Time to Save!

So the last few days have me planning my post-Disney travel.. I've been going back and forth on a few ideas for a while, but I think I've finally settled on a plan:

My program finishes on the 6th January, so I am planning on doing two Contiki tours. The LA Explorer starting on 8th January, and then the Western Highlights tour which starts immediately after, on January 11th - 18th. I'm so excited about doing these tours because they visit some places that I have been dying to see for ages! Especially Hollywood, Vegas and Route 66. Contiki was also the best option for me since I'll be travelling alone - although hopefully I'll meet people at Disney who are keen to join me!

So now it's just a matter of booking them and paying them off. I think I'm going to wait for about a month, so then I can change my return flights at the same time (January 2012 flights should be out by then!). Ah so now the intense saving has to begin. I want to pay the Contiki tours off before I leave for Orlando in July, so thats just over $2000 I have to be able to save (and hopefully I'll be able to save spending money while I'm out at Disney - I'll have to be veeerrryy wise with my paychecks haha)..

Argh it sounds so daunting - I've never been the best at saving! But I know it will be SO worth it come next January, so I'll just have to keep reminding myself that every time I go to buy food, or shoes or clothes that I really DON'T need!!!

July can't get here fast enough!!

xx

Flights!

So, today it is official! I have my flights booked and paid for in full!

It still seems like July is forever away. But I wanted to book flights early because they just keep going up in price, and the cheaper the better.

So it took us a while to find a flight that we were all happy with, but we finally did. So me and Ashley are flying together from Auckland to LA with Qantas on Tuesday July 12th, departing at 1:05pm and arriving at 6:30am. Then we have a 15hour layover at LAX (ugh), where we will meet up with Keri, who is flying in from Australia.

We then fly out of LAX at 10:35pm, arriving at Orlando at 6:18am on Wednesday 13th July. I think we are going to be staying at Disney's Pop Century resort for the 3 nights before we go check-in at Disney, but we haven't booked our room yet. Thursday and Friday (the 14th and 15th) are going to be spent at Universal Studios and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, meeting up with Karina and Ariesha and whoever else wants to join us!

I'm so excited! It feels a little bit more real now :) I can't wait until I have the flights in my hand and the visa in my passport!

A 15 hour layover at LAX airport is not ideal. But Ashley has an aunt in LA that might be able to take us somewhere. I'm also looking around to see what people suggest for long layover in LAX. Hopefully there might be a hop-on hop-off tour we can jump on. It all depends on what time Keri arrives in LA and what time we have to be back at the Airport for check-in and stuff.

I still haven't heard anything from Disney or STB, but I've flicked them an email just to make sure they aren't waiting on anything from me, so we'll see what they say.

182 days to go :D

Until next time,

xx

190 Days :)

So, it's officially 190 days until my program starts. If this year is anything like last, the time is just going to FLY by so fast!

I've started thinking about all the things I need to get organised before I leave. There's so much stuff I need to buy or do before I go. My saving has been going backwards over the last few weeks, so my first priority is to get that back on track in order to pay for all the things I need to buy before I leave. Some of the majors are

- Insurance!!

- New glasses

- A huge supply of contact lenses

- Another battery for my camera

- "Professional Clothes"

- Adapters/ Voltage Converters

But the list is much, much bigger than that!

First up, however, is flights! And that is the biggest cost - probably going to take up all my savings I have at the moment. Monday is my next day off from work, and I'm planning on visiting a bunch of travel stores (Air New Zealand, STA, Flight Centre and Student Flights) to get quotes on the flight me and the other girls want to take to Orlando. Once we get quotes, I think we are all going to book the same flight.

I still really want to book the Air NZ flight on Tuesday 12th July, so I'm hoping that the other girls want that flight as well. Fingers crossed that I can get a good deal for us :)

Until next time,

xx