The future of travel is buzzing
Most of us remember when we glimpse the future. It might have been the first time you saw a television. Or your first plane ride. Mine was staring at an early version of Google. I couldn’t believe it; the world was at my fingertips. But, one of my parents didn’t share the enthusiasm. It was cheating on my homework because finding the answers was so easy. Instead, I had to use the dusty encyclopedias on the shelf.
A similar glimpse into the future happened recently. I got behind the wheel of an electric car for the first time. It was brand new, and felt like a spaceship.
But just like Google was once seen as cheating, some people think electric cars are like your mobile phone – the battery will die just when you most need them. And, to be honest, I was a little sceptical, too.
So, we decided to put it to the test. And not just on a leisurely Sunday drive. We’d be taking an electric car on a 100-day journey from Cape Reinga to Bluff and back again. I signed up to the AA, fully expecting I would run out of power and need a humiliating tow past petrol stations, where gasguzzlers would point and laugh.
If you regularly read Stuff Travel here and online, most of my stories in the past few months have come from that road trip.
I used to be a political reporter, and they say an election campaign is the most gruelling thing you can do. However, I found capturing 100 stories in 100 days far more challenging.
My partner Radha and I were so tired that we missed events and slept on the side of the road. We woke up drooling like hungry labradors. We drove through rain, hail, snow, and sorrow, as we dealt with family emergencies. We drove up and down roads looking for enough reception to file stories for this paper, pulling out our hair as we waited for uploads to go through. We even got so desperate we asked to use strangers’ wi-fi. One woman charged me $5 – good on her.
And more than anything, I discovered we could spend years exploring New Zealand and still have more to see.
So, did we run out of battery charge and face humiliation in the most remote parts of New Zealand? Or did we charge into the future? All is revealed on pages 42-43.