PV_Premier

I made a promise to myself that two things would happen before my first wedding anniversary:

1) that I would post the honeymoon trip report to FT
2) that we would have wedding photos printed and hung in the house

Alas, it is June 20, we are closing in on being married for 9 months, and neither of those things has happened.

Being that I am starting this thread today, you can clearly tell where my priorities lie between those two items...with #1 and not #2

We went back and forth about how we were going to spend our honeymoon. Initially we discussed Europe, then the Caribbean, then Patagonia. I mentioned in passing that I had always wanted to visit New Zealand for the trout fishing, but that I didn't feel that suggestion was honeymoon appropriate. Mrs. PV_ immediately disagreed and demanded that we find a way to spend our honeymoon there "doing Lord of the Rings things, and if you behave between now and then, maybe you can go fishing too". Sold.

Regrettably, we had both recently since started new jobs and our vacation time was limited. We decided on a two week trip, and I got to work on .bomb to put 300K+ FF miles and a strapped bank account to good use.

Not having booked a complex trip before I turned to FT for advice and was immediately disappointed to learn that space in NZ J from LAX/SFO/YVR/HNL to AKL was rare as a hen's tooth. I started poking around on the award calendar about 350 days in advance of our departure and learning the possible routings. Eventually I settled on the idea of transiting NRT to AKL, and attempting to find a way to transit HNL on the return, flying NZ J to and from AKL and either NH J or UA J from US to NRT. UA or US would have to do the lifting back from Hawaii to California.

The day after Thanksgiving in 2012, I booked the following in J:

LAX-NRT (NH 5 - 777-300ER)
NRT-AKL (NZ 90 - 767-300)
AKL-HNL (NZ 10 - 777-200)
2 day stopover
HNL-PHX (US125 - 757-200)
PHX-SMF (US265 - A319)

Mrs PV_, who until that point had never flown international long haul J, was floored to learn that 270,000 miles could take us to both NZ and Hawaii for our honeymoon. I told her that all that transcon mileage running had to pay off somehow, finally I think she may have started to believe me.

As time went along and I continued to read FT, I developed more refined knowledge of the award rules and routing options. Eventually I added a UAX flight from SMF to LAX, and changed our return flight to an open jaw at the stopover, and closing the open jaw with a cheap interisland flight with $. Our final routing was:

SMF-LAX UA6463 (CR700)
LAX-NRT NH5 (777-300ER)
NRT-AKL NZ90 (747-400)
9 days/8 nights
AKL-HNL NZ10 (777-200)
3 days/2 nights
HNL-ITO HA182 (717)
2 days/1 night
KOA-SFO UA1724 (757-300)
SFO-SMF UA5427 (E120)

Total cost:
270K UA miles + $160 tax + $256 for two interisland tickets HNL-ITO. All the flights were in J ("F" domestic) except for HA182 and UA5427.

The equipment change on NZ90 was a very nice wedding gift from Air NZ. With my *G status, we were able to secure seats in the nose of the 747! ^

For accommodations in New Zealand, we did what you just have to do -- Campervan! I secured a 2 berth "Venturer" from Britz AKL airport location for a cool $1700NZD for 9 days of use, unlimited miles.

In HNL, I turned to VBRO and found a nice studio apartment in Kailua for $130 a night (2 nights). In KOA, we spent our two nights at Vocano Village Lodge, a bit more of a spend at $270 a night, but it was the last night of our very active trip and we felt we deserved the luxury.

In total, we were out 270K UA miles and about $2500 in prepaid transport and accommodations for two weeks away. Not too shabby!

PV_Premier

Outbound travel

UA6463, September 30 2013
SMF-LAX
CRJ700
Seats 2C, 2D - regional domestic F
On time; 5:38am departure//7:10am arrival

Early morning at SMF, with a 5:38am departure and necessary document checks plus checking luggage, we arrived at 4:20am -- which meant leaving our house in the Sierra high foothills at about 3am -- ouch!. Our wedding was on Saturday, September 28 -- taking the 29th to get ready to leave rather than trying to travel was a clutch decision, being that I was coaching Mrs. PV_ through packing until almost 9pm on the 29th.

