Our Honeymoon Begins!

Steve and I both love to travel.  Typically we figure out where we want to go and then make our arrangements by researching online and asking friends. For our honeymoon, we decided to go with a travel agent that came highly recommended to us by our friends Risa and Rob Vandermark.  They used Jim (travel agent) to plan their honeymoon and they loved him so much, they have used him to plan all their following trips after their honeymoon.

Prior to meeting with Jim, Steve wanted us to keep an open mind about honeymoon destinations.  I already had 2 places in mind and I shared those 2 places with Steve.   He liked the suggestions, but he wanted to hear what Jim had to say.   During our meeting with Jim, he asked about our past vacations: What did we like?  What did we dislike?  What are our hobbies?   Then he got to know our personalities throughout the meeting. Finally after talking to us for 45 minutes, he found out that we love being active.  So an ideal trip for us is hiking, running, biking, kayaking, anything outside combined with our love for beaches.  “You guys should go to New Zealand and Bora Bora. New Zealand is Colorado on steroids and Bora Bora is the mecca of amazing beaches. ”  Interestingly enough, I WAS THE ONE THAT HAD THAT IN MY MIND BEFORE WE MET JIM.  It worked out great that Jim came up with this idea on his own because it allowed Steve to hear that an expert agreed with me J

So Jim planned our 2.5 week trip.   Jim was cool about making modifications when I suggested different ideas.   At the same time, if he thought my idea wasn’t that great, he had no problems telling me that my idea sucked and I should just listen to him. For example, I hate to admit this, but I’ve now resorted back to my American ways of traveling….go at 100 mph  and see everything we can.   When I came back from my 4 months abroad, I really experienced true relaxation.  I enjoyed every day and every experience and I was in no hurry to get anywhere.  I would find joy in the simplest things and life was not a blur. We only have 10 days in New Zealand and there was a lot of ground to cover.  We are getting around NZ through flights, train, and car.   Once I saw the train and car rides, my red flags went up and I called up Jim.

NC:  Jim, what’s up with this 4.5 hour train ride?  And I see that you want us to do a 2 hour drive to Rotorura, and a 5 hour drive to Queenstown. Why can’t we fly to all these destinations? I looked online and there are flights available daily. PLEASE PUT US ON A DIRECT FLIGHT TO ALL THESE LOCATIONS ASAP.  We want to make the most out of our time and all this trains and rental cars nonsense make me feel like we’re wasting time.

Jim:  Nancy, you need to chill out.  Why would you fly to a destination that is only 120 miles away?  That’s like flying from Chicago to Indianapolis.  Do you understand how amazing these drives and train rides are going to be?  It’s not like you’re driving from DC to Newark or taking the Amtrak through industrial shit holes. Most people come to NZ for 2 things… the adventure/outdoors PLUS the scenic drives.  The train and car will help you take everything in and you will not regret it.  Listen to me.  I know what I’m doing.  Haven’t you heard it’s the journey not the destination?

NC:  Fine (I was still reluctant but according to Risa and Rob, they said I should let him take full control so I listened.)

Well, let’s see what Jim has in store for us!  I’m excited to take my first trip with my husband!!! 

Side Note….During our flight from LA to Aukland, we sat next to this guy who was heading to the South Pole.  He works for a shipping and cargo management company in Antarctica.  Anyways, he has a wife and a 11 year old daughter at home.  He only works 6 months out of the year and then he’s off for 6 months.  BUT, those 6 months are down at the South Pole where he can’t get visitors but he can call home and email.  I told Steve there is no way I could do that.  You’d have to pay me a lot of money for either one of us to be sent off for 6 months to Antarctica.  I determined $2 million cash is the minimum I would take.   Maybe that’s the newlywed in me talking.   I bet in 10 years, Steve will pay me $2 Million to never come home!!