New Zealand- Part 1

Hi Blogging Friends:

Ok, I fell off the map during my trip to New Zealand.  I had every intention of blogging every day but I could not get an internet connection from my room.  I was too exhausted to go to the internet cafe or to the hotel lobby, so, I took a week off.

I went to New Zealand knowing I would have fun, but with no other expectations. Wow... was I blown away!  This trip was truly a trip of a lifetime.  I can't begin to describe how beautiful it was.  My description would be Hawaii (the tropical flair), Alaska (with the mountains and glaciers) and Ireland (with the green) all rolled into one exotic location.  I can't believe that I was able to earn this trip for both Kent and myself.  I am so lucky to work for such an awesome company.

I am going to share my trip with you day by day!  Enjoy.

Day 1- San Francisco-

I met two of my downline and best friends, Casey and Chris in San Francisco.  We had a wonderful time, shopping and eating. 

Day 2- Christchurch
13 hour flight to New Zealand- then a flight from Auckland to Christchurch!  Thanks goodness for Simply Sleep!

Arrive Christchurch- Explore on our own.

Then a group tour, dinner and a show at Willowbank.  Check out our men doing the Hawka!

Check out Kent - isn't he fierce?

Day 3- Christchurch
Free time in Christchurch and then the Jet Boat Excursion.  I feel the need for speed!  SO FUN! (and beautiful)

After the ride- aren't we lovely?

Day 4- Christchurch

Off to the Sheep Farm!  This was one of my most memorable excursions.  I loved it!

After a day at the farm we were invited to a dinner for Executive Directors and above.  Close To My Heart treats us so good!

End of Part 1

I am out of town and working a 3 day crop this weekend.  I will finish the rest of my trip on Monday.  Stay tuned and thanks for reading!

If you are in Orange Beach this weekend, stop by Perdido Beach Resort and say Hello! I am working at Gigi's crop! You can even do some shopping if you like :)

Tina

Going to New Zealand... that was the plan!

BUSTED!  I am sure that I have confused all of my facebook friends with my previous posts.  They know part of this story if they were facebooking last night.

Before I tell my story, let me explain the previous post.  If you are not a blogger- you may not know this... but Blogger allows you to compose posts ahead of time and schedule them to go live at your convenience. I thought I was being smart, and composed the previous post a few days ago.  I was supposed to leave Pensacola at 5:20 this morning, that didn't happen.  Let me tell you my story...

Imagine this... it is Thursday afternoon, the afternoon before my trip to New Zealand.  I have piles of clothes, both Kent's and mine, all over the house.  5 suitcases (hey... 2 are carry on's) in the midle of the floor.  I just finished my Whataburger hamburger and  I decide to log onto Delta.com to check in.  Guess what... due to the snow storm, and the cold tempatures... my Friday morning flight was cancelled.  I call Delta.  It is too late to get  a flight out today.  There is nothing going out on Friday, so that leaves Saturday morning.  We are shceuled to leave San Franciso Saturday evening. Looking iffey (not sure if , ifey is a word, but just go with it).  I determined that I worked too hard this past year with CTMH, to chance missing my New Zealand Flight.

I call ed Kent at work, and ttold him to get home immediately.  (He works an hour away).  I throw  all the piles of clothes into  the closest of the 5 suitcases.  I call Avis.  I rent a car.  Kent gets home from work at around 3:30 p.m.  We put the suitcaes in the car and my dear friend Debbie drives us to Pensacola to get a rent a car.

We get the rent a car and start driving towards Atlanta, into the ice and snow.  It is now 5:30 p.m. 

I check my iphone and find out that Delta has rescheduled us once again, this time to leave out of Pensacola on Saturday morning.  We are about an hour into the drive.  I call Delta and am on hold.  We hit a no service part of the drive and the phone goes dead.  No service for an hour.  What to do... what to do...

Finally 2, hours into the drive, I get my cell signal back.  I call Delta.  The agent is not sure why they switched our flight without asking.  He puts us back on the Atlanta to San Francisco flight.  We keep driving.

At 11:30 p.m. we get to our hotel.  Since we have to be at the Atlanta airport at 6 a.m., Kent decides to return the rent a car Thrusay night.  The plan is for me  is to stay in the hotel and try to organize the items I threw in the suitcase. 

An hour later, Kent calls and the rent a car agency is closed.  20 minutes later he finds an after hour drop off  Whew!

He gets back to the hotel at 1:15. We fall into bed.  4 a.m. this morning our alarm goes off.  OMG!

We made it to the airport.  I found Casey, my superstar team member who also earned New Zealand.  For all my CTMH friends, we found Amy and Stan too!  They are on our flight.  Amy and I check out the Brigthon store at 7:30 a .m.  Life is good now. 

Kent and I were upgraded to first class.  Kent gave up his seat and Casey is sitting beside me as I blog.(gotta love wi fi in the sky)  Is it too early to have a glass of  wine?

Our next stop is San Francisco.  Oh I wonder what adventures await us there...

Time to take a nap....

Dreaming of New Zealand,

Tina

New Zealand here we come!

The day has finally arrived.  I have been pulling my hair out all week to get prepared for New Zealand.  The day is here and I am ready, excited and OUT THE DOOR.  My plane leaves at 5:20 a.m.!!!

New Zealand... here comes Close To My Heart.  Watch the blog for updates.

Thanks to all of my wonderful customers who have helped me achieve this goal! I appreciate you!