago, somewhat in jest, Kari suggested we pack up and go live/work in New Zealand. We frequently get solicitations from staffing companies to work throughout the U.S. and also internationally. We were both at a particularly frustrating time in our careers and saying "Fuck it, let's go" had a certain appeal. I don't think she initially thought I was serious when I said "Let's do it" but we were both serious enough to start looking at the possibility.

Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.

- RGH

Packing up and leaving behind everything you know, everything you are comfortable with, can be frightening, but I have a pretty long history with it. For years, I bounced from place to place, trying new things. In highschool, my parents allowed me to travel and explore with friends and by myself. When I left home, I went to college in Hawaii for two years, then transferred to Boston University. 

That transitional summer, I shipped my Jeep to Oakland CA and spent the summer driving around the U.S. Just before leaving Hawaii, I had my wallet stolen. I had closed out my bank account and an entire summer's worth of cash saved was gone in an instant. What was supposed to be a fun, frivolous, and lazy summer turned into a lesson in how to make do.

From there to here has been a series of jobs, careers and adventures. Along the way, I worked as a diver for NASA training astronauts in the lead-up to the International Space Station, I lived in Honduras and Belize working on coral reef research, and I tried my hand in the oil industry (what Texan hasn't?) working for a company that had me living in Brazil.

I once was asked "Why are you always moving? What are you running from?" and I got a little pissed off (needless to say, that date didn't go well). I thought, and said aloud, something along the lines of "Why do I need to be running from something? Why can't it be that I'm running to something?" 

Now I realize that I have never been running from, nor running to; I'm just running for the joy of running. I was lucky to find in Kari someone who enjoys the run with me. I have also been lucky to settle into a career that allows me time and resources to continue that run.

Uncle Grant spends his money on either experiences

 or making memories instead of just stuff.

- my niece

Sometimes, you need a launch point, and as I stated earlier, Kari and I were at a point where we were pretty unhappy with our jobs and needed a new start. She wasn't doing what she was trained to do and what she came to Myrtle Beach to do, and I felt trapped in a high-volume, high-acuity practice in a hospital where patient safety and physician retention seemed to be after-thoughts. My astute neighbor made the comment that he had never seen a hospital that was so anti-physician. I was only 3 years out of residency and burnout was already staring me down.

This seemed the perfect time to seize an opportunity and start something new. We looked into what it would take to get us to New Zealand and then planned a vacation there to see it in person. After the vacation was planned and essentially paid for, my physician group lost our contract for our Emergency Department. I was in a whirlwind of doubt, not sure where or if I was going to find work and panicking because I had just spent a huge chunk of our savings on a trip to the other side of the world. Had I known just a month before that I wasn't going to have work, I never would have booked the trip. At the time, it seemed the height of irresponsibility, but in retrospect that trip saved our sanity.

 

 

We rented a caravan and spent 2 weeks living on the road in New Zealand. It was a magical place and re-affirmed our decision to keep moving. Along the way, I reconnected with an old friend who had left her medical practice in the U.S. and taken her family to New Zealand to start again. Her happiness there and the obvious way her kids were thriving served to bolster our plans.

The signs were encouraging ...

I am under no illusion that life there will be idyllic. Living somewhere is far different from being there on vacation. Life in New Zealand will come with its own set of challenges and disappointments. Good or bad, it will only be for one year. When we return to the U.S., our house will be the same, my job will be the same, and in many ways our life will be the same, but our experience will be different, we will be different.

And that's kind of the point.