In less than a week, I am set to leave on the biggest trip of my life. I will be heading off to New Zealand on a 6 week vacation! I have been obsessed with the idea of a trip to New Zealand since the country participated in the best ad campaign they could have possibly created: The Lord of the Rings films. I was probably about 14 the first time I saw the films and have since had a yearly tradition of watching the films every December (I moved that up to late October this year). Seeing the scenery in those films made me want to visit the country someday because it looked so beautiful. It also doesn't hurt New Zealand that one of my top 5 films of all time is Whale Rider, which is also set in New Zealand.
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| My out-of-office board at my desk! |
This trip is one that has been in works for a number of years. Six or 7 years ago I noticed that every so often our work calendar lines up for a long Christmas break, and with just 3 1/2 weeks of vacation I could turn the Thanksgiving to Christmas time period into a long vacation. Add in that extra three days prior to Thanksgiving and you can get 5 more days of vacation! Plus, with my 9/80 schedule, I get a bonus day as I have the Friday before I leave off as well! So after looking a few years ahead on my work calendar I realized 2025 was the year to make it happen! I asked my boss a year ago if it would maybe be possible to take off the entire time between Thanksgiving and Christmas and he said sure...as long as I could manage to survive without trips throughout the rest of the year (I managed...barely!), so the stage was set.
With that long look ahead, I was able to save up a bunch of money for this trip, so it is not a budget trip like many of mine are. While I'm not staying in 5-star hotels, I won't be spending the whole trip in hostels. Just a few here and there. The large budget means I won't have to say no to something that I kind of wanted to do, but didn't want to spend the money on. Because I figure this is my one trip to New Zealand, I'm doing it all!
I have spent the past 2 months worried about how the US government shutdown would impact my trip and thankfully, for my own selfish reasons, it got worked out just in time. Now I just have to hope the weather behaves! I fly through Denver, which is always a risk once you hit late fall, with the risk of snowstorms. From Denver, I fly to LAX and then onto Auckland. The flight from Los Angeles to Auckland is 13 hours, so not ask long as Dallas to Doha, but still plenty long!
I have the first 10 or so days planned out and then a concept of a plan from there. By not planning everything to the day, I have the ability to adjust as needed. If I need to take a day off or if I decide some place I thought would take 2 days only takes 1, I can then adjust. I do have one must-be-there-on-a-certain-day thing about halfway through the trip, but as long as I keep an eye on that, I should be fine.
I have been working the last few weeks to tie up everything here at home. I learned that the USPS will only hold mail for 30 days, so I had to ask my neighbor if she could pick up my mail for me. She also agreed to watering my plants while I'm gone too. I have been on a quest to empty out my pantry and fridge, and am proud to say I did well! At work, I've been wrapping stuff up and compiling an email of where I'm at and what people can work on while I'm gone.
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| All packed! |
And lastly, I am now just 115 miles from Mount Doom on my Walk With Frodo app on my Garmin watch. On January 1st, I started the trek from The Shire, with the hope of making it to Mount Doom while I was in New Zealand. That is definitely doable! If I had to guess, I'll hit Mount Doom and throw The One Ring into its fires in about 20 days. Unfortunately my timing is just slightly off, as I'll be hitting the area where they filmed Mordor scenes and the volcano that represents Mount Doom in roughly 10 days. So for now, Frodo, Sam, and I have journeyed about 50 miles from the Tower of Cirith Ungol on our way across Mordor.
Keep an eye here for updates as my trip continues!
