It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door.

I have finally done it! I booked us the trip of a lifetime to see one of the places I have always wanted to go. Travel to New Zealand is always a long flight from pretty much anywhere as it is one of the most isolated countries in the world. But Air New Zealand flies direct from Tokyo, and I figured this would be the cheapest we'd ever see it. Getting to NZ from the States is a much taller order! (The same trip from San Antonio is twice as much and 26-29 hours of flying instead of the 11 hour direct flight we'll enjoy!)

I booked with First Light Travel, a NZ company specializing in Self Drive Tours. We'll be hiring a car (small SUV, really) and driving from Wellington to Auckland, stopping along the way to see the sights. Shelley at First Light has been wonderful. She'll book everything along the way and provide us with our itinerary, maps and travel guides to make our trip easy.  We just told her our must do's, our budget (the exchange rate is wonderful right now!) and where we wanted to go, and Shelley will handle the rest. I have a funny feeling Jason and I will be back another time to visit the South Island, as we only had two weeks this time, so we're sticking to the North.)

More to come as we get our itinerary figured out and I promise some of Jason's wonderful photography will be here when we go. I can't wait!