travels.of.tara

Hey, I’m going on a 3.5 week solo trip to Australia and New Zealand!

I’ve got a really awesome adventure planned and truly can’t wait; it has been way too long since I’ve done a big solo trip.

Here are the logistics:

November 21 – December 16 (25 days)
Fly NYC to Sydney (4 nights)
Fly Sydney to Melbourne (3 nights)
Fly Melbourne to Tasmania (1 night)
Fly Tasmania to Cairns (4 nights)
Fly Cairns to Christchurch (1 night)
Train and bus Christchurch to Franz Josef (3 nights)
Bus Franz Josef to Queenstown (2 nights)
Fly Queenstown to Auckland (5 nights)
Fly Auckland to NYC

I’ve wanted to go to Australia since high school, when I went to an info session about a study abroad program that was way too expensive to be feasible for my family. But the idea always stayed with me. Later, when I started traveling internationally in my 20s, I made a few travel friends from Australia and New Zealand, and the idea that I could go there started popping back up. In 2014, after finishing grad school, I seriously considered going. I ultimately needed to save money, wanted to be in the US in case any job application issues came up, and was put off by the reverse seasons issue. The timing wasn’t quite right then, so instead I rode Amtrak trains across the country for 25 days, which ended up being the perfect adventure for that time and incredibly memorable.

I actually conceived this trip two summers ago when I left my last job in the NYS Legislature. I’m using my generous vacation payout to finance it — because I had comp time and worked so many hours I never had to use my actual vacation days there. I started actually planning things about a year ago, which is the longest lead-up to a trip I think I’ve ever done, but I had to wait to save up my vacation days at my new nonprofit job. So you can bet that this is a hyper-planned itinerary! You can also bet that the last few weeks have been a bit busy in trying to wrap up work and some other activities that I jammed into November, but it was all good things and I got everything done.

My train trip was the longest trip I’ve ever taken. This will match that, and be the farthest away, making it the biggest trip I’ve taken in my life. It’s a rush to know I am still building bigger trips and grander adventures. This one will have a lot of new and unique experiences. The time is right, and I’m so ready to go!

I hope to update this blog every few days, and more photos will follow the trip on social media. Talk to you next when I’m down under!
-Tara