Just two years ago, my family wasn’t anywhere near ready to tackle a big international trip. The thought of a long overseas flight compounded with schlepping my kids around Europe frightened me.
But, it’s amazing how much things can change in just a year. Last year, my husband and I realized that we are ready to take on a bigger, more challenging trip with our kids. We focused our credit card strategy on new credit cards with bonuses that we could use towards international flights.
We narrowed down our trip choices to Paris or New Zealand. My husband and I debated the destination for months. One day we’d make up our mind that Paris was the best choice. By the next week, we were back to planning New Zealand.
The time had come to finalize our decision, since award flights are available to book ~11 months in advance and we want to travel next summer. So here is what we chose:
????????????
New Zealand!
Why New Zealand?
It’s a new (to us) destination. My husband has been to Paris twice, I’ve been there once. As much as we love France, it would be a repeat. We’ve never set foot in New Zealand.
We’re not getting any younger. I turned 45 this year. Traveling Down Under is going to require good health, stamina and bravery. None of those things are guaranteed later in life. My husband and I talk frequently about how we don’t want to save all of our big trips until we retire.
It’s my husband’s idea. My husband never has much input on where we travel. I try to get him excited about planning trips, but when I run any ideas by him he just says “Sure, that sounds good.” He’s just really not into the planning phase of vacations. But New Zealand is a destination he’s actually wanted to visit for years, and it’s the only place I’ve seen him show much enthusiasm towards visiting.
Paris isn’t going anywhere There are still airfare sales to Europe all the time that don’t require miles. There’s a good chance our kids will have the opportunity to travel to Europe with a high school or college group. Trips to New Zealand aren’t quite as common, and airfare sales don’t happen as often.
Our kids will whine and fight wherever we go. Even in the easiest of travel circumstances (like our huge beachfront condo on our recent Florida vacation), my kids still find reasons to bicker and whine. So if they will whine anyways, why not pick more challenging destination?
Cathedral Cove is calling my name. Have you see this place? It looks breathtaking, as do so many other places in New Zealand.
Flights and Potential Itinerary
Our trip will last two weeks, but the exact itinerary is fluid right now. We decided to start our trip in Sydney, Australia. This will give us a few days to acclimate to the time zone and get rid of our jetlag before attempting to drive on the left side of the road in New Zealand. My kids will be stoked to learn we are going to Australia.
Once in New Zealand, we plan to split our overnight stays between two towns in order to minimize the number of transitions. Picking just two spots in New Zealand is tough!
Yesterday, I booked five tickets to Sydney. I was so happy I almost cried! I hope I have as much luck booking our return flights. I will write future posts detailing cards and miles used for tickets as well as our final destinations in New Zealand.
Speaking of Australia and New Zealand….Leana is wrapping up her big South Pacific trip this week. Hopefully her jetlag will be minimal and she can fill us in next week. I can’t wait to hear her opinion on all the places she visited.
Are you surprised we chose New Zealand? Are you planning an international trip?
PS–If you know me in person, please don’t tell my kids! We’re not ready to spill the beans just yet. Thanks!
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Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
@Nancy. Hobbiton is pretty cool and there are plenty of things to see and do in the North Island. Glad you’re so excited. If you fly in from Australia you can fly into Wellington. I think Wellington is much more interesting and beautiful than Auckland, so consider it. Keep me posted of your plans and reach out with any questions at all!
And I forgot to click the box to notify me of new comments so doing so now. 🙂
Hi Nancy. Congratulatins! When are you going? And I know I sound like a broken record – but why North Island at all? Why not spend the time in South Island? I think you’ve said before and I forgot. (Was it Hobbiton!?) We live in Wellington and spend a fair amount of time in Taupo so feel free to email me if I can help with anything. I agree with everything Seth said. I’ve never even made it to Cathedral Cove – precisely for reasons he gives (not enough around there so when traveling another route – but will one day I hope.
@Talchinsky We will be there at the end of June/early July. So Hobbiton is non-negotiable for my husband. Plus, he’s a native Texan and hates the cold, so that was a factor in choosing the north island. I think if we went in NZ’s summer, we’d pick the south island. But honestly, I’m super psyched about the Rotorua/Taupo area. I’ve been reading the NZ Frenzy book and there are so many things I want to do there.
That’s very exciting!
A few suggestions based on my trips to nz:
Cathedral cove and hot water beach are great, but there aren’t many other “highlights” in the surrounding area, so I wouldn’t recommend more than a few days in that region.
If you’re looking for a good north island base, try Taupo. We spent a week and found plenty to occupy ourselves: great hiking, boating, many nearby hot springs, huka falls, and easy access to Rotorua and its countless activities.
Also, make sure to check out the nz frenzy guidebook. It made a huge difference in our trips.
I highly recommend the South Island, but you won’t have a bad time if you stay in the north.
Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.
@Seth Thanks for your input! We are actually considering the Taupo area for a 5-7 night stay in a house rental. Huka Falls is on my list as well as several things in the Rotorua area. My dream house rental is on a lake, and it looks like there are several rentals in the Taupo/Rotorua area that would be a great fit. I’ll have to check out the NZ Frenzy Guidebook, thanks for the recommendation. I’m so excited to start planning this, but I’m holding off until we get our return tickets squared away on miles.
Can’t believe you’re all going to New Zealand. I can’t wait to hear all of the planning and booking details. We’re trying to pull the trigger on an international trip, but it will have to wait until we take care of a family emergency that came up.
I totally agree with you on taking large trips at our age…not sure I could handle super long flights when I retire.
Hi, Nancy! Sounds like a good plan. Congrats on booking the first leg. One step at a time, and you’ll get the whole itinerary set. North Island is actually guite beautiful. It doesn’t have the dramatic scenery of the South Island, but still very impressive. That said, you could probably do a little bit of both. Maybe fly from Sydney to Queenstown, and stay a few days. Then fly from there to Auckland. You can visit Rotorua and Hobbiton, and see Waitomo glow worms and the coast during another day. It’s a lot to squeeze into your time frame, but if I could pick two bases in New Zealand, that’s probbaly what I would do. Auckland (or town near Auckland) is a good stopping point before flying back to US or Tahiti.
Welcome back, Leana! I was just looking at the temperatures at Queenstown during our potential trip, and it’s gonna be a hard sell to convince my husband, LOL! Snow and temps in the 30s. Yikes!
Yay! That’s so exciting! I’ll also be on the lookout for posts about how you managed five tickets.
@Jennifer I’ll definitely put a post together with all the details once we finalize our flights. I’m so glad that Leana convinced me to get an Expert Flyer account, because the Qantas flight we ended up booking on AA miles never showed up on the AA website.
Note to self! I should give that a go as well!
Awesome!! NZ is on our list as well, but we’re going to give it a few years. Need to wait until the youngest is a bit older, and then figure out how we can be gone for 3-4 weeks. I can’t imagine trying to fit everything into 2 weeks, but let us know how the itinerary plays out! 🙂
@snyderman Yeah, I wish we could be there for longer, but even two weeks is a bit of a stretch for my husband to take off work. We will likely stick to the north island (which goes against most people’s recommendations, I know).