[jim&alma]

Just wondering... for those already in NZ, do you still travel internationally?

I've been looking at NZ airfare online and they are steep! But makes sense coz NZ is kinda out-of-the-way.. I know that scenery and nature spots abound in NZ, still, I think I'm going to miss how easy it is to just pack and go and be in a completely different world in a matter of hours without breaking the budget.

[Smiler]

Only been here 4 months and have already been to Melbourne. :clap

Planning on the Cook Islands, Norfolk Island and some of the more out of the way places in the SH, but enjoying seeing NZ too.


Deborah

[clg]

There are a lot of local places, australia, fiji, vanuatu, cook island that are fairly inexpensive to go to. We plan on hitting all of them. We scuba dive so that will keep us busy for a while. Airfare is expensive from here going further than those places though and something you need to work in. As I see it we have a lot of the above mentioned places plus NZ to explore which should keep us busy for a while. We also factored in some trips back to the US, not cheap but we can manage. No hotel costs there for us at least! That should occupy us for 5-10 years and who know what travel air fare will be like then.

[sizzlingbadger]

As we're a family of two adults and three air fare paying kids now are trips abroad won't happen unless we have a significant windfall.

Doesn't bother us though as there's enough places to visit in NZ to keep us going. If we were back in the UK we still wouldn't go abroad for a holiday as it was too expensive.

[Diny]

I agree about the more 'local' places - plenty of them to keep us occupied. It seems going to places like Fiji is abit like us 'popping over to Spain' from the UK. Nice thought eh.

I'm going back to the UK in May for about 3 weeks (solo trip - yay!!). Haven't booked my ticket yet but have started doing all the usual trawling through internet sites. I've also noticed that The Flight Centre has some pretty good deals - has anybody else ever booked through them?

We're also pretty lucky as far as air miles go. Hubby works for an oil company and travels hundreds of thousands of miles a year, he accumulates THOUSANDS of air miles. We're using them to pay for a trip home (all of us) in September for my folks golden wedding celebrations.

Saying all this though - I do sometimes feel abit isolated out here.

Diny

[Moorf]

I know what you mean Alma - I do miss not having Europe at the doorstep - but there's so much more here to explore, albeit a tad more expensive in terms of % of take-home etc.

We're off to Brisbane for a long weekend in June and that will cost $1700. We also have a trip to the Cook Islands planned, a business trip to India taking place sometime this year and a trip back to the UK this time next year. All that is fine, nothing quite like a quick jaunt to Italy or France, but a small sacrifice though in my opinion.

[jim&alma]

We're also pretty lucky as far as air miles go. Hubby works for an oil company and travels hundreds of thousands of miles a year, he accumulates THOUSANDS of air miles. We're using them to pay for a trip home (all of us) in September for my folks golden wedding celebrations.

Yay for airmiles! We also use them frequently for our getaway trips. So between that, the fact that our 1yo daughter is still not being charged for a seat, and we're in Europe, our holiday expenses are manageable.

Hmm.. maybe we should stop using our airmiles now and save them for NZ...

[jim&alma]

We're off to Brisbane for a long weekend in June and that will cost $1700. We also have a trip to the Cook Islands planned, a business trip to India taking place sometime this year and a trip back to the UK this time next year. All that is fine, nothing quite like a quick jaunt to Italy or France, but a small sacrifice though in my opinion.
Wow, lucky you! Jim and I are now wondering if we should splurge and visit all the places we've wanted to go to while we're here. On the other hand, we do need to start saving up for our 'NZ fund'.

[StevieD]

I agree about the more 'local' places - plenty of them to keep us occupied. It seems going to places like Fiji is abit like us 'popping over to Spain' from the UK. Nice thought eh.

I think I know where I'd rather visit!


Clue: they don't speak Spanish! :)