I Love This New Plan. I'm Excited To Be A Part Of It!

After much debate, Becky and I have finalized our plans for traveling home. We bought our tickets to NZ last August, and since our return was more than a year out, we didn't have the option to purchase return tickets at the same time. Somewhat amazingly (to us at least), NZ's immigration department didn't insist that we have our return tickets when we arrived, possibly because we had working holiday visas good for an entire year. Maybe the immigration agent was being lax, or perhaps he thought that we looked so conscientious that we'd never abuse the immigration system. Whatever the reason, Becky was as shocked as she was relieved.

Since we arrived we've been on the hunt for cheap return tickets, but never managed to find any anywhere near as cheap as those for our entry flight. I believe we managed to fly from Newark to New Zealand with some nice layovers in LA and Fiji for about $800 each, which is a really pretty good deal, I think. Our original plan was to do a bit of a tour of Australia after leaving New Zealand, but our enthusiasm for that has waned, partly because of the cost of flights there and home, but also because we wouldn't be able to do it as thoroughly as we'd like given money and time constraints.

So enter a new plan. We've just booked tickets for a return in early December, but again with a few choice layovers. We leave New Zealand on December 2nd for Tahiti, which owing to the vagaries of the International Date Line, we arrive on Dec 1st, gaining back the day we lost on the way here. If you're going to get a free day, Tahiti seems to be as good a place as any to do it, no?

After a few days in gorge French Polynesia we're off to San Francisco, since Becky's never been there before. I'm sure it'll be a bit jarring to be in Northern California in the midst of early winter after a few days spent drifting in tropical lagoons, but I sense no one will sympathize there. After a few more days in SF, we'll catch a cross-country flight back. Looking at the current deals, it seems ridiculously cheap for a one-way flight across the country for the days we're looking at. $120 each? We'll take it.

In the midst of our working jaunt in Chch we're definitely getting psyched for Becky's mom's visit, our trip back up north through New Zealand, and especially for Tahiti. Hopefully they do pina coladas there; if not I guess I'll just have to drink a few Hinanos.