Going International!

After lots of procrastination, and about the millionth major plan revision, we're finally in ticket-buying mode and we're going international!! We've been learning that planning is almost as terrible as packing- you find an awesome deal on a plane ticket, plan around going there on that date, and by the time you figure out a way to make it possible, that awesome price is gone, to be replaced by an exorbitant one. To try to combat this, we decided to plan out several flights at once and then buy them all in quick succession, but we were foiled in this effort too- my credit card got shut down because of "several purchases in rapid succession from the same vendor of increasing value" as the very nice customer service man informed me. I suppose that makes sense. We have also discovered that kayak, our favorite search engine for flights, isn't necessarily that accurate abroad- sometimes foreign currencies aren't converted correctly, cheap flights are shown only on one day when in reality they exist on multiple days, and occasionally it gives you flights that simply don't exist. It's enough to make you want to spend your time creating an intricate gift wrapping design for your girlfriend's little sister's birthday present instead of planning the trip... isn't it Adam?

Yes, that is a squirrel climbing the side of a tree containing Pam's birthday present. He even has whiskers.

However, we have managed to buy some tickets, here's the plan going forward:

• Sep 23- go to NYC (Shoutout to John & Molli for hosting so we can get to JFK early the next day!)
• Sep 24- Fly to Hawaii!
• Sep 28- Fly to Samoa!
• Sep 29- Arrive in Samoa, because we'll cross the INTERNATIONAL DATELINE!!
• Oct 02- Fly to New Zealand! Explore the North Island
• Oct 13- Fly from Auckland to Christchurch, explore the South Island
• Oct 24- Fly to Melbourne, Australia!
• Oct 28- Fly to Bangkok, Thailand!

And that's as far as we've gotten. If you have any must-see or must-do advice for any of these places, or a friend we could meet up with (or even stay with!), please let us know!