Travel Plans January through May

On my sojourn thus far, I have enjoyed time off in the UK with friends in October and December, and 5 weeks in Costa Rica for a complete reset. I have been away from work for just over 3 months, but it feels like a lot longer, in a very good way. My travels continue for several more months before I plan to return the UK and to finding some gainful employment. Until then, here is the high level plan:

• January: Fiji (island hopping in the Yasawas), 1 week
• January, February, March: New Zealand, North and South Island, 7 weeks; Melbourne, Australia, 1 week
• April: US, California (SF Bay Area and Irvine), Boston
• May: UK and US, Boston and Washington, D.C.
• June: UK...

After spending the last few days trip planning for New Zealand, I am now much more excited about this leg of my travels than I was a few weeks ago. Then, I was slightly overwhelmed by all the possibilities of where to go and where to stay and underwhelmed by the prospect of traveling alone. I have since found an alternative that takes care of the hard work (transportation and tour guiding) and lets me do the fun stuff (plan out my wine tasting and side trips).

In Fiji I am doing the "Lazy Threesome" cruise with Awesome Adventures Fiji. This is an all inclusive package for food, lodging and boat transportation between three islands (2 nights each) in the Yasawa Group, northwest of the main island. In New Zealand, I have booked the "Stray Everywhere" Pass with Stray Travel. This is a steroid version of the hop-on/hop-off type of travel you may be familiar with when doing city tours in the US or Europe.

For a fixed price and a set of fixed locations, I have pre-paid for a pass on a Stray Travel bus. More than taking you from point A to point B, Stray provides a tour guide and guarantees your first night's accommodation at each stop, as well as providing activities and day trips along the way. The pass is good for one year to complete one circuit of whatever route you have chosen, and you can stop and start it as many times as you like (I am stopping and starting 7 times over the course of two months). They are constantly running buses and tours to each destination so the likelihood of there being a bus and a seat on the days you desire is high.

I am excited about this because I will get to see all the major sights on both the North and South Island, I never have to rent a car, I don't have to travel alone (I can be as social or anti-social as I want with whatever group I am currently with), and all the primary logistics are taken care of. The side trips I am doing on my own are the Hawke's Bay Wine Festival, the Marlborough Wine Festival, and I hope for some wine tasting in Martinborough and Central Otago.

I anticipate having regular Internet access after Fiji, so I hope to be posting often starting towards the end of January. Please check in and leave a comment or send me an email. I would love to hear from you!