Our trip to the South Pacific

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We just booked a trip to four countries beginning August 1, and we will be gone six weeks. We got an email through Travel Zoo advertising airfare to Australia with a free stopover in New Zealand for $998 round trip per person. Clicking on the site took me to the Air New Zealand website and the option for multiple flights. So I played around with it for a while, adding a stopover in Fiji, and then another one in Rarotonga, one of the Cook Islands. The best I could do fare-wise was $2650 for the two of us round trip. But the more I searched, the more I thought this was a smoking deal. Just a round trip flight to Fiji alone would have cost almost that much, and it was the same airline that Air New Zealand was partnering with for our package of flights (Air Fiji). I tried to book the trip on a Sunday, and was unable to complete the reservation, because my credit union debit card wasn't authorized for foreign transactions. A call to the credit union the next day enabled me to secure the reservation and then print our tickets.

We were a little hesitant to book this so far out, but this will give us time to sort out what to do with our 17 year old dog and lots of time to find lodging options for all four stops on our trip. We're leaning towards Airbnb accommodations, as they will save us a lot of money and we can then take some nice tours once we arrive at our destinations rather than spending all our money on a place to sleep. We can sleep anywhere, as long as it's safe and there's no bedbugs! And hopefully we can find some accommodations that include access to kitchens and BBQs where we can cook our own food.

Another consideration is our diet. For almost a year, we've been following an all meat protocol, with amazing results. We've both lost weight and improved our health. This is one of the reasons we feel energized and excited about this trip -- we feel like we've turned back the clock! I think Australia and New Zealand should be easy enough to find plenty of meat to eat, but I'm not sure about Fiji and Rarotonga. I'm picturing lots of tropical fruits, but I'm sure there must be an abundance of seafood available too. At least I hope so!

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