No surprises here, typical SkyWest CRJ700 F service with PDB and in air beverages. Nothing photo-worthy except for our pre-departure "passport" photos!





New TBIT *A Lounge - LAX

Mrs PV_, until this point, was a leisure traveler at best. The first time she flew in F was on a UA flight from ORD to SMF when I got upgraded (as a Gold ) and took her exit row seat. So, this was her 2nd time in an international *A premium lounge - the first being LH SEN lounge at IAD returning from my mom's funeral several weeks prior.

Myself, being a fairly more frequent INTL traveler, I was impressed -- the lounge is fresh, clean, modern and has very good quality and quantity of food and beverage offerings. The noodle bar is superb, and I really like the indoor/outdoor concept. Mrs PV_ was floored, which made the long layover in LAX completely worth it -- to see her enjoy the amenities like a shower and the bubbly for the first time. A few photos:











NH5 September 30, 2013
LAX-NRT
777-300ER
Seats 5D,5F* - staggered J
On time; 12:45pm departure//4:25pm +1 day

Mrs. PV_'s first flight in international business class and my first experience with an Asian carrier. After a long visit to the *A Lounge, we were eager to proceed with our trip.

One snafu on this flight, we selected 6E and 6G, a few hours into the flight Mrs PV_'s seat failed to return to the upright position. FAs as expected were exceptionally apologetic and quickly moved us to 7D and 7F, but this was mildly disappointing since we moved from the "mini-cabin" to the "not so mini-cabin". Besides the snafu, the flight was quite nice. The service was a little more "robotic" than I would expect, but it was attentive and adequate, and the FA call button was answered literally within 10 seconds of being pressed.



PDB champagne in plastic glasses tacky NH



Above: Mrs. PV_ ready for takeoff.



Above: NH Staggered J IFE, tray table pulls out from under the monitor, footwell for sleeping lie flat. Seat seemed narrow despite abundant storage space around the seat itself.



Above: Japenese appetizer course



Menu for NH5 (Japenese selections only...when in Rome...)



Seafood main dish



Dessert

Upon arrival to NRT, we made a 45 minute visit to the ANA lounge for a shower and a bowl of noodles before heading to our gate to fly to AKL. We needed to arrive at the gate early because of course, United was not able to issue us boarding passes for the NRT-AKL sector in SMF After obtaining BP we briefly visited the contract lounge near the departure gate. The lack of pictures from both the ANA and contract lounge tells you they were forgettable when compared to the *A TBIT lounge. By this point we were also transitioning into exceptionally tired zombie mode and taking photos was not a priority.

Getting the NZ boarding passes was a complete joke. I'm sure had we exited the transit area it would have been better, but at the gate there were no business class/*G priority lines to get BP, agents were visibly frustrated with the volume of transit passengers they had to deal with, and the process was slow. I was genuinely worried about being offloaded since the gate agents didn't show up until 75 minutes beforehand and it took us at least 30 minutes to get through the queue to get to the counter. NZ really could stand to clean up its act on this regard. Fortunately that debacle was quickly forgotten once boarding the flight.

NZ90 October 1, 2013
NRT-AKL
747-400
Seats 3A, 4A - Business Premier
On time; 7:00pm departure//9:45am arrival +1 day

Hands down, the best flight I have ever been on. Hard product, soft product, service, they nailed it. Boarding this flight re-energized me for a few hours after the sleepwalk through NRT airport/lounges.

Business class purser met us at the door and escorted us into our seats in the nose of the 744. She gave us an excellent overview of the IFE, how to use the seat, the services that would be offered on board, the menu, details of the flight route and duration and answered all questions we had. I really enjoyed her service as well as that of her partner. Having two FAs dedicated to the intimate and exclusive nose cabin really made the flight memorable, especially since they were so hospitable and friendly - in true NZ style!

