Australia and New Zealand
How long to stay
When traveling to these two amazing counties, do the research, either on your own or with a travel agent on where you want to go and what is a must versus a nice to see. We spent 2.5 weeks and that was clearly not enough time. George and Carol spent 45 days and still didn’t see everything. We chose to travel on a Viking Ocean cruise with a 3 day Airbnb rental in Cairns to spend time at the Great Barrier Reef. This is how it was split, not including 4 days at sea and 3 days on flights:

• New Zealand – 7 days
• Tasmania – 1 day
• Australia – 5 days

George and Carol’s itinerary

• New Zealand – 15 days
• Tasmania – 1 day
• Australia – 26 days

What to see
You can read the blog posts to see what we did in the various countries and cities. I wish we’d spent more time in New Zealand and Tasmania. Here are some of George and Carol’s additions for other ideas:

• New Zealand – Milford Sound Fly, Cruise Fly,  Te Anua Glowworm Caves,
• Australia – Ayers Rock, Jabaru, Darwin

Thailand – the land of a thousand smiles
We chose an Iconic Thailand tour to ensure we saw the whole country and experienced the culture and not just the tourist destinations.  Many people choose to visit Vietnam, Cambodia and/or Laos when going to Southeast Asia countries, but the only stop in Thailand is Bangkok, and that just isn’t enough.

What to pack
Were were given an extensive list of things to pack, including some HEAVY DUTY mosquito repellent – Sawyer Permethrin was a godsend.  This site has some good tips.

Must Dos
The blog addresses what we did, and I’d recommend all of it. Here are some additional tips of things to either not miss, or try to schedule your trip around:

• Chiang Mai – Loy Krathong lantern festival (October/November)
• Elephants – don’t ride an elephant, but instead find an elephant sanctuary where they have rescued elephants.
• Eat everything – the food in Thailand is amazing, and everything we ate was delicious.
• Khao Sok – spend the night in the National Park. The people, cliffs, and the story of this beautiful place is sad, but
• Grande Palace in Bangkok – enjoy the splendor of the beautiful Grande Palace.