AliceNorton
โ9 hours, 18 minutesโ reads the widget on my phone that has been counting down for many, many months at this point. Josh is sitting in bed next to me downloading books for the flight. My bag has been packed, and repacked, and repacked and is now sitting in itโs (hopefully) final state across the room, ready to be picked up and slung into the car at 5 AM tomorrow morning. It actually doesnโt feel real that we are finally leaving tomorrow - a lot of planning has gone into this moment, and I have that kind of nostalgic disbelief that comes with reaching a really big milestone.
The last few days (and weeks) have been filled with special goodbyes, and weโre so grateful for everyone who has made this such a special period. Iโve spent the start of this week in Hฤwea with Mum, Dad, Mackenzie and Jacob, and Josh has been here in Queenstown with his mum, Cathy. We also had such special goodbyes in Christchurch with our work friends, everyone at Ellen and Sebโs wedding, the Stilwell/Redfearn whฤnau, and my Grandad. Lots of tears of course, but I feel so lucky that our family and friends are overwhelmingly excited for us, and just canโt wait for us to get this show on the road!!
Tomorrow morning weโll be up at 5 AM for a 6 AM check in at Queenstown airport, before a flight up to Auckland. Then, itโs ten hours across to Singapore, followed by a final four over to Colombo. We arrive at 11:30 PM local time, basically 24 hours after we leave Queenstown tomorrow morning. Forecast is showing a balmy 31 degrees and sunny! Not that much warmer than the 27 weโve been having here in sunny Central Otago, but Iโm pretty confident the humidity will bump it up another notch!!
Iโve attached a few special photos of goodbyes over the last few weeks, as that feels like a super important part of kicking off this trip.
Right now I am most excited about exploring a new city - the food, a yoga class, markets, people watchingโฆ and Iโm most nervous about navigating public transport and trying to stick to our budget. I do think I may have packed too much stuff, so stay tuned for an update on that as we go! The real questions that all of my family want to know are - in a few weeks will Alice still have her Sol de Janeiro Bum Bum cream in her bag, and will Alice and Josh actually use the Therabands for at home/hostel workouts?!
Talk soon once weโre on the way.
Lots of love,
Alice
The last few days (and weeks) have been filled with special goodbyes, and weโre so grateful for everyone who has made this such a special period. Iโve spent the start of this week in Hฤwea with Mum, Dad, Mackenzie and Jacob, and Josh has been here in Queenstown with his mum, Cathy. We also had such special goodbyes in Christchurch with our work friends, everyone at Ellen and Sebโs wedding, the Stilwell/Redfearn whฤnau, and my Grandad. Lots of tears of course, but I feel so lucky that our family and friends are overwhelmingly excited for us, and just canโt wait for us to get this show on the road!!
Tomorrow morning weโll be up at 5 AM for a 6 AM check in at Queenstown airport, before a flight up to Auckland. Then, itโs ten hours across to Singapore, followed by a final four over to Colombo. We arrive at 11:30 PM local time, basically 24 hours after we leave Queenstown tomorrow morning. Forecast is showing a balmy 31 degrees and sunny! Not that much warmer than the 27 weโve been having here in sunny Central Otago, but Iโm pretty confident the humidity will bump it up another notch!!
Iโve attached a few special photos of goodbyes over the last few weeks, as that feels like a super important part of kicking off this trip.
Right now I am most excited about exploring a new city - the food, a yoga class, markets, people watchingโฆ and Iโm most nervous about navigating public transport and trying to stick to our budget. I do think I may have packed too much stuff, so stay tuned for an update on that as we go! The real questions that all of my family want to know are - in a few weeks will Alice still have her Sol de Janeiro Bum Bum cream in her bag, and will Alice and Josh actually use the Therabands for at home/hostel workouts?!
Talk soon once weโre on the way.
Lots of love,
Alice
