Light-headed (and even-lighter walleted!).
Jul 15, 2017 9:00:35 GMT
Post by tyrednexited on Jul 15, 2017 9:00:35 GMT
After a few years of consideration being overcome by procrastination, we've finally booked a holiday in New Zealand for next January.
It's somewhere I've wanted to go for years, and other than inertia, (and impending senility!) there's really been nothing to stop us since SWMBO retired a couple of years after me (and she's older than me, though not à la Macron).
It is quite a change really, as having become accustomed tomotorhome, motorcaravan, campervan holidays and booking very little, and even then not far in advance (Heading for Finland was only a return ferry to the Continent, and a crossing outwards from Stockholm, booked no more than a couple of months beforehand) this has been logistically somewhat more difficult. Accordingly, it has been sub-contracted out to an agent. (TBH, it hasn't stopped us visiting The States, Canada, etc. over the years, and the last such visit was San Fran and Yosemite shortly after I finished work, but it is out of the ordinary for us).
So, out and back from Manchester; three night stopover in Hong Kong, Auckland with a hotel for a couple of nights, a motorcaravan (what else?) for just over three weeks, with ferry to South Island part-way through, hotel at Christchurch at the end, and fly back with a transit stop at HK on the way.
It's towards the end of their prime holiday season, so it is b***dy expensive. The timing is awfully attractive, however, as it falls in the fallow months of our habitual touring from home in the 'van. Having signed on the dotted line and paid the deposit yesterday, the light-headedness is beginning to fade, but most of the light-walletedness is yet to come :-(
We're both getting to the age where Travel Insurance becomes a consideration (as bits stop working and begin to fall off) and I've found an almost unbelievable (though reputable) deal which gives us annual worldwide cover for a fixed rate, with no medical exclusions or screening! There are a couple of things that might prove "iffy" for some people, but not for us. (For comparison, though I know most people would shop around, the premium I've paid is less than the 4-week single-trip coverage quote from the agent, which would possibly have increased after medical screening). TBH, the main plus is not having to go through hoops, and then wondering if you've omitted to tell them anything relevant that will haunt you later.
If it all works out well, then Mark had better be careful, as one of the next places possibly on the list is Patagonia, taking in Santiago on the way. ;-)
It's somewhere I've wanted to go for years, and other than inertia, (and impending senility!) there's really been nothing to stop us since SWMBO retired a couple of years after me (and she's older than me, though not à la Macron).
It is quite a change really, as having become accustomed to
So, out and back from Manchester; three night stopover in Hong Kong, Auckland with a hotel for a couple of nights, a motorcaravan (what else?) for just over three weeks, with ferry to South Island part-way through, hotel at Christchurch at the end, and fly back with a transit stop at HK on the way.
It's towards the end of their prime holiday season, so it is b***dy expensive. The timing is awfully attractive, however, as it falls in the fallow months of our habitual touring from home in the 'van. Having signed on the dotted line and paid the deposit yesterday, the light-headedness is beginning to fade, but most of the light-walletedness is yet to come :-(
We're both getting to the age where Travel Insurance becomes a consideration (as bits stop working and begin to fall off) and I've found an almost unbelievable (though reputable) deal which gives us annual worldwide cover for a fixed rate, with no medical exclusions or screening! There are a couple of things that might prove "iffy" for some people, but not for us. (For comparison, though I know most people would shop around, the premium I've paid is less than the 4-week single-trip coverage quote from the agent, which would possibly have increased after medical screening). TBH, the main plus is not having to go through hoops, and then wondering if you've omitted to tell them anything relevant that will haunt you later.
If it all works out well, then Mark had better be careful, as one of the next places possibly on the list is Patagonia, taking in Santiago on the way. ;-)
