Curious about exactly where we’re headed while in New Zealand?  Check out this map–we start in Queenstown, then head clockwise until we reach Christchurch.

 

View New Zealand Vacation in a larger map

Our latest adventure will be an epic trip to New Zealand, which begins tomorrow and ends 18 days later!

Experiencing the natural beauty of New Zealand served as our guide in developing the itinerary.  The trip will include:

• two-day, one-night cruise through the Doubtful Sound of the Fiordland National Park
• three-day, two night hike on the Routeburn Track near the Milford Sound
• full-day hike on the Franz Josef Glacier
• kayaking Abel Tasman National Park
• an incredible dolphin encounter (expected to swim a pod of 300-400+ dolphins)
• exploring Christchurch

We believe that the adage “nothing good comes easy” even applies to vacations.  Getting from Chicago to New Zealand will be quite a trek.  A 28 hour trek, to be exact.

Flight #1:  4.5 hours – Chicago to San Francisco

Layover #1:  2 hours in San Francisco

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Flight #2:  13 hours – San Francisco to Auckland

Layover #2:  6 hours in Auckland

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Flight #3:  2 hours – Auckland to Queenstown

To help us along our journey, we’ll have a rental car (which I suppose we’ll have to drive on the left side of the road) and a local cell phone.  While we’ve heard that New Zealand is expensive, the current trend on exchange rates will work in our favor (100 NZD = $77 USD).  And with a 19-hour time difference, our heads may be spinning for the first few days.

Stay tuned because while in New Zealand, we will try to occasionally add new blog posts and share updates on Facebook.

Catch ya’ll on the flip side!