EXPEDIA TRAVEL BLOGGER SEARCH - VOTE FOR ME!

I've entered the 2012 Expedia Travel Blogger Search and would love for you to vote for me? Enjoyed what you have read so far? Vote! You can also head to my profile and watch the crazy video I made (but keep in mind my skill is writing not multimedia!)

I need as many votes as I can get!

Head to this link! I'm in the travel section :)

http://www.facebook.com/expedia.com.au/app_346127308817102

I will be forever grateful!
Sez x

PLANNING FOR TRAVEL - THE STORM BEFORE THE CALM

It is just over a month until I am set to leave this glorious country for another that lies most dearly in my heart. It is the home of the Hobbits, a lot of sheep and plenty of place names that are unpronounceable by 99% of tourists. The Land of the Long White Cloud, New Zealand.

Tagging along with me, for his very first trip overseas is my boyfriend who, despite being excused for his lack of travel experience, has been learning a few lessons about travelling overseas with Sarah.
In case any of you ever plan to voyage around the world with me in search of its many wonders, here is a list of things NOT to do before we go (almost all of which my boyfriend has done)

1. Book all accommodation, car rental and flights the night before. 

Although it pains me to say so, I am not the world's best spontaneous traveller. I don't like saying it because I feel that as soon as the words are uttered from my lips the "travellers secret society" will cast me from their circle for being the person who wants to have a roof over their head and isn't really ok about sleeping at the airport to wait for an available flight. A lot of travellers I know are incredibly spontaneous and have amazing stories of where their unorganised-ness has led them. But they also have spent good portions of their trips sleeping in public toilets and wandering the streets at night amongst local mafia and petty burglars. I say that makes us pretty even. I'm not super fussy about what flight I take, what car we get or where we stay but I like to know that we have SOMETHING booked so I feel calmer about being in a foreign place and can begin to enjoy the experience more. 

2. Go to the airport "when we feel like it"

In my eyes, this is the most cardinal of travelling sins. The departures terminal of any airport is my most favourite place. It is full of people with their bags packed off to visit family, their school mate or an oranguatan sanctuary but they all have something in common because they are HAPPY. People that are stuck back at the check-in desks crying because they were late for their flight and it has now closed, NOT SO HAPPY. Because I have travelled from a very young age, my mother has drilled into me that you must be at the airport 3 hours before your flight and, to the best of my ability, that is a rule I have tried to adhere to. I don't mind the waiting. I like being surrounded by the collective excitement at the Departure Gates and because of this, can't bring myself to feel sorry for those poor sods who get their names called out over the intercom. 

"Paging David Smith on Flight LK89 to Bangaldesh, your aircraft is now ready for departure and all passengers are waiting on you". 

I mean nobody wants to be THAT guy. 

3. "Figure" it out when we get there

Lonely Planet was invented for travellers just like me. Yes there are those who like to go off the beaten track in search of the world's unknown but in this day and age of travelling there aren't many of those places left, and half of them have 200 page travel guides, already written by the lovely people at Lonely Planet. The key to a great trip is the amount of research you are willing to put in. Have you talked with your colleague at work who recommends that great pizza place in Queenstown? Or that boutique clothes store in a laneway off from the Pantheon in Rome that your neighbour told you about? With the wealth of information available to us, thanks to the Internet, there is no excuse to not take the experiences of others and use them wisely to create your own incredible journey. Now if only those little blue books didn't weigh so much, I'd have one for every town and city... 

So in a nutshell that is the three NOT's to do when planning a trip with Sarah. Yes it can be a little hectic before you have even left, and yes I am anal about being organised but I am yet to have a complete travel disaster (fingers and toes crossed) and hope that my habits will ensure I never have one. 

Will I be at that airport exactly 3 hours early when we head to NZ?

Definitely

Should I consider buying shares in Lonely Planet to at least get some financial benefit from my guidebook obsession?

Maybe

Will I ever change?

Probably Not!

Sez x