A couple weeks ago, I booked flights to Santiago, Chile for October/November. I was going to hike volcanoes in the Atacama Desert and the Lake District. Read my post about the short-lived plan here.
Well two weeks later, I noticed that Orbitz still hadn’t charged my credit card. Odd. So I logged onto their site and sure enough, my reservation had been cancelled! Apparently they didn’t feel that it was important to notify me of the cancellation or explain why they cancelled. But, no matter, because a quick flight search revealed that flights all the way to the South Island of New Zealand would only be $200 more! New plan! Tickets booked!
I’ll be flying from Montrose to Denver to LA to Aukland to Christchurch - 24 hours total travel time each way. I’ll be there for seven weeks, leaving in mid October and arriving back home to Colorado in early December. (Or if McSame wins the election while I’m gone, perhaps I can figure out a way to just stay down there forever).
Anyways, I’ve long dreamed of visiting New Zealand but it just seems so far away and I just never thought of it as a realistic possibility anytime soon. So, I am really really excited for this trip. I have no plans figured out yet, except that they will surely involve lots of trekking (or “tramping” as they say) and photographing the beautiful scenery.
The best New Zealand landscape photos I’ve found so far are from Andris Apse. Incredible stuff.
Pretty cool, Jack, congrats. I’m shocked the prices are that close, sounds like a great deal. I bet you are gonna have an awesome time, and we look forward to your shots (btw, thanks for the Andris link)
Awesome! You’ll love New Zealand. We didn’t get 7 weeks, but check out my travelogue for some ideas on where to spend your time.
Don’t forget to take care of your absentee ballot before you leave! Sounds like a great plan- we’ll await your photos.
Awesome! My brother lives in CHC and as you know I spent six weeks there this past winter (their summer) so let me know if you need any beta/contacts.
Sounds like a great epic - 7 weeks is just a normal Euro “holiday”, but an eternity for us Americans. Marla and I went for ~ 2 weeks and people tought we were insane. They were right. I can’t wait to hear the photo gear lineup for this one.
sweet! Look forward to your photos.
stay down there through the summer (their winter) and get some skiing eh?
down in Argentina right now and loving it.
Great plan!
You will love NZ!
I was there for 3 months and didn’t get enough of it(:
Just got back from a month in Slovenia+Croatia+Germany myself(:
Let me know if you need any advice..
Have fun!