Kevin and Karen

In early February 2009 we took a great vacation to British Columbia and I have been meaning to blog about it and post some pictures ever since. So while this is LONG overdue here it is! I have to say I enjoyed "re-living” it through writing about it and looking at the pictures - I hope you enjoy as well! Friday, February 6th We took a 9:45 p.m. flight out of JFK on Cathay Pacific (nice airline by the way!) and landed in Vancouver around 12:45 a.m. PT. The International Terminal at JFK was super nice and included a spa so we actually both had time to get a quick massage before boarding our flight. We were pretty wiped out by the time we landed in Vancouver so we opted to take a cab to ... read more

There are 322 islands that make up “Fiji”. Tom Hank’s “Castaway” was filmed here as was Brooke Shield’s “Blue Lagoon”. Mon, Jan 14th - Our wake-up call came at 5:30 am and we were in a cab bound for the Sydney Airport by 6:30. We had a 1 ½ hr flight from Sydney to Melbourne, a 4 hr flight from Melbourne to Auckland and a 3 hr flight from Auckland to Fiji. I think we lost 2 hours going to New Zealand and gained an hour back going to Fiji. With all the flights, time changes and clearing through customs it was a long & confusing day. We landed in Nadi, Fiji around 9 pm and were serenaded by a local Fiji band as we exited the plane and waited in line to go through customs. ... read more

Sun, Jan 6th - We took an early morning flight from Brisbane into Hamilton Island, which is part of the Whitsunday Islands. The Whitsunday Islands are a group of 74 islands off the coast of Australia (north of Brisbane and south of Cairns) and of the 74 islands only 8 are inhabited. The islands that have resorts on them are all 5-star resorts and are known to have hosted a number of celebrities over the past couple of years. The group of islands are home to the southern fringes of the Great Barrier Reef and if you sail a few hours north you are in the heart of the Reef. After landing at Hamilton Island we boarded a 40 minute boat ride to mainland Australia where we would be spending the night and boarding our sailboat ... read more

Mon, Dec 31st - We landed in Melbourne around 5:30 p.m. with no difficulty. We were able to find my friend Sue who had just come in from Fiji and landed in Melbourne around the same time we did. The first thing we noticed was that it was HOT. The temperature that day had been about 110 and even as the evening approached it was still very hot. The three of us boarded a bus to the area where Craig & Sherri live and Sherri was there to pick us up and drive us to her & Craig’s home in the Melbourne suburb of Mt. Eliza. We were all super excited to see Sherri since we don’t get to see her much anymore because she lives just a tad far away . . . We arrived ... read more

New Zealand is divided into two main landmasses - the North & South Islands. It is about 2/3rd’s the size of California and is populated with 4 million people and 40 million sheep! Sun Dec 23rd - Our trip started off CRAZY. We had a 1:15 p.m. flight scheduled out of Newark to LAX. Kevin dropped me off at the departure gate with 3 large suitcases and 2 carry-ons (keep in mind I only really have one working hand and one fully working ankle). He left to return our rental car with the thought that he would be back in 20 minutes or so to then make our way through the airport together. About 20 minutes later I got a call that he was lost in downtown Elizabeth. Apparently, Enterprise’s Newark Airport Rental location is not ... read more