Shortly after take off, dinner was served. Perhaps my favorite thing about this flight was not the food and wine list themselves, but the sweet set up in NZ BP that allows couples/traveling partners to dine together in the same seat, with a "visitors seat" and seatbelt on the ottoman of each BP suite, which are arranged in a reverse herringbone configuration.



enjoying a meal across the table from one another at FL390 en route to AKL



apparently i was hungry and neglected to take a photo of the appetizer and salad course before dominating it



braised lamb, smashed potatoes, green beans, and a little bit of Mrs PV_'s fish entree

four dinner options were offered along with a full appetizer and salad course, and a full dessert. i opted for the lamb dish, Mrs. PV_ had the fish offering. both were excellent, the presentation is simple but the flavor was quite good. as usual on NZ, the wine list was detailed and of very high quality offering options from all the main growing regions of New Zealand. we sampled pretty much everything on the list before bed, which put us back into our zombie state quite effectively.

about 2 1/2 hours into flight, and after having been awake for quite some time, it was time for a good night's sleep. until this point i have flown lie-flat business class on NH, UA, DL, AF and SN -- NZ's seat is hands down the best for sleeping in my opinion. the seat is exceptionally wide and comfortable, but the mattress pad is heavenly and makes all the difference compared to the other products i've sampled. after a short trip to the lav to freshen up and change into pajama pants, both Mrs. PV_ and i enjoyed 5-6 solid hours of sleep.

about 2 hours before arrival in AKL, a full breakfast was served including choice of two hot breakfast options, bakery items, cereal and yogurt bar, coffee and juice.

descent and arrival into AKL commenced shortly thereafter.



after landing and a brief taxi, we had finally arrived after about 32 hours of travel.

PV_Premier

New Zealand Travel

With only 9 days of time to travel in NZ, we decided to focus our trip on the central third of the North Island, from Auckland to Napier. The road network in this part of the country would allow us to travel quickly and easily between the areas we would visit and maximize our time actually doing things rather than driving and/or flying around.

Upon arrival to AKL we picked up our Britz twin berth Venturer Campervan, which is basically a Mercedes Sprinter converted into a camper:





This particular model has a combined shower/toilet, sink/microwave/minifridge in the kitchen area, adequate storage for two people, and the surround bench seat in the back converts into a bed slightly larger than a standard queen size.

Ritz Carlton? Absolutely not. But for about $175/day, we had both our transportation and our hotel room with a kitchen. Plus, there's just no other way to see NZ than doing it this way.

Our planned route left us in Auckland our first night for continued rest and recovery from the long air trip, then southward from there to the Rotorua region for a two night stay, another two nights in Taupo region, two nights in Napier/Hastings, and then returning to Auckland for the last night of the visit before continuing on to Honolulu.

For our first night in Auckland we decided to take the campervan on the ferry to Waiheke Island, a small somewhat populated island about 20 miles from AKL. After a stop at the grocery store, we arrived at the ferry terminal.



The ferry ride lasted about 45 minutes, during which we enjoyed a glass of wine.





Upon arrival we visited a highly recommended winery for dinner. Waiheke Island has a number of up-and-coming vineyards, but it's a fairly new boutique type wine region and most of the vines are still very young.





We enjoyed a nice view of the sunset over the city of Auckland then proceeded to a regional park to set up camp. When we awoke in the morning we found ourselves to be the only campers in the entire park, and found a beautiful isolated beach where we took a nice walk after breakfast.





Then it was time to proceed down the road, next destination, Rotorua region and the geothermal wonderland of central North Island

Rotorua Region

Our visit to Rotorua was focused on the geothermal activity in the area and the resulting beautiful scenery, plus some of the active/adventure opportunities like whitewater rafting, horseback riding, zipline courses, and the like. Among our first activities was a horseback riding trip, because Mrs. PV_ lives, sleeps, and breathes (but not eats!) horses. We selected a tour that operates horse tours as a side business to sheep farming and caters toward more experienced riders like Mrs. PV_. Me, I just hang the four-letter-word on. And this was a tough ride with big elevation changes and sweeping views. Before anyone gets wise, obviously the date stamps on these pictures are wrong. Programming cameras is neither myself nor Mrs. PV_'s core competency.













