Uncharted Waters Publish on Sept 18

The planning is almost over. For nearly nine months, our vacation in New Zealand has been coming together. Now the bags are packed, camera gear chosen and we leave tomorrow for Queenstown, New Zealand, via Chicago, San Francisco and Auckland. It's the longest I have ever travelled to get somewhere and the Air New Zealand flight from San Francisco to Auckland will be my longest ever flight. I have never been good at sleeping on planes so, with a 13 hour flight and a skipped day as we cross the International Dateline, I am dipping my toes into uncharted waters!

There are the logistics of leaving everyday life for three weeks, of course. How to take enough clothes (we will have to wash), scheduling bill payments and handing off responsibilities.  Both Rick and I have a number of self imposed responsibilities; I have produced Kenosha Women's Network's October newsletter ahead of schedule for someone else to send out and updated their web site.  The Senior Center, where Rick volunteers, has actually rescheduled their fall fundraiser until after our return so he can help run it!! But, as stressful as the preparation is, this is also part of the attraction of this vacation!  We will be so far away that we will have to go with the flow and take challenges as they come!  We arrive in New Zealand on the first day of spring and will be "springing forward" to daylight savings time midway through the trip. We need to be prepared for rain, snow or mild spring weather, which complicates the packing. 

In order to share this trip of a lifetime with our family and friends, we are setting up an album in my Forever account. During the trip, we will upload a selection of photos and videos to the album and anyone we give the link to, will be able to see them, so that they can follow our trip and vicariously share our adventures!  I did this on a smaller scale when I went to England earlier in the year and it worked well. These pictures will be a little more exciting and we are sharing them with more people.  It's one of the unexpected benefits of Forever storage. I will share some pictures on social media when we get home.

Although we will both have access to email, text and internet, I for one intend to unplug. The 17 hour time difference makes calls to and from the USA impractical.  We are unlikely to see any American election coverage (bonus!) and I look forward getting a new world perspective.  I will write about what I have learned when I come back!