Not Specific about the Pacific

It occurs to me that I haven't been specific about exactly what this vacation will include. So, here goes.

We leave from LA on Jan. 12 and fly to Papeete (pronounced: pah-pee-ette-tay), Tahiti. We'll make our way over to the island of Moorea and stay for a couple of days...getting used to the time change, working on our tans, etc. Then we fly to Sydney where we'll board the Holland America ship the MS Statendam...but not before hanging out in Sydney for a couple of days. Like I'm going to fly into Sydney and go, "Hey there's the opera house, there's the harbor, okay! let's get on the ship and leave." No sir! I'm there to see sights, drink beer with the locals, shop, drink beer with more locals, go to the beach, and drink beer with the locals. We'll be in Sydney for about 2 1/2 days.

The cruise takes us to Melbourne and to Burnie Tasmania, then we sail for New Zealand and hit Milford Sound, Fjordland National Park, Dunedin, Timaru and Picton. We cruise through Queen Charoltte Sound and Captain Cook Ship Cove before heading on to Wellington, Napier, Tauranga and finally, two weeks after departing Sydney, we end up in Aukland.

We'll spend a day in Aukland, then fly back to Papeete and on to LA...we'll be back in Dallas on February 3. Unfortunately, it will be over with all too soon...just like anything that you build up so much anticipation for.

It's trips like this that support my and Joe's mantra: no kids, no pets, no plants!