Later that afternoon we did a zipline tour of an amazing nature preserve forest. Most do not know that the central part of New Zealand has been heavily logged and replanted over the course of the last century. This forest is fully preserved in its native state, minus the zipline course. However, the company that runs it does play an integral part in the conservation and maintenance of the forest.








During our time in the Rotorua region we stayed at two very nice campgrounds adjacent to some of the lakes in the area.










Traveling from Rotorua towards Taupo, we took a day to admire some of the amazing geothermal formations in the region.












Arriving in Taupo late that evening and having done freedom camping for the previous three nights, we chose to spend this night at a holiday park for some of the amenities that were offered and to be able to plug into real electricity for a few hours Below was the view from our parking location, not too bad for a holiday park.



The following two days, we turned our attention to all things aquatic. Perhaps my favorite part of the trip was our amazing whitewater rafting day-long adventure on the Tongariro River. Though I don't have any pictures to share due to the intense nature of the trip (and our lack of a waterproof digital camera) I can certify this as a "must do" activity for those who travel to NZ's North Island. If you are interested in the name of the company we used, please send me a PM.

Well, it turns out I behaved myself, since Mrs. PV_ did end up OK'ing a short day of trout fishing. New Zealand trout fishing is the thing of legends. Clear water, picturesque streams, spooky fish, dry flies. Our trip did not disappoint. Here in California, and previously when I lived in Pennsylvania, 1-2 pound rainbows are the norm. In NZ, they run 4-6 pounds as "average" sized.









This was Mrs PV_'s first attempt at fly fishing and she caught on like an expert and loved it.

Alas, we were at this point well into the 2nd half of our time in NZ, and it was time to head down the road to the Hawke's Bay wine region near Napier & Hastings. Napier is a very interesting city which was completely changed by a major earthquake in 1931. A huge amount of land was gained and the layout of the city changed entirely. In the rebuilding process, Napier became a mecca for art deco design & architecture. The focus of our visit was to sample some of the world famous Hawke's Bay wineries. We hired a wine tour guide and had a marvelous day tasting at several well known, as well as boutique wineries in the region.







Along with wine, food is a big focus in Napier region and we had the opportunity to sample a couple of excellent restaurants. During our visit, we made our camp in a a beachfront freedom camping area adjacent to Cape Kidnappers Reserve.



Regrettably, we soon found ourselves racing the clock to get back to Auckland and our flight onward to Honolulu. We made a quick return journey to AKL, arriving at about 7:30pm. After some outrageously bad luck with finding a camp location, we said "forget it" and spent the night at the Holiday Inn near the airport, which was actually quite a fine property. We slept well and awoke the next morning ready to say a solemn goodbye to our campervan and head off to the airport for our flight to HNL.

PV_Premier

Return journey with stopover in Hawaii

NZ10 October 10, 2013
AKL-HNL
777-200
Seats 3A, 4A - Business Premier
On time; 11:00am departure//8:30pm arrival (-1 day)

The time had come for us to continue our journey to Hawaii. After checking in at AKL we made a brief visit to the Koru Lounge. It was adequate, on a level with the LH SEN Lounge at IAD, though more spacious.



A reasonable selection of food was offered along with drinks.

About 40 minutes before our scheduled departure we left the lounge and proceeded to our gate.



This flight was a daytime flight and shorter than the flight from NRT to AKL, so we spent most of it awake, enjoying the fine NZ service, drinks, and food. IFE on NZ was adequate with a reasonable selection of movies available, I watched one on the flight down from NRT before bed and another couple on the way up to HNL.

One meal was served on this flight and a pre-arrival snack. I selected the lamb pot pie and Mrs. PV_ opted for the chicken dish.

A salad and bakery items were offered before the meal





As you can see from the above picture we again enjoyed the opportunity to dine together in flight using the guest chair on the BP suite ottoman. It isn't spacious or super comfortable but it's a major product differentiation for couples traveling in business class.

