The Plan!

-

Hello and welcome!



This blog is to keep you all updated on where we are, and what we are doing - with some photographic evidence along the way.

As many of you are aware we have been planning this for several years now and have been talking about it almost nonstop (sorry, not sorry)! We have discussed at length everything from which type of bag to use (old suitcases or new clever rucksacks - spoiler alert - we went shopping today) to how scared we should be of bears whilst pooping in the woods (very, apparently).

After months of deliberation and changing our minds almost everyday we settled on the plan below.

Stage 1 - Canada
Fly to Toronto, 'av a gander at Niagara falls, catch a 3 day train to Jasper. Hire a car in Jasper, explore Banff National Park for a week or so, then hop back on the train for another couple of nights to get to Vancouver. From Vancouver we pick up our home for the next 2 1/2 months - courtesy of Escape Campervans. We will explore a little of British Columbia before trying our luck with the border guards (NO GUN/DRUG JOKES AMY!!) and cross over to...

Stage 2 - U S A !!!
So this bit is a vague as can be. We know that a National State Parks pass costs $80 each, and that's about as far as we've got.
So far it's a squiggly tour (see map below) of the western states, encompassing Washington, Oregon, Idaho (BIG potato country - Batstone family in-joke), Montana + Wyoming (expect lots of photos of Mike in various hats), Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada (in July, might actually melt) and California. Say goodbye to the van in San Francisco, cycle over the Golden Gate Bridge, try not to get locked in Alcatraz then hop on a plane to LAX.

Stage 3 - Magical Mystery Tour
When planning this trip there we noticed that there were no direct flights from San Francisco to Auckland as they all go via Hawaii or Fiji. This prompted a very expensive series of events, which turned out to happily coincide with a tax rebate (thanks HMRC for your incompetence over the last 8 months!) so now we are going to Fiji. For almost a fortnight we will sample all the delights of tropical island hopping, hopefully including beverages served in coconuts, palm trees on beaches and hammocks.

Stage 4 - New Zealand
Erm, well other than arriving in Auckland in the morning and having a valid Visa each, we have no fixed plans. So we might come back after a couple of weeks, or never. Most likely something in between but we have NO idea. How exciting!



A rough overview of our route


So with only 22 days left until the first leg of our journey starts it's high time we finalise our plan and get packing.

Watch this space - Amy and Mike xx

Comments

  1. Unknown6 April 2018 at 14:26

    Excellent mate, very jealous! One thing I would say from my time traveling is keep things vague as you have done - you never know who you're gonna meet, which places yoully enjoy and want to stay longer or what things will capture your imagination along the way! Following with interest - we're planning to do the same in a couple of years...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mike6 April 2018 at 14:48

    Thanks! We plan to keep it vague, Canada has been planned relatively well due to the train and lack of flexibility but even then we've left Toronto and Vancouver wide open, plus the week in Banff.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Rockies

-
Image
We've done so much since the last post, this will be a big one, you might want to make a brew! We arrived at our accommodation at 0130 and had been travelling in the dark (and through thick fog) for hours. When we woke in the morning the first thing we did was open the blinds to check the view, we were not disappointed! First up was a visit to the local grocery store to gather supplies, we found a sub that could have fed us for the week After shopping we headed over to Banff to explore the town a little, the weather really turned against us so we did some soggy sightseeing of Bow Falls and a wet walk around Fenlands during which we saw a beaver (and didn't get eaten by bears!) Bow Falls in the rain Bow Falls Fenlands in the rain The next day we had a lot planned, we started with a visit to Cave and Basin which was the starting point of National Parks Canada when a natural hot water spring was discovered and became a huge attraction, the gover
Read more

Fiji (Part 2)

-
Image
Our ride to Naqalia Lodge was a bumpy one, once we arrived we were given a wonderfully warm welcome by the family who run the resort. After introductions we were shown to our Bure which was only feet from the beautiful sandy beach and lapping waves, as good as the previous island was this felt like paradise!  After some lounging around in hammocks we ate lunch and then indulged our creative sides, Amy made a bracelet from shells and Mike wove a bookmark from palm leaves. Once our masterpieces were complete Mike took advantage of the free snorkeling trip to some nearby reefs whilst Amy returned to the hammock and her book. Later that evening after dinner we were invited to join some of the family for kava as they wished to formally welcome us to their home with a ceremony and songs, once the ceremony was over we relaxed, drank more kava and played some really fun games late into the night. In the morning we were excited, or nervous (depending
Read more