Here’s what will be happening in the next few months:

April: Wellington (in two weeks!) for the first time. I’m excited about this! I don’t totally know what we will do in Wellington yet but I am excited to explore a new city for a few days.

May – June: Memphis for work purposes. Will be nice to be back “home” to work, see people, and take care of things.

July: Mt Ruapehu snowboarding trip! The mountain opens in June and we are hitting in up in july. I still think of July as summer so it feels strange to be planning a snowboarding trip for that month.

Lots of good traveling coming up. I’m excited!

Yep, I want to go home. Just for a little bit as I also want to attend a blogging conference when I’m back.

So now begins the process of seeing if this trip is even possible given the expense of it. I will be looking for sponsors if possible so if anyone out there wants to sponsor a short leg of the trip please contact me.

I run several blogs with thousands of daily visits which have anywhere from PR2 to PR4. Advertising options can be arranged as well as promotion at a conference with several hundred other bloggers in the health niche. I would be visiting the following cities: Denver, Memphis, Baltimore. I’m open to discussing options for full or partial sponsorships.

And…. now begins the actual process of trying to save and contact potential sponsorship companies. I’d really love to go home and make it to the conference. Wish me luck!

I’m pretty good with geography and have always been interested in maps. Because of that I know *most* of the countries in the world and generally have a pretty good idea where most places are located on the map. You won’t be able to call me an ignorant American who thinks Europe is a country, that’s for sure.

But I still am oblivious to a lot of countries despite my love and knowledge of geography. The tiny countries? The island nations? I’ll admit I don’t have a good handle on them. I only know about the most popular places like Fiji, Bali, Jamaica, etc. The ones where you might actually plan a vacation because you’ve heard so much about them.

However I discovered a new to me country out here in the South Pacific that looks interesting: Vanuatu. Or more specifically the Republic of Vanuatu.

I found some vanuatu holiday deals that look mighty tempting. The weather changed over the weekend and now that we are heading into fall and then winter I know I’m going to be anxious to escape to an island with better weather that isn’t so close to Antarctica. Vanuatu looks like it might have entered the ring of places contending to get our first islands trip later this year or next. I’m definitely adding it to the list of places I’m considering.

Now the list has grown and I’m discovering more amazing islands in the South Pacific the decision on where to go is going to be even harder!

What island do you think I should visit next? Have you been to Vanautu? Recommend it?

So, Auckland is a pretty cool city after all. I’m starting to find myself liking it more and more as I find new places and people that I like.

Maybe I just need to explore the whole city more?

I’ll be based here for the next few years so I might as well see all the city has to offer!

But a girl can dream, right?

I stumbled across some Costa Rica vacation rentals that looked so nice I started looking for plane tickets. I like to get ahead of myself when considering travel plans because the initial thoughts and planning is just so much fun. I’ve always wanted to go to Costa Rica actually so I think it might be an amazing trip.

I’m not sure why Costa Rica is on my list of places to travel but it is. It’s also a place where I think I’d like to have a vacation home or rental or something that I could visit whenever I wanted. One day that might be a reality. Let’s hope that day comes sooner rather than later.

But for now I’m going to *try* and focus on realistic trips ahead. I mean, I’m in the south pacific and might as well enjoy it for a while!

I considered all the normal things like hotels, inns, bed and breakfasts, and hostels. The problem is that though I would be happy to stay at the cheapest option, my partner wouldn’t. He doesn’t like hostels after a couple less-than-thrilling experiences staying in a hostel. While I’ve had bad experiences too I’ve also had good experiences and when I travel alone look to stay in hostels to save money. But since our next trips are all together I have looked at other options he might enjoy more.

One option I’m considering is renting a vacation home. I came across a few sites while searching for places to stay when we go snowboarding this year. Last year my friends that went rented out a vacation home and this year we would most likely rent two houses with the amount of people we have going this time. Also renting a house might be a nice way to visit Wellington for a few days and have a more comfy home base. I’ve been searching and browsing the vacation rental sites and if you are interested you can click here for rentals.

The more I look at the various homes available to rent the more excited I get about the idea. Or maybe I’m just excited about our next trip. Either way, I’m excited!

Here’s the list of places we want to travel:

• Wellington
• Snowboarding in New Zealand
• South Island road trip
• Trip to islands (either Cook Islands or Samoa)
• Trip to Japan

That is probably in list of importance too, meaning we will most likely go on them in that order.

Which means… I need to start planning a trip to Wellington!

They make for some interesting photo ops too.

If you end up on the North Island in Auckland you should definitely check out 90 Mile Beach (eh, weird name for a nation in km) and the sand dunes!

I was just going through my photos and found these. Oh how I miss those hushpuppies.

YUM.

Now I want some catfish. And huspuppies. And sweet potato fries. Delicious.

If you are in Memphis you should most definitely check out Soul Fish Cafe.

With some sun.

Instead of in rainy Auckland.

Yes, Taupo is a good place indeed. Can’t wait to go back!