New Year's in Christchurch New Zealand

Did we say 32 hours? We meant 36 hours, miscalculated somewhere with the time zones.

There was also some Visa trouble that we ran into getting here but it worked out in the end. Probably not going to be the first time, but that is just how it goes.




We were able to get a lot of rest and after a little nap were ready to go out for the celebration. What an awesome time we had last night! We had a nice dinner then went to a pub/club. We met some new friends and went to see the fireworks. The fireworks were really cool and the drinking age in NZ is only eighteen, so to say that the revelers were roudy would be an understatement.

At Rockpool's we discovered the Teapot Shots. It's a drink mix of liquiors and juices served in a silver teapot with shot glasses. Every pot is a different mixture of your choosing. 36 hours of travel time, dinner, fireworks and 10 teapots later, we called it a night.

What a way to start 2010. Happy New Year!

We are still having a bit of trouble with the phone system but we will figure it out eventually.

32 Hours to New Zealand: the Scenic Route

Today is the big day. Left OKC at 9:18 this morning.

OKC-Denver with a 4 hour layover.
Denver-LAX with a 7 hour layover.
LAX-Sydney with a 4 hour layover.
Sydney to New Zealand on New Year's Eve, 3pm!!!

Currently we are in our LAX layover. Parker's cousin Todd picked us up and hour ago so we can get out of the airport for a few hours. We did not plan this ahead of time so it was a nice surprise that it worked out. Thanks, Todd!

We are so excited!

Thank You

We have so many things to be thankful for and so many people to thank. First, we would like to thank all of our family for always supporting us and encouraging us to follow our dreams. Because no matter where we may be in this world and what we are doing, there is nothing more important than knowing you have family to come home to.

And to all of wonderful friends. You too are our family.

Thank Yous:

Mom Kat, Grandpa L.H. and Grandma Imogene, Uncle Steve and Aunt Cyndi, Mom Estrella and Ron for our NomadTravel Insurance (to keep us kiddos protected while we are away).

Doug and Katy Zalkovsky for our awesome Flip Video Camera.

Lisa Calliham for taking our sweet cat Faith.

Jason and Melissa James for the awesome headlamp and meeting us in our most anticipated destination, the Himilayas.

Jack Magullian: an old friend from the Appalachian Trail who lives in New Zealand and has been giving us invaluable advice about the first leg of our trip.

Martin + Osa and Z'Tejas for being awesome and supportive employers.

Steve Dudley (aka Catfish) for helping us pack up in Austin.

Our Blog Followers we appreciate you signing up and for the comments. It feels great to be connected to family and friends back home!

Todd Benton for saving us from our 7.5 hour lay over in LAX.

Kerri and Shane for the whirlwind tour of Christchurch!

Paul, Catherine and Iona Brimecome for allowing us to stay in there beautiful cottage in Te Anau. We will never forget your kindness and generousity. We highly recommend this home away from home when you visit NZ: http://www.mycottage.co.nz/

Bryce Curran and Germaine: our new friends from Christchurch and our tramping doctor and nurse! Thank you for your hospitality. It feels good to know that we have a friends on the South Island keeping an eye on us!

Brooke Bohannon for welcoming us to Palmerston North and for Mexican Night!

Damian and Jan Bathersby, the two coolest people in Moololaba, Australia. Thank you for sharing Moololaba and Dodgy Thai!

Perry letting us stay in your home in Airlie Beach. It was a vacation in our vacation. You are a gem!

Sweetest Poem from my Sister

Sisters

Know that you will be deeply missed

and often I shall think of you

though we might be separated

by vast oceans so blue

I will hold dear

to all the memories of us

laughing joking and getting along

or yelling, fighting and causing a fuss

A beautiful women

you have grown to be

It has been a pleasure of mine

to have you blossom beside me

So on those dark lonely days

when my heart is breaking and missing you

I shall dig into my treasure box of memories

and chase away my blues

I will sit back and close my eyes

and flip back to snapshots of our past

of moments that binds us as sister

precious times that will always last

I'll hold them close

I'll hold them dear

and with a shaky smile

I'll let them dry my tears

Cause I know no matter how far you are

or where on this earth of ours you will be

you'll always be in my heart

with me on your mind, loving me.

