I'm typically a "planner" and will devote months to logistics before a trip. And where I work, I need to know about long holidays way in advance to ensure coverage and continuity of service while I'm away. When my husband and I were considering an international holiday to celebrate a relatively "big year" for both of us, a colleague suggested New Zealand. I am so glad I listened. I mentioned New Zealand to my husband and he took a look around at possible tours...he found Active Adventures and thought we should investigate. A full year before our trip, we inquired with Active about how it all works in terms of planning, and when we were told that an online planning app would assist us, I thought, "OK, sure...I'll be doing a bunch of this." We put down the deposit, got the insurance, and dove in. I must say, my assumption?...So wrong. The OBI website really did get us prepped for the majority of the trip in terms of logistics, helped us share health issues/concerns, and have an idea of what we were about to do. The only logistic detail we really needed to handle was travel to and from LAX. EVERYTHING ELSE, Active could either help plan, or completely handled. So aside from getting in the deposit, getting travel insurance, getting the flights set up with the recommended agency in Seattle, working in OBI, paying the balance, and packing, we were set UP for this trip. In my experience - this is all pretty minor work in the greater scheme of a 2-week trip around a country. :)

We had a small group (two couples) on our tour, and 2 fantastic tour guides (Holly and Amanda). We saw things that we would never have even known to find if we had followed a travel book. We wondered, and wandered, oohed and aaahed, took pictures, and just floated along as Holly and Amanda coolly transported us, prepped awesome meals, and all that. If a trek got tough, we'd pause and admire the view. Our guides were encouraging, enthusiastic, and really the absolute heart of the tour. The scenery is awesome - don't get me wrong. But the Active people...just made the whole trip sing. Parting was really (reeeeeally) hard for me after 2 weeks.

So truly, we were on vacation. No glitches in the itinerary (we only had 2 on the whole that I could perceive) were actually a problem - we'd adjust and keep moving, and never regretted a single activity. We learned about tectonic plates, glacial advance and retreat, Mauri myth, greenstone, conservation efforts, Kiwi lifestyles...oh, and some flightless birds too. :) All while taking in scenery that just baffled us.

And we apparently put in the perfect call for weather, because Holly and Amanda not only commented that we were really lucky to see what we saw...they also pulled out their own cameras to take photos from time to time. THAT'S how lucky we were on this trip.

What did we see? It's probably easier to say what we didn't see. Complications. Traffic. Smog. Bad food. Frowns. Worry lines.

But seriously - we saw tree ferns next to tropical evergreen trees so tall we couldn't take photos of them, whether in the north at Abel Taz, the more coastal West side of the Alps, or the more deciduous forests near Fiordland. We saw fruit farms that shouldn't exist in the same geographic area (eg, cherries, apples, corn, soy, and other crops all growing in the same season and region), and particularly not with the prior flora surrounding them. Foxglove...everywhere. Lavender farms. Vineyards. We saw waterfalls like lightning bolts down the mountains, snow-capped mountains surrounded by glaciers, fjords in the fog/rain and the sun (within 2 hours of each other), grassy plains abutting turquoise glacial lakes, milk-like rivers coursing down from glacial sources, iconic sheep farms with mountainous backdrops so perfect they looked "Photoshopped"...it's actually like we stepped in to an animation studio and walked around on a CG set.

Holly and Amanda would ask us what we thought of the view, often. Since, "Wow," "Holy wow!" and related comments didn't seem to fit (too small and insufficient), I started with "ridiculously beautiful"...then proceeded to add words in between, like "absurdly," "surreal-ly,"...and quickly just ran out. By the end of it all I adopted the Kiwi way and went sardonic, answering the guides with "Bah!!" and a hand waive because I just had nothing else to describe the awe. I only adjusted the volume of the "Bah!" and the magnitude of the waive to fit how absolutely floored I was.

What did I take? More than I can describe, personally. New Zealand affected me. In a great and irreversible way....and I got some great Merino wool stuff too (yay, yarn!!!). :)

As the tour wound down, I was told to share this take on my trip with "only the worthy". To me, if you are seriously considering Active, you already appreciate what this type of tourism brings to your life, or seriously and earnestly want to learn, and that makes me suspect that indeed you are. Worthy. Bring your poles, bring your gear...but most importantly, bring your sense of wonder, your humility, and your appreciation for culture, mythology, and conservation. You will not regret it. And you won't be better cared for, possibly even by your own.

| January 1970