There And Back Again

Hello There,,

             I guess it really is official now,, Spoke to Jill from Relaxing Journeys, and all accomodations have been made and finalized.  I had to put money down to reserve a place for us on the tour. Final tally for the Tour alone is $10,800 NZ, which turns out to be $7,308.17US. Not too bad considering we will have 12 days in Middle-Earth. I sent my down payment today to reserve our places $750 NZ = $504 US. Now I need to get my butt moving on the rest of the money, and the airfare, which is going to be monumental,,, Namarie 

Max

   How much does a Dream cost? This is a question I have asked myself quite a few times these last few months. Ever since I decided to take the Boys to New Zealand, We have encountered 1 hurtle after another. First, since NZ is on the other side of the world, I had to try and get a furlo (Vacation) pick, in April, which would’ve corresponded with early Fall in NZ and also when the Boys had Easter break. That didn’t happen, I don’t have the seniority, I was out bid. The best I could get was October, which is early spring, hopefully it won’t be a wet spring.  That was a blow that took some time getting over, But The Boys have such a positive attitude, they figured it would give us more time to save money and more chances for me to work overtime.  Overtime is a huge hurtle for me, becuase, i’m personally very lazy,  I really enjoy my free time, and any time away from work is well spent. But money is definitely a Huge hurtle.  I just didn’t realize How huge a hurtle, until pricing everything With Jill From Relaxing Journeys, This is going to set me back!!  Don’t misunderstand, I always knew it was going to cost a lot, but this is crazy. For the Tour alone, it is costing $7,600 US for the 3 of  us, for 12 days! Now add into that the air fare, that is going to set me back almost $6,000 US, I almost feinted !!! But this dream has become a Passion, A chance in a lifetime, to step outside one’s life and do something out of the ordinary.  As I write this,the Olympics are on, I’m listening to Athletes from all over the World, talk about the Goal for Gold, and all the hurtles and injuries it took for them to achieve their Goal.  This then has become our Goal, our Dream. Anything less isn’t good enough. It’s All in God’s Hands, we can only do our best, and keep our eyes on the Gold.    MAX

About 2 wks ago, I emailed a question to the editor of Agent of Travel, A column in the Chicago Sun-Times Travel section. Today, the answer to that question was published. In summary, I asked whether or not there were special papers, aside from the pre-requisite passports, that I needed to take with me, that allows me, as The Twins Uncle, not their Guardian, to leave the country.  The Editor Lisa Lenoir responded with  more information than I could have hoped for. No special papers needed, she also provided plenty of other information.  The books she recommended, I already have, but she also provided flight information, info on immunizations and also websites we could visit to get even more information.  The boys were so excited, they jumped on their bikes in a snowstorm to ride to the nearest store to buy the paper. The full story is available on The Sun-times website.   Another hurtle down,,,,,,  Max 11 Feb 06 15:05 hrs