Lake Taupo

We're now in Taupo, New Zealand, soaking up some sun at the gigantic Lake Taupo. It's amazingly hot for my winter mindset, but I guess I'm getting used to it about now. We're here with our other Kiwi buddies, Peggy Jo Dyson (maiden name) and her three children, Sam, Oscar, and Harris. You might know them, considering that Peggy is the daughter of Peggy (Sr.) and the late Oscar Dyson, Kodiak notables. We've been here for a few days now, just reading, swimming, etc. It's a magnificent place; you can see the volcano right over the lake and there are trout all over the place. I definitely plan on bringing my friends back here if I can ever get them to come with me in the future.

Auckland

And now we're off! We've finally arrived in Auckland and are staying at the gorgeous home of friends Carmel, Peter, and Benjamin, who are being wonderful hosts. The house is one hundred and twenty years old, renovated on the inside but keeping the historic elements and decor (sort of, the kitchen's very modern). Absoballylutely lovely. As is the weather. The month before we got here they were having a terrible heat wave (or very nice, depending on which way you look at it), and right as we arrived it cooled down and now it's perfect for our Alaskan preferences. Ah, and the ride here was extremely interesting. The beginning was horrible. Our plane was a little late to arrive in the first place, but then they announce that the lavatory system was clogged. It took them an hour from when the plane actually got there to figure that out, then they put us off for another hour while they decided whether they could fix it, which they eventually discovered that they couldn't. Three hours later, about midnight, they finally started loading people onto a new plane. Once we ultimately got on the plane the flight was wonderful, with magnificently stretched out seats and full service menus and whatnot. I really should have taken a picture of our seats when they were all spread out. Really, I was sleeping on my stomach in an airplane seat. Where is that possible?

Disneyland!

Hello to all of you faithful followers of my fabulous ( what's a word for blog that starts with f?). We've actually started our trip now- though since we haven't really left the country I'm not sure if I should say that yet- and we've just now returned to our first of many hotels after a verrryy long day at America's favorite theme park. My feet are much too sore for any more walking in the near future. But anyway, Disney managed once again to bring out our inner five-year-olds, and we had just as much fun with the Mickey-shaped rice crispy treats as anyone in Kindergarten would have.  The first of our international 10+ hour plane rides starts around 8 tomorrow, and then we'll wind up in Auckland with the kiwis.    Sorry if this seems short to you, but nothing particularly interesting has happened to us yet (except for narrowly escaping being stuck on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad).      -Elyse

#2, semi-itinerary

In light of the recent comments and eventual success with our email chain, I've moved on to post number two! We leave on thursday, about six days to go... Please continue spreading the word, I know there are people out there who are just dying to know what we're doing and are being deprived by my limited email base;) Anyway, to start, I'll give everyone a basic overview of our itinerary and the definite dates and checkpoints. We leave Kodiak at 4 on Thursday, January 22nd, and fly to Anchorage. Leave there late that night, fly directly to Los Angeles, where we have until the 25th as a weather insurance period, just in case the island doesn't want us to leave, as often happens... We arrive in Auckland, New Zealand, on the 27th, skipping a day due to the wonder of time zones. Jump to approx. 2 and a half weeks later, when we fly again out of Auckland to Sydney, Australia. A few days there, then moving around between Melbourne, Geelong, Brisbane, somewhere on the Gold Coast, and taking the Gahn from Adelaide to Darwin. We leave from Perth, sometime in the wee days of March. Arrive in Singapore, stay there three days, including our very first checkpoint, March 9th (in case you don't know, Steph's B-Day). From there we have three days in Hong Kong, China, then we fly all the way across continental Asia/Eurasia to Rome, Italy. A few days later, our second checkpoint arrives, with Sonja Jones! She hits Rome on March 15th. We'll be gifted with her bubbling presence for approx. 2 weeks, then she goes back home from Rome. During her stay we will most likely visit Florence. After Sonja, just the family will move on to Croatia, and visit for sure Split and Dubrovnik. The Dalmatian Coast will be a major feature. After Croatia we return to Italy and go through Venice, Assisi, and Naples, along with many other smaller names. From Italy we make ground travel (Eurail) to Paris, France, where we meet with Debra Davis and Jay's friend Duane from D.C.. a few weeks there, in a very small flat, then we train again up to Amsterdam, Netherlands, or Holland, or whatever... Jay leaves permanently from Paris, to make it home in time for KEA's annual meeting, our third checkpoint! Mom and I stick around for almost another three weeks, during which time we will most likely visit Tavis Davidson in Switzerland and peruse Great Britain. We conclude our journey in London, England, and make it home on the 12th of May, our final checkpoint and the day before the Art History A.P. test, which I will of course be taking in my oh-so-prepared jetlagged state. Thus is our trip!

Hello! This is officially the very first post on what I hope will be a very successful venture: our trip blog, intended to keep all of you that are interested in what we're doing while we're gone up to date. Due to the fact that we don't actually leave for another two and a half weeks at least, I have nothing to write, but I figure that it is better to try and work this thing out beforehand... Get your links set, because I intend to actually keep up this time!