So this is officially my last 5 on Friday post from New Zealand for 2013. Holy moly, did this year fly by! Anywho--I'm linking up with Darci, April, Christina, and Natasha for another week! Enjoy...
{one}
A little backstory here...when we booked our flights from Auckland to Hawaii back in January (yes, I know we plan things a ridiculously long time in advance), we booked the 'Seat + Bag' option on Air New Zealand which gets you exactly that...a seat and a checked bag, but no movies or TV or food because the 8 hour & 45 minute flight is considered 'short haul'. Short haul my foot...that's a long trip! In order to get the aforementioned upgrade comforts, we would have been looking at an extra $100 per person. Instead, we decided we could spend half that much and download movies on my iPad and buy a bunch of snacks to take on the plane.
However, after all of that, when I went on the Air NZ website last weekend to double check on our seat assignments, and saw that we could 'upgrade' our seats for $50 each. We decided that would be a lot easier, they'd serve us food so we wouldn't have to pack food in our bulging suitcases and we'd get to watch whatever movies we wanted. You can imagine my delight when I looked online and saw that all 4 of these movies (and more) are going to be on our flight...score! Definitely worth the extra money in my opinion!
{two}
I saw this video online earlier this week and smiled and cried all the way through it--it's so adorable! What an amazing, generous display of giving by this company. The fact that they went through so much trouble to give gifts--and nice ones at that!--to unsuspecting patrons who were probably dreading their winter travel...it's so inspiring.
{three}
On Wednesday of this week, we had a small farewell dinner with our friends, Amy & James :( They are moving back to Australia next week, but luckily we get to go visit them in Melbourne in a little over a month! They have been here for about a year and a half and we have really enjoyed getting to know them and spend time with them. It won't be the same once they leave, but we will definitely keep in touch--God bless Skype!
{four}
I wish you could see it better because this picture does not do it justice, but yesterday was the most absolutely beautiful day. It was the perfect temperature with a slight sea breeze and a few clouds overhead. The water was turquoise and the sky was a perfect shade of Carolina blue. There wasn't anything particularly special about yesterday...but it was just one of those days that made you glad to be alive. I often take for granted the little things in life--as most of us do--but being able to live in a place with views like this...even for just a little while...is a true blessing.
{five} Our bags are packed....we're ready to go! (John Denver reference, anyone??) But it's true...we are all packed (and have been for a few days now-duh!) and absolutely cannot wait for a tropical vacation first and then spending two whole weeks with family and friends at home. I'm not sure what I'm most excited about, but being somewhere that actually feels like Christmas is at the top of the list for sure and also seeing our favorite Santas...
I completed all of our final preparations including checking the weather (I had to include that to make you a little bit jealous!), printing our boarding passes and a little pampering for myself!
Now we just have to get through one more night of sleep (or lack thereof in my case) and we're off! To those of you reading this from NC: get ready...we're coming for ya!
Tis the season...
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