Well, here we are 2 years on from when we expected to be doing this trip !
Covid 19 hit and stopped everything and whilst it still looms large in all our lives, the world is somewhat back to normal and living with it and/or getting it. Despite all its disruptions, at least we are travelling internationally again — 1,118 days after starting our last tour — but I expect it could be a whole new experience.
One bonus for us is that we originally planned to do this trip over our usual 4 week timeframe. However, with our forced travel hiatus we decided to change the trip – for various reasons which will become apparent along the way – and we now have 6 weeks to see our sights.
Our first disruption though was with our flight over. Adrienne’s frequent flyer planning originally had us flying Sydney/Haneida (Japan)/New York and with a slim layover time in Japan we were to arrive in New York the same day we left Sydney. However, with Japan essentially closed to non-group tourists, our Sydney/Japan flight was cancelled and we were changed to a later departure time. Only problem was that this then had our Japan/New York flight leaving 6 hours before we arrived in Japan – and no onward alternative to be had !
Plan B came into play and we had a Sydney/ Los Angeles flight, a night stopover due to a late afternoon arrival, then a Los Angeles/New York flight the today – again arriving late in the day. So, it is really a few days of transiting between Sydney & New York before we finally hit the road next.
And away we go …… !