I have been completely unplugged from the rest of the world for the last 2 weeks. We escaped the chilly Delhi winter, briefly, for a holiday in New Zealand. We do a lot of weekenders and short holidays throughout the year, but we like to reserve the big one for December. It's the time of the year that S doesn't have much to do and its easy to get days off. The negative is that it's the high season in many places, with Xmas/New Year surcharges thrown in sometimes. We generally plan ahead (I am talking of bookings being done by August) and that way we don't have to dish out exorbitant amounts at the last minute. New Zealand had been on our list for a really long time, and this year we figured we should just go.
I spent many weeks planning the perfect itinerary, given multiple constraints of 2 small kids, S's osteoarthritis problem (he didn't want too much driving), budget (NZ is freaking expensive) and time. Thankfully, it worked out well and we had a truly amazing holiday. It wasn't the most relaxing holiday (there was too much sightseeing to be done) so we are pretty exhausted at this point and glad to be back home. But the kids were good as gold, I only had two episodes of puking/feeling sick/nausea (I'm not a good traveller), the weather stayed great throughout and nobody fell sick. Whew!
And my camera developed shutter fatigue. What more can I say about New Zealand. It must be the most beautiful country on our planet. I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to visit.
I'd do pictures, but feeling pretty lazy at this point so I just changed the header :)
So 2011 came to a pretty fabulous close for us. Happy New Year folks!
aah..am I allowed to say am jealous??!!!
ReplyDeletewish you guys a gr8 2012!!!
welcome back..:-)
@Uma: I would be offended if you were NOT jealous :) Thanks, wish you a wonderful 2012 as well.
ReplyDeleteYour blog header looks like such a postcard.. don't tell me you actually saw that in person !!!! This may get repetitive but I am soooo jealous too !
ReplyDeleteI have always been a bit scared of overseas holidays with young kids, but you give me hope :). Maybe I'll have the courage to plan this after a couple of years or so ;). Did you do all the bookings individually or through someone like SOTC (which I thought worked out a bit expensive for Singapore!). If yourself, all the more I bow down to you :) ! And will definitely contact you for more gyaan on this when I need it.
Btw I am assuming a more detaaaiiiiled post is coming up soon .. hint hint ;) !
@apster: Talk to me :) One of my missions in life is to make more more people holiday with their kids :) Maybe I'll write a blog post abt this! I'm a little scared of starting a NZ blogathon, I would love to but not sure if I have enough time. Work has started and kids schools have postponed their reopening to next week....aaargggh!!
ReplyDeleteoh..even I would love to know the answers to apster's qs..the same has been nagging me too..and am one of your easy targets who is so keen on going on a holiday with a toddler..
ReplyDelete:-)
Had a feeling it would be tough for you to write a detailed one now that you've started work... but anyway was good to see the photos on FB so I can get an idea with that :).
ReplyDeleteDefinitely expect a load of questions from me sometime in the future :).
Kids school postponed due to the weather? Heard about the bad fog..
@apster, uma: yes they do this every year (they did it last year too), postpone the reopening becos of the cold wave and all the parents are left fuming and cursing :)
ReplyDeleteand i will try writing that post once i start getting bored with work ;)
Start the NZ blogathon....my sister lives there and we had a dream 1.5 month vacation there! What a place!
ReplyDeleteWow! What a way a celebrate Christmas and New Year!
ReplyDeleteI am jealous too! :)