Well, the bags are packed, the list has been consulted, even looked at for a third time, and the doors are ready to be locked! At noon (central time) we catch a flight from here to Houston, then on to San Francisco. We wait a few hours in SF, then about 9:30 (pacific time) we are off to New Zealand, arriving about 9:00 a.m. Saturday (NZ time!) We are looking forward to our 33-day driving tour of both islands before heading back stateside on May 17 -- funny how that works, leaving at 8:00 a.m. and getting here about noon on the same calendar date!
Ken did some looking on the internet and found a great site called Fine Tours of New Zealand. From about 90 packages to choose from, we made a selection and they went to work pulling it all together. After meeting us at the airport and transporting us to a hotel, they bring us the rental car the following day and away we go. They have the route all mapped out, providing us with room reservations along the way and even include two things that I think are really neat. The first is a cell phone (number 021 0297 1609). It is ours to use and there is no charge for any calls we make in-country (dinner reservations, etc.), but there is also no charge for RECEIVING international calls. So if you really, really, really want to talk to us, it can be done, but unfortunately, you would have to pay for the international connection at your end!!! The second neat thing is called "Kruze", which is like having a tour-guide sitting in the back seat. It is a connection that we will get through the car radio, and it tells the history, points of interest, places to go,etc. of the local areas as we drive through! What a great idea! It sure beats trying to learn all about a place (your nose buried in the reading literature), and missing it all because you were reading and not looking out the window!
We will have the iPad (Ken) and Kindle Fire (Randi) as we travel, however, so we will be able to get e-mail and Ken can still get facebook postings, so we really don't expect to get those phone calls mentioned above!
We may not have instantaneous replies since we will be dependent on the connections available, but it appears that most of the lodging sites do have internet. I am also hoping to fire up the blog even though I will have to do the typing with one finger in the ol' hunt & peck method! Have a great mid-spring time and Happy Mother's Day to the moms I am writing to.
Ken did some looking on the internet and found a great site called Fine Tours of New Zealand. From about 90 packages to choose from, we made a selection and they went to work pulling it all together. After meeting us at the airport and transporting us to a hotel, they bring us the rental car the following day and away we go. They have the route all mapped out, providing us with room reservations along the way and even include two things that I think are really neat. The first is a cell phone (number 021 0297 1609). It is ours to use and there is no charge for any calls we make in-country (dinner reservations, etc.), but there is also no charge for RECEIVING international calls. So if you really, really, really want to talk to us, it can be done, but unfortunately, you would have to pay for the international connection at your end!!! The second neat thing is called "Kruze", which is like having a tour-guide sitting in the back seat. It is a connection that we will get through the car radio, and it tells the history, points of interest, places to go,etc. of the local areas as we drive through! What a great idea! It sure beats trying to learn all about a place (your nose buried in the reading literature), and missing it all because you were reading and not looking out the window!
We will have the iPad (Ken) and Kindle Fire (Randi) as we travel, however, so we will be able to get e-mail and Ken can still get facebook postings, so we really don't expect to get those phone calls mentioned above!
We may not have instantaneous replies since we will be dependent on the connections available, but it appears that most of the lodging sites do have internet. I am also hoping to fire up the blog even though I will have to do the typing with one finger in the ol' hunt & peck method! Have a great mid-spring time and Happy Mother's Day to the moms I am writing to.
Bon Voyage!
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