Our flight left on time at 7:00 pm Toronto.  Our 7 hour and 20 minute flight to Brussels (on route to Venice) was to get to us there at about 7:20 am local Venice time. We never travelled via Air Brussels and it was just okay. We thought we were going to be in for a treat as the check I was seamless and fast. We got on the plane and the leg room was good but the seats were not comfortable - very hard. I watched 2 movies, played some games and caught about a tot...

We had an early morning flight to Sydney where we caught our flight home after a 2 hour layover. It is bittersweet. I miss everyone at home but at the same time I think I'm leaving a little piece of me in Australia and NZ.  Things I learned in New Zealand:The name New Zealand comes from the Dutch "Nieuw Zeeland" meaning New Sealand, due to the numerous seals on the islands.The sun shines on NZ before anywhere else.NZ is small and thinly populated but the ...

After a painful almost 30 hours in transit, we arrived home safe & sound......and a wee bit tired. We had the trip of a lifetime. I'm grateful that we were able to experience Australia and New Zealand and meet all sorts of people, many of whom I now call friends. Hope to see you all soon. Xo. 

We have one more night in Christchurch before heading home. We awoke to a beautiful sunny day. It was a nice way to end our mega vacation. We had arranged for a group picture this morning before everyone goes their separate ways. It was teary (mostly on my part) but we got through it. I'm glad that part is over with. I feel like I've cried a lot during our group goodbyes. Devastated by an earthquake in 2011, the South Islands largest city has undergone ...

We awoke to a cold, rainy day and headed to Christchurch, a little piece of England in New Zealand, still recovering from a devastating earthquake on Valentines Day of this year. It hadn't fully recovered from the 2011 earthquakes. Of course, along the way we had several stops. First was at Lake Tekapo where we saw again the beautiful blue waters of the hydroelectric power holding lakes. This colour so from the glaciers grinding the rocks into Rick powder w...