Four days to go!
Trip Start
Oct 18, 2006
1
3
27
Trip End
Apr 04, 2007
Oxford,
United Kingdom
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Our arrangements continue to come together and all the important details are now sorted, although the packing still isn't quite done...
I have been asked about details of our itinerary so I'll list our plans here as far as we know them.
We fly from Heathrow at 18.50 on Wednesday 18th October and arrive at Johannesburg around 07.00 on Thursday. We pick up our hire car from the airport. We stay one night with friends in Johannesburg and then take off to explore the Transvaal for around a week before returning to Johannesburg to stay with the same friends for another couple of nights
AD and Esther wearing our MHMF t-shirts
. Then we head south to Port Elizabeth and make our way west along the Garden Route ending up in Cape Town where we will spend at least a week.On 22nd November we fly from Cape Town to Bangkok where we'll stay in the same place as a friend from Oxford who is over there. Five days later we explore the islands close to Bangkok as recommended when we get there. On 5th December we fly to Phuket and from there we go to Krabi where we plan to do the PADI Open Water Diving Certificate. If we have time we'll explore other islands in that area including Ko Phi Phi.
We have two nights in Singapore from 20th to 22nd December en route to Adelaide where we arrive on 23rd December, staying with friends and spending Christmas Day with the family of an Aussie friend from Oxford. On 26th December we go to Melbourne, again staying with an Aussie friend who we know from Oxford. We'll make our way to Sydney on 30th December and spend New Year there and on 3rd January we go to the Blue Mountains to stay with a friend. Then back to Sydney and we may spend another night or two there if we don't feel like we saw enough at New Year. Then we hire a vehicle and make our way north along the east coast. Depending on time and other factors we'll decide how we get to the Cairns area and eventually we go back down to the Gold Coast staying with another friend until we leave Brisbane on 30th January.
We spend the entire month of February in New Zealand. We'll make our way south from Auckland visiting a couple of different friends along the way, crossing over to the South Island around a week after we arrive. We hope to spend a couple of weeks exploring the South Island, again with a couple of friends to stay with here and there. Then back to the North Island where we'll hook up with a friend who plans to take us on a tour, and eventually back up to Auckland.
On 1st March we fly to Fiji where we'll be for two weeks including an eleven-night island-hopping tour.
On 15th March we fly from Fiji to LA - this is where the confusing time zone cross-over takes place so that we fly overnight but arrive on the same date we took off! The next day we make our way to Las Vegas where we stay with a friend for five nights. Then we have three nights booked in a hotel called El Tovar which is literally on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. After that we make our way through canyon country and over the Sierra Nevada to San Francisco and eventually back to LA. If we have time we may explore south of LA.
We leave LA on Tuesday 3rd April arriving home on 4th April in time for my birthday on 5th!
Here's the outline then:
18th October to 22nd November: South Africa
23rd November to 20th December: Thailand
20th December to 22nd December: Singapore
23rd December to 30th January: Australia
30th January to 1st March: New Zealand
1st March to 15th March: Fiji
15th March to 3rd April: USA
4th April arrive home
With lots to do before I go to London for a couple of nights I'm going to sign off now. Look out for publicity for the trip and the Women of the Year award lunch this Monday 16th October, especially on Sky News, Channel 5 news, local TV news in Oxford and hopefully London as well as some local radio in Oxford.
It will be great to hear from friends while we're away so contact us any time through TravelPod. We'll access the Internet as often as we can.
:)
Comments
Countdown !!!!!!!!!
AD&Esther, my friends, May I be the first to wish you both a fantastic journey in many ways! Lots of love to you both, your Uncle Taggart xxx
Re: Countdown !!!!!!!!!
Thanks Uncle T :)
xestherbunny & AD