One of the many things that need to be planned for a wedding is the honeymoon trip. Since the time that Janet agreed to become my wife, the wheels had been set in motion for the many other plans, and when it appeared to be the right time, we began to give some serious thought to the travel arrangements. It didn't take long for us to agree on a few simple ground rules.
First, the destination had to be a place that neither of us had visited previously. We wanted the experience to be new for each of us as a sign of our new life together. Next, we were mostly against the typical places that newlyweds go to, such as: Hawaii, the Bahamas, etc. Because we both have a free-wheeling, adventuresome attitude towards travel, and like to get away from tourists and regimented itineraries, neither of us would even consider being a part of a tour. We did, however, insist on having confirmed reservations for all air travel and sleeping accommodations, because if any of these were not right, it would mean wasting time straightening them out when we could be enjoying the vacation. We visited several travel agents, both together and separately, and boiled our choices down to two: Switzerland and New Zealand.
If we went to Switzerland, we would definitely want to ski. Our April wedding was well into Spring. We figured that the snow would be waning, and Switzerland became our second choice to New Zealand.
In between the other wedding plans, we managed to squeeze in some time to talk to travel agents, and to call several airlines to explore discounts that the travel agents might not know about. Still, the best fare that could be found was about $1,000 round trip. We were ready to book it when I found an ad in the Los Angeles Times Travel section showing the exact same ticket for $750. And the agency was located not too far from my house.
One Saturday in January both Janet and I went down to ANZ Travel (Australia New Zealand Travel) located upstairs from the Bijou Theater in Hermosa Beach. There, we got some helpful suggestions from an agent who was born and raised in New Zealand. Her accent only made us more voracious for the trip like a shark smelling blood and wanting to go into a feeding frenzy. But, with her help, we pulled in our horns a little bit and decided on just seeing the North Island of New Zealand, so that we would avoid the mistake that many travelers make by trying to see too much in too short of a time. A rental car was easily arranged for the trip so that we could drive to each destination and stop to see the scenery along the way as we desired. Almost all of the trip was planned, except that the agent was to research some information on the farm stay, and then send us a letter with the plans fleshed out.
We waited a reasonable amount of time and then began calling the travel agent. It took a total of two weeks to get us the information that we had expected to get in two days. This was mostly because the travel agent with which we had dealt left ANZ Travel, and partly because our plans were being neglected.
The first cut at the trip looked pretty good with the one exception of a fairly expensive hotel in Wellington. As I talked to the new agent about changing this hotel, I was informed that the air fare had gone up by $200 per ticket because of an increase of the airlines. I confirmed this on my own with the airlines directly, to make sure that the agency was not trying to do a bait and switch, and then proceeded to become very angry at the situation.
That evening, during our twilight jog along the beach, I discussed the situation with Janet and we concluded that we would not enjoy New Zealand as much after this had happened. We tossed around a couple of ideas and came up with alternative destinations. Since time was beginning to get short, we made a snap decision to scrap New Zealand and substituted a trip to Amsterdam.
But when we returned home, there was a message on the answering machine from the travel agent who had found a way to get us the same ticket with only a $38 increase. Even though this was more than the original fare, it was much lower than any of the airlines, so we vacillated back to New Zealand.
With a number of phone calls and a couple of trips to their office, we finally got the plans finalized and the tickets purchased. We even got the 'expensive' Wellington hotel at a reduced and acceptable price. The final itinerary was:
April 9 10:00 PM Leave LAX
April 11 6:00 AM Arrive at Auckland. Pick-up rental car from
the Southern Cross Car Rental. Drive to Te Hana.
April 11-13 The Retreat Bed and Breakfast Inn
April 14-15 The Fernleaf Motel, Rotorua
April 16-18 The MacKenzie Ranch, Hawkes Bay
April 19-21 The Bayview Hotel, Wellington
April 21 8:30 PM Leave Wellington
April 21 9:30 PM Arrive Auckland
April 21 11:59 PM Leave Auckland
April 21 5:00 PM Arrive LAX
The final piece of the puzzle was a carefully thought out budget for each day taking into account the places that we were likely to souvenir hunt, pay admissions, and go out on the town for a nice dinner. There was quite a bit extra in the budget planned-in for unforeseen emergencies. Under duress, the bride-to-be agreed to keep to the budget.
With the major items all planned, we started to plan in more detail the activities which were associated with each area we were to visit. We re-read all the travel brochures that we had collected, and the first chapters of the book 'A Maverick's Guide to New Zealand' which covered the North Island. We made lists of interesting things and left out those things which sounded too touristy such as the Glow Worm Cave at Waitomo. The list was extensive, so we knew that we wouldn't be able to see them all. It was all right with us to pick and choose from the list as well as to add other activities as we went along.