White Christmas/Blizzard

A white Christmas in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Actually we had a blizzard on the 24th and Oklahoma declared, a State of Emergency. Woke up to 2 feet of snow.

Parker and I took the opportunity to use the weather to test out our gear. We geared up, threw on our packs and walked the 3 miles to my sisters house. It was pretty tricky with the ice but enjoyed the exercise. Only one person asked us if we needed a ride. He looked confused when we told him we were just out for a walk. The rest of the vehicles waved but could not figure our what we were doing out there. We feel pretty good about our gear.

Christmas lunch dragged on all day and into the night. We had a snowball fight, played dress up, played jenga and had a High School Musical DDR dance off!

We are so sad to have missed Christmas with the Richardsons in Dallas today due to the road conditions. We will miss you and love you!

Contact Us

www.nomadrichardsons@gmail.com

Real Time Tracking and Continuous Journey

Just click the link below to see where we are and where we have been for the last seven days!



Where in the world are Parker and Celeste?

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Family and Friends! What a year this has been. Parker and I have so much to be thankful for. I have an amazing husband, great family, wonderful friends and an adventure of a lifetime in 4 days. We are so blessed!

Tough Time Packing for Two Years

Parker has been packed for four months. He can throw his pack on right now and he is set for Bali or the Himalayas.

I pack and unpack once a day. My gear is pretty much done but my clothing bag is another story. Can you blame me? How does a girl pack for two years? Sure I can and will purchase clothing along the way. I just want to take all my favorites but there is simply no more room in my pack. The problem is we are packing for a vacation and expeditions. Not only that but we have to pack for every season. I have to carry the right gear and all the food and water I need. Which leaves no room for all the fun stuff like cute clothes, fun shoes, make-up, books, etc.!

I have 5 days to figure it out!

About the Richardsons

Parker and I met 10 years ago. Together we discovered our love for the outdoors. We are hikers, mountain climbers, runners, bikers, paddlers and fisherman (Parker, not for me). Every free moment we have together is spent outside playing or inside planning for our next adventure.
Our love for the outdoors led us to the Appalachian Trail in 2004. We hiked from Georgia to Maine (2,174.1 miles), through 14 states, for 5 months and 11 days. Parker proposed shortly after our hike, on our five year anniversary. We tied the knot in 2005.
Before having kids we knew we wanted to take "one more trip". Five years later, "one last trip" turned into a two year adventure around the world. For 10 years we have been dreaming of traveling the world together. We are living our dream!


Celeste the Dreamer
I am a sister and an auntie to two amazing girls, a chronic runner and marathon coach, a bookworm, a dancing diva, a lover of photography, an addict to mangoes and all things yummy, a Pisces who lives in a dream world and a very lucky girl who met her match and soulmate at 20.

Parker the Planner
Parker is a brother and great uncle, a storyteller if there ever was one, a map fanatic, a kayaker at heart and fisherman looking for his biggest catch! I am the dreamer who reads about all these amazing places in the world and Parker is the planner. Simply put, he gets us there. He crunches numbers, researches gear, makes custom maps and has now added visa requirments to his list.

How We Prepared for our Trip

Where do I begin. We get asked everyday about the logistics in planning for a trip like this. It is mind boggling. It has been absolutely stressful but of course worth all the effort.

The hardest part is deciding to go. The easiest part is choosing where to go and spending all your hard earned money! We have been dreaming about this for 10 years but it took years for us to decide to go for it. This is an example of our conversation the last couple of years: it wouldn't be responsible, this isn't realistic, we have to start all over again, what about our careers, we need to have kids, the economy is bad and we need our jobs, on and on. But we finally agreed that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and this is the best time for us see the world together.

