The moment we've all been waiting for....

So months of planning, changing plans, freaking out about price of airfares, finding awesome airfares, researching tours, accommodation & other activities... it all comes down to this... 2 sleeps to go! Unfortunately I wasn't upgraded to business or premium economy for my flights to Vancouver but I have managed to change my aisle seat in the middle of the plane to a window seat for my Vancouver to Auckland flight on the 18th September which I am happy about.

Ok so the itinerary goes a little something like this:

3rd Sept - Brisbane to Vancouver
4th Sept - City Snapshots Tour of Vancouver
5th Sept - Free Day - Aquarium & Grouse Mountain
6th Sept - Day trip to Whistler
7th Sept - Laundry (very important!) and Hamlet at Bard on the Beach (can't wait for that one!)
8th Sept - Cruise begins
9th Sept - Cruising the Inner Passage
10th Sept - Stop - Icy Strait Point
11th Sept - Hubbard Glacier
12th Sept - Stop - Juneau
13th Sept - Stop - Ketchiken
14th Sept - Cruising the Inner Passage
15th Sept - Cruise ends.  Transfer to Victoria
16th Sept - Butchart Gardens & Butterfly Gardens tour
17th Sept - Free day - wander around Victoria Harbour
18th Sept - Begin the long journey back to Brisbane
19th Sept - Flying
20th Sept - Auckland to Brisbane

So there you have it.. not much detail I know but that is pretty much how my time is gonna be spent.

What am I looking forward to the most?

• Seeing the Hubbard Glacier for sure!
• Finally getting to Victoria
• There is a bit of a possibility that we may see the Northern Lights on the 11th (http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast/Alaska/2013/09/11).  This website shows the Aurora forecast for while we are on the cruise and the 11th is a good possibility if we have a clear night.  Now THAT would be a tick on the bucket list!

I'm still not as excited as I think I should be but it is slowly coming.  I think because I know tomorrow at work is going to be so full on that I won't have time to think about that fact it is my last day for nearly 3 weeks!  I guess it will come to me tho... I am looking forward to the trip and being somewhere different tho :)

I love it when a plan comes together.....

So this time in 50 sleeps I will be sitting in Auckland airport waiting for my connection to Vancouver after a 3.5 hour flight from Brisbane.  After about 6-7 months of changing plans, ditching things, being convinced it would be a good idea to do something else and playing out loads of money, I finally have my itinerary set in stone...

On the 3rd Sept I will be departing Brisbane for Vancouver via Auckland on Air NZ and spending 5 nights in this Canadian city.  I hope to head up to Grouse Mountain, go to the aquarium, see a Hamlet play at Bard on  the Beach and roam the streets of Vancouver.  Then I join my friend, her husband and young child on a 7 day cruise up the inside passage to Alaska where we will be viewing glaciers and hopefully whales & the Northern Lights (if we are REALLY lucky).  From there I head to Victoria for 3 nights to take in that beautiful part of British Columbia before heading back to Brisbane on the 18th Sept.

My plans have changed and changed again.  I was originally going to go via Christchurch so I could spend at least part of my mum's birthday with her but unfortunately airfare prices being what the are, it was a little too expensive to do that.  So I am going to send her a HUGE bunch of flowers instead and now because of the prices of flights, I actually get 4 extra days in BC so I get to spend more time in Victoria rather than doing just a day trip from Vancouver!  So I guess all in all it has worked out quite nicely - well for me anyway.. those at work will have to suffer without me for a few extra days... Which it looks like they will have to do for my next year's holiday too :)  But more on that later...

I am really looking forward to this holiday.  I have heard so many good things about Vancouver, Victoria and the cruise we are doing too.  None of these places are really places that I MUST see or go to but I am looking forward to getting away and doing something different to the norm.  I still need to decide what (if any) tours I am going to do in Vancouver but I think for Victoria I am just going to do the hop on hop off bus and also just booked a tour out to Butchart Gardens - which by all accounts is a must see place!  In Vancouver I really want to go to the Aquarium and I have just purchased my ticket to go see Hamlet at the Bard on the Beach in Vanier Park... can't wait for that one!!!

I have also just booked a day trip to Whistler - I wasn't going to but then I figured.. if I didn't then I would probably regret it and when am I going to head back there again??  Anyway, it's done now so I can't take it back :D  Other than getting hop on hop off tickets & the aquarium, I think everything has been paid for!  So that's a bonus... all my money now can go towards spending money .. I am looking forward to this very much!

Here we go again

Ok so I've done it again.... I have started planning another trip before I have even started my next one.  To be fair though 4 days in Christchurch takes care of itself, 3 days in Vancouver - really not much to add and a 7 day Alaskan Cruise is all inclusive (apart from some shore tours) so my planing skills have not really had much of a work out with my next trip.

So where am I going I hear you ask?  Um well.. I think you know where!!!

Yes that's right London

I have been wanting to go back to London since I visit 2 1/2 years ago and have planned many trips that I haven't taken!  So I thought it was about time I went back... I would also like to go to Edinburgh and York but I will have to see how my finances hold out.  I would definitely like to do York because of my idea for the trip...

Dad's birthday is 1st May and I always like to do something on that day as something special.  In the past I have been to the Brisbane Maritime Museum, Newstead House and this year I had a delayed day when I went on the Weka Pass Railway when I was home mid May.  So next year I am thinking of doing something extra special.. and that is to be in Greenwich on the 1st May. That is a definite but other than that I have about 2 weeks to fill in.

I would like to go to York because when I was little Dad use to  sing "The Grand Old Duke of York" whilst bouncing me on his knee.  Ever since I was that little girl, I have always wanted to go to York.  It wasn't until years later that I found out about York Minster and it cemented my resolve to go there.

I am so excited to go back to London tho.. I think people get sick of me going on about how much I loved it... haha.  I will be staying in a completely different part of the city - Whitechapel, about 5-10 minutes walk from the Tower of London!  The only issue is that I have been watching the English show Whitechapel - about many historic murders from that area that have been recreated.  Of course there is the infamous Jack the Ripper murders so yes... I feel completely safe!!! I am looking forwarded to staying in a different part of the city and exploring something new.

Let the countdown begin.... 318 sleeps!