Days one and two: Los Angeles

Thursday morning we were up at 4am so that we could get ourselves ready, finish packing, load the car, go out for breakfast (because let's face it, who wants to do dishes normally, and especially right before vacation?!) and get to the airport by 7am.

Santa Monica Pier

With the greatest of ease...

When we arrived in LA, we jumped in our rental car and headed straight for the Santa Monica pier. There we walked along the beach to get the stiffness out from the long flight and admired the people that were swinging on the rings so freely it looked as though they were gliding through the air. We considered trying it ourselves, but after a bit of consideration we realized that we would likely just embarrass ourselves, not to mention hurt ourselves (let’s just say that my shoulders’ carrying capacity is less than my current capacity…) and we therefore decided that it would not be a good idea and just stayed on the sidelines.

Say a little prayer for you...

Told you we were famous!

The next day we hit Thai Town and the Hollywood strip. Lewis and CJ took matching pictures of every name they recognized for the first mile, and then slowly tapered off as they began to comprehend the sheer number of stars. Plus we were time limited as we had parked in a one-hour parking spot and we did not want to risk getting a ticket.

After that we explored the Kodak theatre, and Grauman’s Chinese theater where I discovered that I have the same shoe size as Tom Hanks, Adam Sandler, and Doris Day. (Just kidding about Doris. She was wearing heels when she stepped in the concrete and I was wearing flats today so I really had no equal basis for comparison). From there we headed for the airport.

In previous posts I may have alluded to other people’s mental disorders. I myself have a tiny anxiety problem. I was worried that we might miss our flight so I wanted to be to the airport a little early. To be fair, Lewis and I have missed a flight before and it caused a fair amount of grief. It was lessened substantially by the fact that we were still in Tampa when it happened, but if it happened here it would really mess with the whole plan. My spreadsheets would all have to be adjusted, as would my time budgets for activities, hotel reservations and the list goes on… As a baseline I considered that we are flying out on an international flight from an airport that we do not know. According to our ticket, we were to be at the airport two hours early.


Also, we are flying out on the Friday before Memorial Day – one of the busiest airport traffic days of the year. LAX is estimating that over 800,000 people will fly in or out today.  I adjusted our trip time to compensate for this little detail as well.

Further exacerbating this was the fact that we ran into L.A. traffic our first day driving. It was awful: a thirty-minute trip across town took well over an hour, so when I was budgeting time to get to the airport, I factored traffic into the calculations.

All in all, I planned to be at the airport three hours in advance of our flight. This would have a little give time no matter what obstacles we faced. Except that we faced NONE of the anticipated slow-downs. None. There was no traffic because it was too early – rush hour didn’t start till 4:30 and we were on the road at 3:30. There were no lines at the airport to check in. We walked right up to the counter – although there was a little mishap with Lewis and CJ’s names not matching their passports. (Oops! My bad.)

Security was a breeze and then, to top it all off, our flight was delayed an hour. So now we are sitting in LAX with four hours to kill. We’ve eaten dinner and hit the duty-free store where I scored some Burberry cologne. After all, I may just be another fat American tourist, but at least I don’t have to be a smelly fat American tourist!

At this point, only one more hour of waiting in the terminal and a fifteen-hour flight stand between us and New Zealand. Until then…

Why New Zealand??

This is the most frequent question that people ask me, so here is why:

I am an accountant and therefor I love spreadsheets. I love planning. I love putting my plans into spreadsheets. For our vacation to Paris a few years ago, I had each day planned out to maximize sightseeing while minimizing cost, along with another that had Metro directions, estimated route times, etc. in between each activity (That was quite a learning experience, and there are plenty of funny stories, including the one where I forgot to get directions to the Hotel...). All that being said, my travel companions let me do all the planning and they, in their own words, "just show up." It works for me.

Since I just graduated (hooray!!) and have the entire summer off before I start the 60+ hour-a-week grind that is public accounting, we decided that a long trip would be in order. We aren't independently wealthy so we needed to find a place where we could afford to stay for a long time. So I chose South America.

The plan was to fly into Ecuador or somewhere similar, spend two weeks in an intensive spanish language program, then hit the road! We would hike to Macchu Pichu, take a seven day hike into the woods in Columbia to explore a lost city, see Iguazu Falls and so much more! I made the mistake of sharing these ideas with my companions who saw this dream vacation rapidly evolving into a two month episode of Survivor, starring them. They did not want to show up to that.

They suggested Europe and immediately I saw dollar Euro signs piling up as I ran initial calculations of cost. I suggested Eastern Europe since it would be cheaper, but that meant weeks in countries where our ability to communicate would be in serious question. At least in Western Europe most people speak English as a second or third language. Who knows about Estonians et al.?!?! Then it hit me: Why not go down under?

Australia would be perfect. And we would also do New Zealand while we were at it, since they are so (relatively) close. As I planned out the trip, it was clear that three weeks in each place would not be adequate, but several blogs and sources I read indicated that six weeks in New Zealand was perfect and so we decided to just focus the one. Plus it is cheaper there and we have saved a ton by renting an RV.

In the end, I think that this is going to be the best option out of all the potential iterations that this vacation has went through. I have received countless endorsements, including one from a self-professed world traveller that, in his 93 years, has been to 92 countries (including both poles).  His favorite? Yep. You guessed it: New Zealand.

So now my computer is full of research, my spreadsheet is full, the house sitters are arranged, and the business is covered. Now all that's left is a little packing and the adventure can begin...

The big picture...

So here's the plan: the three of us (myself, CJ, and Lewis) are leaving Tampa on May 26 and flying into LA where we will stay overnight to stretch our legs and break up the loooooooong flight. The next evening at 9:30pm we board our flight for Auckland and be off on the vacation of a lifetime.

We will spend four days in Auckland, touring the city, climbing local volcanos, and adjusting to the 16 hour time difference. Then, we pick up our RV and head south, returning to Auckland on July 7 and flying back to LA that evening.

Along the way we plan to see glaciers, soak in hot springs, explore Hobbiton, go blackwater rafting, climb mountains, delve into caves, hang out with glow worms, and meet a living dinosaur. It is going to be an amazing trip. I have my spreadsheet put together detailing what we will be doing ever waking moment of the trip so that we don't waste any time while we are there. (Just kidding. The spreadsheet isn't THAT specific. Yet.)

Our new home!

We will post pictures and updates periodically throughout our trip to keep everyone updated on our progress, so stay tuned and subscribe so you always know when we post new material!

-Rob