Mar 2008

Ok, so I felt a little guilty after dropping that line about leaving for Thailand in a month and providing no additional explanation. The boys are busy climbing (Adam) and working (Brody), so I figured I'd pop in and make a little post.

As previously mentioned, New Zealand is an expensive place to travel. Its like taking off work for 5 months to travel around LA. No joke. We tried to go out for pizza the other night and found a large pepperoni for $32 NZD. That’s about $27 USD. Clothes are expensive. I tried to go jeans shopping since the weather got colder a lot earlier than we had planned - I couldn’t find anything under $200. Drinks are expensive. Food is expensive. Shoes are expensive. And the country has really capitalized on the Lord of the Rings publicity and upped the prices of almost all the tourist activities. Bungee Jumping is $100. Jet Boating is $100. Hiking is $100. Watching penguins is $40. Each gas tank is $80. Needless to say, our savings haven’t lasted as long as we planned. So, we worked longer than we had planned and that cut into our Australia time. We didn’t want to see Australia on limited money and time budgets, so we decided to skip it for the time being (I know! I'm sorry JES! You'll have to take me back and give me a personal tour!)

Instead, we bought tickets into Bangkok, Thailand for April 14. We have plans to see Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Malaysia. All in around 4 weeks. We aren’t sure of our exact plans. We're still trying to coordinate with our friend Herbie who is currently in SE Asia. And we're still a bit overwhelmed by the SE Asia travel guide. I'll be sure to let you know when time gets closer.

Ok, I hope that clears up a few, "What the...." moments you may have had from the last post. I have to run now - time to get some vaccinations!