The Green Timberwolf

From Fiji to Europe -

The Adventures of Mr. Rutters

By: Josh and Maddee

Mr. Rutters is a teacher at our school Nottawasaga Pines Secondary School. He has travelled to many different destinations around the world including; Fiji, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Dominican, Europe, Australia, and more. 

So far in our class we have learned about the differences between mass and alternative tourism. Mass tourism is when there is a large group of people travelling to the same destination and doing very similar activities (cruise, all-inclusive). Alternative tourism is small groups of people travelling around to different places on their own and usually are there for longer periods of time. 

Mr. Rutters has experienced both mass and alternative tourism. Be has done an all inclusive to Dominican and Cuba and has organized his own trips with his wife to Fiji, Belize, Costa Rica, Australia and many more. He said that there was both many pro’s and con's to each type of tourism and decided that depending on if he wants to relax or be adventurous is how he would decide how he will travel to each destination.

We asked Mr. Rutters a few generic questions about his travel experience including “where was the first out of continent trip and his favourite places to travel?”. His first trip was to Europe. He flew into Belgium and then backpacked around surrounding areas. This is an example of alternative traveling. 

Mr. Rutters is a well rounded traveler and tends not to travel to the same place. He went on to explain that he likes to “do”. If he is traveling he does not want to just sit on a beach and watch the waves, he would rather be out seeing the sights and experiencing everything the area has to offer. In our interview Mr. Rutters seemed to hang on the topic of New Zealand. He said that New Zealand is the perfect spot for anyone looking for adventure or extreme sports. When Mr. Rutters was in New Zealand he skydived, skied, surfed and more. He went on to say that everyone you encounter is friendly and very helpful. New Zealand is a perfect place for backpacking due to its safe and friendly atmosphere. 

Fiji was another destination that Mr.Rutter’s had nothing but great things to say. He said that Fiji was a very relaxed place. He then began to tell the story of going for a massage and waiting for hours for the masseuse. When he asked why they were hours late after the time that he had booked they told him that they go by "Fiji Time" which means that they do whatever they are doing whenever they want. In Fiji Mr. Rutters had the opportunity to scuba dive, swim with sharks, and skydive. He said that the temperature was beautiful and highly recommend travelling there. 

The last question that we asked Mr. Rutters was if he had any advice to give us when we start traveling on our own. He told us to always have the local currency and American money because most countries will accept it. He also told us to always bring aloe with us on vacations because it is not a common thing sold in hot countries. The last piece of advice that Mr. Rutters gave us was that when going on vacation anywhere 7 days is way to short and you have to stay there for 10 days at minimum to get the best experience.

　

Photos courtesy of Mr.Rutters