On the advice of a co-worker, I joined the Automobile Club of Southern California which is part of the AAA. For the price of $1.00 we got a fairly detailed map of the North Island and were able to trace out our route and find the cities that we were going to visit. Membership in the AAA also entitled us to get all the local maps that we might need from the New Zealand auto club, the AA.
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Chapter 1, April 9: The Trip to New Zealand and the First Day
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The wedding went off without any major problems on April 8th. We spent that night at the Manhattan Beach Radisson Hotel which was right next to the reception hall at the Manhattan Country Club. After checking out of the hotel, our first stop was at Janet's mobile home for some last minute packing. Even though Janet's mom, sister, and sister's boyfriend were staying there, the place was empty. Later we found out that they went with Janet's other sister, Chris, and her husband, John, to Milesquare Park in Orange County to see a radio-controlled model airplane show.
Janet packed her big blue suitcase half expecting that Copper, her extra-fluffy cat would be peeking around a corner at any minute, even though she had personally dropped him at the kennel for a two week stay. Besides clothing and necessities, Janet packed a collapsible suitcase for the purpose of filling with souvenirs from New Zealand. This kind of forethought had me worried about being able to keep to our budget. Janet wrote a note saying good-bye to her relatives and thanking them for making the long trip out to California just for the wedding. Placing the note conspicuously, Janet then said good-bye to her carefully redecorated mobile home, not for two weeks, but forever since upon our return, we would be living in the Manhattan Beach house which is where we were now heading. Things were more animated at this address. My parents, sister Marge and her family, husband Nino, son Carmine, and daughter Aggie were staying here. I began to pack, and, upon completing the first suitcase, carefully locked it in my truck where my second piece joined it in due time. You may think that I am paranoid, but I remembered my Mom telling us of how they used to tie the bride and groom's clothing in knots before they left on their honeymoon as a prank.
My parents had brought the numerous wedding gifts from the reception to the house, so we opened them in a Christmas morning-like frenzy of gift paper shredding. We were careful to attach the card with each gift so that thank you notes could be written upon our return.
Once Marge and family left about 3:00 PM for their long drive back to Mesa, Arizona, the house suddenly quieted down. We made a final foray to the refrigerator to finish off anything that might go bad in the next two weeks and called it dinner.
Afterwards, my parents and I played a few hands of Pinochle to relax the groom. At seven o'clock we packed our suitcases in Dad's Chevy, and I parked my truck on the rear portion of the lot to avoid getting parking tickets twice a week on street cleaning days while we were gone.
My parents dropped us off at the Bradley International Terminal at the Los Angeles airport. We said our good-byes over reiterations of directions back to the house, and then carried the three big suitcases and carry-on luggage into the always busy terminal.
Even though we had planned the trip for many months, when we saw the mass of people of various nationalities crowding the terminal, we finally realized that the trip was no longer an idea but was now becoming a reality. Our trip to New Zealand had begun not only in a physical sense, but in our thoughts and attitudes as well.
We checked in at the Air New Zealand ticket counter for flight Number TE1, passed through airport security, and began waiting at the gate. To pass the time Janet read 'Parting the Waters', and I began reading a collection of short stories by Edgar Allen Poe. The first was 'The Murders of the Rue Morgue'. I am one who can never just sit and wait, so I paced the length of the concourse, tried to get a refund for returning a rent-a-cart, but failed, and then walked all the way back to the street entrance where I mailed some last minute thank you cards.
In between all this running around, I did manage to get a few pages read in my book, but now I put it away as the Air New Zealand 747 had just arrived at our gate. This also signaled Janet to stop reading and gather our things together for boarding. Being always early for any event, our habits got us in line early, and we were the first people to board in Los Angeles, right behind the people who always get on airplanes first to block the aisles.
Our seats were next to a young gentleman, who was flying from London to Auckland and looked as if he was ready to fall asleep at any moment, which he did, and right in front of a dark-skinned Polynesian man who we assumed to be of Maori decent. Our carry-on luggage fit neatly in a recently emptied overhead bin and under the seats in front of us. I quickly kicked-off my shoes in favor of a pair of slippers that had been packed in the carry-on luggage, and we settled in for the twelve hour flight. Janet sat patiently and read a few more chapters of 'Parting the Waters', while I continued reading the book of Poe short stories and actually finished reading 'The Murders of the Rue Morgue'. |
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