After you decide, you must learn to love checklists and execute. Everyone's trip is different but this is a list off all the things we have been doing the past year to get to this point. Each item noted is it's own checklist.

This list does not include trip research, visa research, and making our best guess on a budget.

1. For 5 years we have conciously stayed out of debt and saved.
2. One year before departure:
---- started buying our gear and testing it
---- started selling, donating and tossing our junk
---- visited our dentists and told them our plans
---- visited our doctors and told them our plans
---- update our travel documents/passports
3. Six months before departure:
---- visited our travel doctor
---- decided on and started our vaccinations (13)
---- started trial runs of Malaria Pills
---- started consolidating our banking and make everything electronic
4. Two months before:
----hired a CPA for taxes
----forwarded our mail
----tracked down and notified all our services
----updated contacts
5. 0ne month before:
----stored the Jeep on blocks in AL. and stored the red hot honda in OK.
----Finalized travel insurance
----tracked down and canceled all our services and maded sure we are cleared
(rent, phones, internet, insurance, tolls, library, dentist, doctors, etc)
----Decide on 401ks and Investments
----consolidate debit cards, credit cards and all accounts
----called our bank about our plans(have to call every 3 months to update)
6. Consolidated our two bedroom town home and a garage full of gear into a 5x10 storage unit. Payed up to one year.
7. Drove over 3,500 miles in 48 days around the country and visit all of our family and friends.

We'll this is all I can think of right now. The easiest way around this would be to find a lot of money, keep your house and hire a sitter, don't do anything too active so you won't need gear and hire a porter to carry your luggage around the world!

Itinerary

Come meet us! We only have a few dates that are set. So if you want to meet us somewhere, email us and we can try to set a time frame. We are planned but very flexible travelers. I will update this post as soon as we have more concrete dates!

www.nomadrichardsons@gmail.com

2010: South Pacific/S.E.A. Islands Hopping/Nepal
January: New Zealand
February: New Zealand
March: New Zealand
April: New Zealand
May: New Zealand/Australia: Aukland to Sydney, May 7th (booked)
June: Australia/Philippines: Cairns to Manila, Philippines June 5th (booked)
---- Philippines June 13th for our Hometown Fiesta
----Who might be meeting up with us: Mom Estrella, Sister, Amanda, Brad, Eric W.
July: Philippines/Bali/Singapore
August: Philippines (Camiguin Island for Diving)
September: Philippine (Siargao Island for Surfing)
October. Nepal
----Everest Basecamp Trek
----Meeting us for sure: Jason and Melissa James!
November: Nepal
December: Nepal

2011: S.E.A. Mainland/Africa/Europe/South America/Central America
January: Thailand for New Year's Eve!
----Full Moon Party on Kho Phangan Island on Dec. 31, 2010
----Who might meet us: Everyone!
February Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodian and Laos
March: Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos
April: Kenya/Amsterdam
----Kilimanjaro and Safari
----April 30th: Queens Day in Amsterdam
May: Tour Europe
June: /France/Spain
July: Spain
----July 7-14 Running of the Bulls
----Who might be meeting us: Everyone!
August: Spain
----Pilgrimage to Santiago
September: Peru
October: South America
November: Central America
December: HOME

Trip Bits

Updated April 8, 2010
Location: Bay of Islands, New Zealand

Days Traveling: 147 days
Preparation:

Numbers of vaccinations so far: 12
Shots needed: Yellow Fever

Visas: 2 (New Zealand and Australia)

Transportation:

Plane Rides: 4

Bus Rides and Shuttles: 6
Train Rides:

Vehicles purchased: 1 (1982 honda Civic, NZ)

Miles driven in the US: 3,500

Cities visited: Montgomery, Maryville , GulfShores, Dallas, Shawnee, OKC.
Christchurch, Wellington

Number of Pictures taken:

Price of Coca-Cola: