Thursday, January 29, 2004
The Story So Far..
It all started when a colleague, Ann, moved to New Zealand with her Kiwi husband and...no hang on, it probably started with XENA (doesn't everything!) and me quite fancying a trip to New Zealand. Then there is seeing Hong Kong - where my mum was born and was a prisoner of war. And if you're down that way you HAVE to see Uluru (Ayres Rock)! After a few recent US trips I decided no more trotting round shopping malls, I wanted to see some natural wonders, and Ayres Rock at sunset is a must.
Then there is the visiting friends thing - Ambra and Sarah in Adelaide and Ann and Gary in Christchurch.
However, all this world travel was a bit scary, (even for me who doesn't mind travelling alone) so I was really pleased when Louise said she'd be interested.
From there, the next breakthrough was when we realised that good old Qantas do a round the world ticket for £1300 where you can stop 7 times and travel 29,000 miles.
The first itinerary was Hong Kong/Ayres Rock/Adelaide/Auckland Christchurch and home. However the flight from Christchurch to London is something like 39 hours. So, we thought, how about a USA stop, and also make it an all the way round trip!! We even cross the international date line and live the same day twice..!! Plus we realised we could add a stop in Sydney easily, Louise fancied skiing in Queenstown - adventure capital of NZ - and we both fancied Las Veags and the Grand Canyon (another on the Great Natural Wonders to cross off our lists.)
To keep costs down, we decided to try some Youth Hostelling. You can get twin rooms with en-suite for not that much, (and if we *really* hate them, we'll hit the credit cards and try hotels anyway!)
So, the flights are reserved, the Hong Kong and Las Vegas hotels are booked (we want SOME luxury!) and now its 6 months of budget living so we can go mad.
The burning question: can I talk Louise into having a go at bungee jumping with me!!??
Then there is the visiting friends thing - Ambra and Sarah in Adelaide and Ann and Gary in Christchurch.
However, all this world travel was a bit scary, (even for me who doesn't mind travelling alone) so I was really pleased when Louise said she'd be interested.
From there, the next breakthrough was when we realised that good old Qantas do a round the world ticket for £1300 where you can stop 7 times and travel 29,000 miles.
The first itinerary was Hong Kong/Ayres Rock/Adelaide/Auckland Christchurch and home. However the flight from Christchurch to London is something like 39 hours. So, we thought, how about a USA stop, and also make it an all the way round trip!! We even cross the international date line and live the same day twice..!! Plus we realised we could add a stop in Sydney easily, Louise fancied skiing in Queenstown - adventure capital of NZ - and we both fancied Las Veags and the Grand Canyon (another on the Great Natural Wonders to cross off our lists.)
To keep costs down, we decided to try some Youth Hostelling. You can get twin rooms with en-suite for not that much, (and if we *really* hate them, we'll hit the credit cards and try hotels anyway!)
So, the flights are reserved, the Hong Kong and Las Vegas hotels are booked (we want SOME luxury!) and now its 6 months of budget living so we can go mad.
The burning question: can I talk Louise into having a go at bungee jumping with me!!??
HUH?
The Dawn of a New...Blog...!
The start of a new blog! This is going to be a record of Louise and Cathy's trip round the world, taking in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and the USA.
The flight is reserved, the Las Vegas hotel is booked (they seemed to be selling out quickly) and with about 6 months to go, the saving up begins!!
The flight is reserved, the Las Vegas hotel is booked (they seemed to be selling out quickly) and with about 6 months to go, the saving up begins!!
