Hello and welcome back to Trail Mix! It’s been forever.
I’ll start with some micro obsessions and then share a little overview of my recent trip and then end with M&Ms :)
Micro obsessions
Physical newspapers (and this TikTok about them)
Physical magazines
China, just generally
The random dessert place we went to twice in Hong Kong (macro obsession at this point really, I think about it every day)
Soft shell turtles (horrifying, Google them if you’re brave)
All the drama with China taking back all of the giant pandas they lent to U.S. zoos (article linked in M&Ms below)
The phrase “going nonverbal” which I used many times in China and New Zealand when I was hungry or my energy was low
Saying “No,” before saying really anything: “No, I totally agree.” “No, I’ll be there.” “No, why would he say that.” “No, xyz…” you get the point. I need to stop.
What happened in China & NZ
The good
Chinese efficiency! Amazing country - everyone should go
The mushroom dish at the most random restaurant we went to five days in a row in Shenzhenzhen, China
The fact that I did not get gluten-poisoned once in China
Our New Zealand Air flight from Auckland to SFO. Wow. Amazing flight amazing airline 100/10 no notes
Hong Kong public transit
The fact that our $70/night hotel in Ninghai, China was nicer than most of the nicest hotels I’ve ever been to and it was $70/night??
The woman we saw in Ninghai wearing a shirt that said “Lasagna Del Rey”
Every single employee at the Carbone in Hong Kong
The pool at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong. Amazing vibes
The Land Rover Defender we rented in NZ. Insane car 11/10
The bad
The temperature in Hong Kong at all times even at night (100 degrees with 95% humidity)
The fact that flight attendants on inter-mainland China flights don’t let you refuse the food they offer and force you to wake up to eat said food even if the flight is only 2 hours long and you are literally asleep
Ningbo airport (bad vibes)
When I completely forgot a bag on the baggage claim at the Auckland airport and had to go to a weird area of the airport to wait for them to do a very long extra biosecurity inspection
The general vibes at The Remarkables ski resort
The air quality in Shenzhen … worrisome
The number of times the Chinese government scanned my fingerprints and eyeballs
When Kelly forgot to apply for his NZ visa until the night before and then spent 20 minutes applying for a work visa instead of a tourist visa but then when he finally applied for a tourist visa he checked the box for Australian citizens and then was unable to submit another application causing us to almost miss our flight to Singapore the next day <3
The ugly
Our flight from Auckland to Queenstown that was flat-out canceled
When we saw a dog at the factory and Kelly asked someone nearby what the dog’s name was in Mandarin, except for instead of actually asking that he apparently pointed to the dog and asked if it was a dog, to which the person replied, yes… it is a dog
When Kelly asked our hotel front desk for green tea ice cream in Mandarin, but he forgot to say the ice cream part so instead they just brought us like seven bags of green tea
Jet Star airlines in New Zealand… just horrible
The New Zealand gummy worms that Kelly purchased that were in fact not gluten free and poisoned me horribly
The many offensive things Kelly said to me that I can’t repeat on the internet (but that I’ll never forget)
China’s ‘Panda Diplomacy’ Was All Just a Charade in Bloomberg. Goodbye pandas! :(
Really enjoyed reading this story in The Wall Street Journal about the founder of Duty Free Shops who gave away $8 billion before he died.
Help! I Hate My Brand in Bustle which is about teens needing to “pivot” their personal brands. Honestly horrifying to think about my online presence in high school and what it would’ve looked like if TikTok existed in 2012. I’m very glad it didn’t exist and the worst thing out there is the 10th grade English group project for Mr. Daniels’ class where we had to put a modern spin on some Shakespeare play and post it to YouTube. (I’m so tempted to link it but ultimately it is too embarrassing and I’m sure you could find it if you tried.)
How Instagram Ruined Personal Style in GQ. A true statement but a very surface level article that was actually very boring!
Airlines Are Just Banks Now in The Atlantic. Loved this.
Obligatory Amanda Null syndication: Millennials Have Lost Their Grip on Fashion in The Atlantic. No, they have.
No, they do.
Airbnb Really Is Different Now in The Atlantic (biig Atlantic reader this month). So true about Airbnb. It’s not the same and it kinda sucks now!
The Woman on The Line in Slate about a safe use hotline for drug users. Fascinating and sad.
This Twitter thread on “a brief history of Nobody Wants to Work Anymore” which is just a compilation of screenshots from articles dating back to 1894 that say in one way or another that, well, nobody wants to work anymore. (I recommend the click.)
Goodbye today! Have a great Friday tomorrow :)
