Trips planned!

[deralte]

I've spent most of the afternoon plotting out my trip to New Zealand. I ended up having to switch the dates of my two proposed trips while I'm here in Korea. I'd wanted to go to New Zealand in early December but since I was booking the flight with miles, I wasn't able to find a flight back that didn't cost an arm and a leg. So instead, I switched to looking at the end of January and found a flight there and back for $75 total. Not bad, eh? (I have tons of miles from flying all the time.) I then switched the date of my trip to India to early December and quickly booked a cheap flight ($430 is not bad, even if the layover on the way is killer... I couldn't use any miles because none of the airlines I have miles on fly from Korea to India). My friend in India (who is also doing her Fulbright atm) already knows the lay of the land so to speak, so it was left to her to book our trip to Bangalore and Hampi. It should be a lot of fun.

So then it was up to me to book my trip around New Zealand. I couldn't go for as long as I wanted to since there's a limit to how much time I'm allowed out of the country while on a Fulbright and the flights eat up days of time unfortunately. I was also dismayed to see there's really no easy way to get around quickly to the places I wanted to see, so I gave up and just made sure I got to see the three things I really wanted to - Hobbiton, glow worm caves, and the Weta workshop. I wish I had the time to go to NZ's southern island but I'd need another two days at least and it would cost a lot to see the places I really want to see from LOTR so I will leave it for another day (and you know, when I'm rich). Still need to find a place to stay in Wellington but other than that, everything major like transportation and accommodation are booked. Any recs for Wellington?

Cold has progressed to the coughing stage which means I'm miserable but happy I'm at least nearing the end of the experience.

Comments

[reynardine.livejournal.com]

That's so exciting, getting to go to both India and New Zealand!

[deralte.livejournal.com]

I figured that the timing was right, and that I deserved some sort or reward for three grueling years of grad school.

[melf42.livejournal.com]

Yay for travels!!! I support both these ventures.

When I was in Wellington, I checked out the Te Papa museum on the waterfront which was pretty cool and the Wellington Cable Car, a little train up a small mountain which was nifty and had a nice view and little trail at the top.
http://www.wellingtoncablecar.co.nz/

While I was driving north from Wellington, I stopped at the visitor's center and got map to the Rivendell, etc, filming locations, but there wasn't much there at the time other than a few signs. Maybe that has changed in 15 years? The trilogy had not been completed yet when I was there.

The glowworm caves were cool. I went big and did a "blackwater rafting" trip which was where you wore a wetsuit and a guy guided you through a cave in a tube on the water. Admittedly a bit out of my comfort zone, but it was great and I saw glowworms there as well as at the regular, more tourist-friendly cave.

[deralte.livejournal.com]

I plan on checking out the Te Papa, and maybe doing some hiking since apparently there are paths all over the city. Depends on how exhausted I am at that point *L*

According to fyrie there's still not much to see up there even after the Hobbit filming, so she only recommended checking out the weta workshop.

I don't have the time to do the blackwater rafting though it sounds neat. I love caves though so I hope I can manage to get through two or three of the glowworm ones while I'm there.