Pan-Pacific Fantastic Voyage
In and around World
Gretchen and Lora's kickass trip to New Zealand, Australia, and Fiji and then slooooooowly back to DC with last-minute bonus trips to Hawaii and Vegas. Yeah, it's all in here.
Route taken and entries by Real Traveler loraloralora
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1
Airport; Free from the Airport; More Airport
We arrived at Dulles in plenty of time for our 11:50 flight – good thing, too, since we two expert travelers had completely overlooked the fact that w... Continue reading » -
2
Sleep is for the Weak: Auckland Day 1
We arrived in Auckland unexpectedly refreshed and grabbed a shared van to the inner city. Auckland immediately brought to mind San Francisco – a be... Continue reading »
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3
Everywhere's a Postcard: Auckland Day 2
Despite our best efforts to sleep in, we were up at 5:30am. Damn! We headed out around 7am and grabbed breakfast and coffee at Esquires near our hotel... Continue reading » -
4
Nature on an Impossible Scale: Northlands day trip, Auckland day 3
As usual, we found ourselves awake before the alarm, which was good because we needed the extra time to secure our booking on a day tour of the northe... Continue reading » -
5
Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot: Rotorua Day 1
We caught a shuttle to the airport at 7:20 and made it there in plenty of time for our flight…we got onto the plane with all of our luggage, thanks to... Continue reading » -
6
What's that Smell, Smell, Smell? Rotorua Day 2
We woke up early, as usual, allowing me time to become once again numbed and appalled by morning TV shows in UK-related countries. During the show, th... Continue reading » -
7
Ice Ice Baby: Christchurch Day 1
We woke up and checked out of our Rotorua hotel, bidding the smell of sulfur and also the 1950s (all Rotorua hotels are in the style of ‘50s motor lod... Continue reading » -
8
No yodeling, but yes sheep: Tranz Alpine train/Christchurch Day 2
You know, I start every entry by saying that we woke up early and attacked the day, so I figured today it is time for a change. We slept way past t... Continue reading »
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9
There's something so familiar: Surfers Paradise Day 1
We landed in Brisbane International Airport a whole 10 minutes early and headed for passport control and customs. Getting my Australia passport sta... Continue reading »
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10
Strolling to kill time: Christchurch Day 3
We checked out of our hotel first thing and left our bags in the lobby so we could maximize the last few hours we had in Christchurch. We walked in... Continue reading »
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11
Sun, sand, and a timely escape: Surfers Day 2
Today, everyone, I totally outdid myself in terms of completely uncool waking times. I awoke at 4:45am, which sounds terrible until you realize tha... Continue reading »
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12
Well, it IS a rainforest: Cairns Day 1
I swear, everybody, I am not trying to be 82 years old here, but this is pretty damn lame: I was asleep last night by 9pm and up at the preposterou... Continue reading »
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13
Finding Nemo, for reals: Great Barrier Reef/Cairns Day 2
We were up early to catch a cab to the reef terminal in town for our Great Barrier Reef excursion. We checked in and boarded the ReefQuest boat at... Continue reading »
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14
Green, Green, Green: Kuranda/Cairns Day 3
We were picked up from our hotel today at 7:30 am for a ride out to Freshwater, where we were planning to catch the Kuranda Scenic Railway into the... Continue reading »
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15
Everything we'd hoped for: Sydney Day 1
Once again, we had to set the alarm to wake us at an ungodly hour (4:00am) for our flight to Sydney. The cab was right on time at 4:30, but we hit a b... Continue reading » -
16
A Great Place to Settle: Katoomba/Sydney, Day 2
At 7:30, we were up and on the phone, trying to cancel our excursion for today to the Blue Mountains outside of Sydney. We were hoping to spend more t... Continue reading » -
17
The City of Stairs: Sydney Day 3
This morning we were up at 7:30. Gretchen went for a run to Darling Harbour, and I updated the blog for our first 2 days in Sydney. Upon reflection, I... Continue reading » -
18
No Turkey For You, One Year: Sydney Day 4
As usual, this morning when we woke up was the day before in the US, but today that meant our families were gathering without us for Thanksgiving.... Continue reading »
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19
Risky Business: Rakiraki Day 1
We flew an Air Pacific flight to Nadi, Fiji, and it was quite a good flight. The food was legitimately excellent (Indian curry, mmm), and they show... Continue reading »
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20
Everything We Hoped For: Rakiraki Day 2
We were up at 7:15 to go diving, after a little confusion about what time it was. They live here on “Fiji Time,” which means there is no time. Ther... Continue reading »
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21
The Accidental Tourists: Honolulu Day 1
We were both able to sleep on the plane from Fiji, which was nice. We took off from Fiji at 10:50pm on Sunday the 25th and woke up in th... Continue reading »
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22
Day Trip to Paradise: Nananu-i-Ra/Rakiraki Day 3
We woke up at 8:00 and meandered down to the dining room an hour later for breakfast. The Fijian breakfast was FJ$15 (a little less than US$10) and... Continue reading »
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23
One More Layover: Las Vegas Day 1
Our cab picked us up right on time and we got to the airport with lots of time to spare. Good thing, because we had one more near-heart-failure exp... Continue reading »
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