'Tis the season to get travelling!

Ho ho ho from the festive team at Flying Kiwi. We hope you enjoyed your recent trip with us and we are keen to share some Christms spirit with you - so have heaps of goodies for past travellers.

In kiwi land its bbqs and beaches at Christmas but we thought it was a good chance to share our top 3 unusual traditions from around the globe. Yugoslavia rates as one of our favorites as on the second Sunday before Christmas, children creep in and tie their mother's feet to a chair, shouting 'Mother's Day, Mother's Day, what will you pay to get away?' Surprisingly, she then gives them presents. Children play the same trick on their father the following week and the children get more presents. Unfortunately, parents don't get to do the same to their children the week after.

Greenland certainly cooks up one of the gastronomical surprises which, for some reason, hasn't been adopted by many other nations. It's made from the raw flesh of an auk which has been buried under a stone in sealskin for several months until it's achieved an advanced stage of decomposition. Apparently, it smells like old blue cheese and tastes very pungent.

Finally, we found a few key commandments from the USA which we will be sticking to this year:

• No major housework should be attempted on this day.
• Washing clothes is especially avoided on this Holy day.
• A loud cheery party on this day is said to chase away evil spirits.

Wherever you may be have a great christmas season, eat too much, drink a bit more and be very, very merry!!!

In this Issue

Gallivanting in the Galapagos islands
$40 of Amazon tokens for past travellers
Huge discounts on tours in America, Australia and France for past travellers
Discounts on TEFL courses and hilarious Santa video on youtube!!!

Explore stunning hokitia

Experience surfig

Enjoy our game which is....

 

add branding messages instead of facts!!!

If you understand the notion of "you get what you give"' in life, you want to stock up your karma credits or you simply want to spend some time in one of the most amazing places on earth – the Galapagos Islands – read on. The isolated Galapagos Islands are a World Heritage sanctuary and home to a host of weird and wonderful creatures… nearly a quarter of which are endemic.

Blue-footed, red-footed, and masked boobies (they are birds boys!) abound as do giant Galapagos tortoises, dolphins, whales, seals, turtles and land and marine iguanas. The best bit is most of these animals have no instinctive fear of man due to the remote location of the archipelago some 1000km's off the coast of Ecuador so you can get up close to these beautiful creatures... ever surfed with seals??

With i-to-i you'll be working on a biological station where the aim is to help preserve the natural habitat of the island and introduce new organic farming methods to the islanders. Depending on the station's needs, your conservation work on the Galapagos Islands may include helping plant new crops, assisting in light building activities, or helping maintain the trails around the island. Plus local staff will lead you on various hikes to nearby lagoons, forests, beaches and local villages to explain the ecological and human dynamics of Galapagos.

Click here for more info on this and other i-to-i projects.

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Most of our travellers come from recommendation and we wanted to find our own way of saying thank you. If you have travelled with Flying Kiwi then we want to encourage you to spread the word. Every friend of yours that books direct with us will get 15% off their trip free* and you will get $40 of amazon tokens as a thank you from us. Hopefully this will help stack up the cd collection or sort the next set of Christmas presents. Please make sure your Flying kiwi friends mention your name and details when making their booking.

* cant be used in conjunction with other discounts

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Save 10% off trips with Nullarbor traveller

Nullarbor Traveller offers off-the-beaten track adventures for independent travellers who want a truly unique and authentic Australian experience. Australia 's Ultimate Road Journey is a journey of extremes and Nullarbor Traveller offers an all inclusive guided camping adventure with regular departures from Perth and Adelaide .

Our capable, friendly guides offer “Adventures to wild places” with exciting activities and real Aussie country hospitality. The tours are:

•  8 day tour Perth to Adelaide

•  9 day tour Adelaide to Perth

•  5 day Secrets of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia and

•  5 day Secrets of Esperance in Western Australia

Save 10% off trips with Green Tortoise

een Tortoise Adventure Travel is an American original. They guide fun-loving and sociable people from around the world to some of the most spectacular places in North and Central America! Their custom designed sleeper coaches make it easy to meet people and also make traveling by night comfortable so you wake up refreshed!

Whether you're seeking the ultimate roadtrip experience across the United States, interested in hiking and exploring some of the nation's finest National Parks, hoping to uncover the mysteries of an ancient Central American civilization, or just craving a bit of solitude by the sea, their destinations will inspire the intrepid and reflective alike. Highlights include the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, the Pacific Coast, Alaska, mainland Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Baja and USA Cross country trips!

Check out a full listing of their adventure travel camping trips online www.greentortoise.com Book directly with Green Tortoise, tell 'em Flying
Kiwi sent you, and get 10% off your trip fare!

Get discounts off trips with Ze Bus

ZE BUS is ze unique French experience, a real french trip. A hop on hop off bus service to discover ze really best of France, designed for independent travellers, backpackers, and surfers… ZE BUS goes from hostel to hostel, in the best tourist sites, surf spots, festivals.

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• Santa goes corrupt. Check this out as one of the funniest clips we have found Play here.

• Our friends at i-to-i are celebrating the launch of their New Zealand Weekend TEFL courses by offering a wallet-pleasing 15% off for the first 5 people who book. AND for those who prefer to learn from the comfort of their own lounge, they have even extended the offer to the first 5 who book their world-class online courses.  Simply call 1300 556 997 or visit our site and quote promo code flyingkiwi15.
• We are also on the lookout for videographers to help put together a short promo video for Flying Kiwi. If you have experience in creating and editing Video, have your own equipment and would be interested in joining one of our trips then contact us for more information.

That's it for this month. We have all been very good this year so are looking forward to sackfulls of christmas pressies....lets just hope we don't get the youtube santa!!! If you have any feedback, questions or ideas for Kiwi News or Flying Kiwi, don't hesitate to contact us.

Safe Travels,

The Flying Kiwi Team

Flying Kiwi Adventure Tours

( +64 3 547 0171 (International)

( 0800 693 296 (NZ Free Phone)

( 1800 143 515 (AUS Free Phone)

PO Box 680. Nelson, New Zealand

info@flyingkiwi.com

www.flyingkiwi.com