Our flight arrived on time in HNL, after clearing CBP quickly, we picked up our rental car from National and drove across the mountains to our rented apartment in Kailua, near Kaneohe. After several work-related trips to Oahu the past 5 years and being forced to stay at conference hotels, I'm done with Waikiki forever; typically I would choose Haleiwa for a short visit, but I couldn't find a reasonable accommodation and I had never stayed in Kailua region. Our apartment was in a nice residential neighborhood and had a much more friendly feel than the cookie-cutter resorts of Waikiki, but not the same laid back feel of Haleiwa either. It was a nice change, and after 10 days in the campervan and on airplanes it was nice to spread out a bit.

We very much enjoyed our brief visit, spending most of our time at the beach and exploring several neighborhood restaurants.







Interestingly, in Kailua town we found an amazing creperie, called Crepes No Ka 'Oi. For a combined $20 we had by far our best breakfast of the honeymoon. This place is amazing, if you are ever in Kaneohe/Kaliua region, it's definitely worth a stop. It fills up fast, so be prepared to wait (it's worth it, I promise!).

HA162 October 11, 2013
HNL-ITO
Boeing 717
Seats I really don't remember, but they were tiny! -- Economy
Delayed 30 minutes; Departure 12:25p (Sched 11:55am)//Arrival 1:15pm (Sched 12:52pm)

In typical interisland terminal fashion, the security lines, check in, and boarding were all a mess. I had elected to change our trip at the last minute to include a stop at Volcanoes National Park. As some may remember, the federal government shutdown started while we were in NZ, and I arrived in HNL on October 9th to an email from our accommodation on the Big Island telling us the park was closed. So, the primary reason for our trip over there was gone, nonetheless our accommodations/interisland tickets were non-refundable and our return flight was from KOA, so we of course just went with the "flow" (cheesy lava joke?).

After the quick hop over to ITO, we grabbed lunch at an Asian fusion restaurant near the airport and then drove to the town of Volcano, which is where we were staying for our short visit (since we intended primarily to visit the park). We stayed at Volcano Village Lodge, an Emma Spencer Collection property, and it was lovely:







All of the rooms at VVL are stand-alone buildings which are connected by elevated walkways over the forest floor. The lodge is quite isolated and spartan in its offerings (no cable TV, limited phone service, etc.) but most people are not going to Volcano to watch TV and take conference calls.

Since the park was closed we had to repurpose our time on the Big Island. We spent some time visiting a few of the other area sights including South Point, the black and green sand beaches, and Kailua-Kona town center. In addition, our day of departure was the same day as the Ironman Triathlon, so there was no shortage of activity in Kailua-Kona for us to enjoy.











Our final evening in Kona, we enjoyed a sushi dinner at Shimaichi -- which is an amazing bargain for Kailua-Kona town. I cannot recommend this place highly enough for those visiting Kona, the prices are unheard of in Hawaii and the quality is superb. Of course, we had a redeye flight back that evening (on UA) and about halfway through our meal I received the dreaded phone call. "Hello, this is United Airlines with a flight status update...".

Our flight was tagged with a 3+ hour delay, fortunately we had a 4 hour layover in SFO before our puddle jump back to SMF. So, no worries. In typical UA fashion, this crept...and crept...and crept...

UA1724 October 12, 2013
KOA-SFO
757-300
Seats 3A, 3F - Domestic F Class
Delayed 4 hours 25 minutes; Departure 1:25am (Sched 9:00pm)//Arrival 8:45am (Sched 5:02am)

What a mess UA had on their hands at KOA on this particular night. Those here who know me understand I am by no means a UA apologist, and this return trip is really what turned me from "accepting of UA's merger issues" to one of the many 1Ks who has abandoned UA. Information was lacking except that the inbound had MX at SFO. Doing my own homework I could see that there were two F seats on DL via LAX, but the SD at KOA would not put us on them since we were "just on free tickets". Calls to 1K line garnered no further improvement in results. The DEN flight was oversold, so we could not switch to that, and I guess on this particular day there was no flight to LAX or it had already left when we got to the airport.

By the time we got boarded at KOA, it was late and we were both grumpy. The two kids screaming in the row in front of us the whole way back to SFO didn't help.

Despite the fact that we had a 4 hour connection in SFO, we were down to 15 minutes by the time we arrived. We arrived at gate 90, which as most will know is very close to the shuttle bus to the express gates in T1. