Hello there. Welcome to our (first) retirement trip travel log. It looks like the internet access on this trip shouldn't be a problem therefore I should be able to post updates and pictures as we advance on our 42 day journey to the southern hemisphere. As you can see by the heading, we are going to three different places and within those places is a lot of variety. January and February there is the equivalent of July and August there although it won't make a difference in French Polynesia. Note, if you have read these pages before I was using the term Tahiti in the headings for both Tahiti and Bora Bora. For correctness, French Polynesia is the country made up of many groups of islands. Tahiti and Bora Bora are in the Society Islands group but there are many other groups. One is even called the Marquise group which was NOT renamed the Tartan group in 1988. Click here if you want more info

For as long as I can remember, I have always planned this kind of trip to be my first retirement trip. Such a long flight deserved at least a month there, and in the last 30 years, while working, it was hard to coordinate each other on vacation time for a couple of weeks. A month would have been impossible. When I found out that I was been offered early retirement in July this summer, the first thing I did was phone GoWay travel (an Australian Company) to get information on this trip of a lifetime. There happened to be a good price on airline tickets at that time so I booked them. Completely paid and non refundable, I had to make sure that my date of retirement would be at the latest December 31, 2009. On October 6th, I found out it was and I was relieved that my $8000 (for 9 flights) was not lost. Of course my employer has the right to change this date anytime before December 31st but I think they want to rid themselves of me in a hurry (let's call it budget constraints).

GoWay travel although based in Australia, runs out of Pacesetter Travel in Toronto and my agent Sunita Singh was very helpful (and patient) in setting up our itinerary. One of the factors was the 3 'free' flights inside Australia that Qantas offers as part of their airline ticket. I have always wanted to see Ayer's Rock since I read the book Walkabout in grade school so that had to be one of the stops. The Great Barrier Reef was also a must and of course Sydney. As we knew little about New Zealand, Sunita helped quite a bit there. The New Zealand portion is mostly self drive and really the only time we will have a car (except for the Blue Mountains near Sydney).

To end it all and to break up the flight coming back, French Polynesia was our choice. After 2 nights on the main island of Tahiti, we are off for the 'piece de resistance', a final 5 night 'rest' on an over water bungalow on the 'island' of Bora Bora. This destination was picked months before the release of the movie Couple's Retreat, so we are not going there because of the movie. This portion of the trip is the part where we spoil ourselves. It  belongs in the "you only live once" category. You can see the video of our hotel at the bottom of this page.

On our next big trip planned for June, I may write about my/our Bucket List which fortunately has a few items crossed off it already.

Anyway, to keep up with our travels, all you need to do is click on the the Icons or texts above. Not sure of where we are? Click on the travel log icon and we will let you know. The photo album will also be kept up-to-date frequently, internet willing.

Hope you enjoy our trip, I am sure we will.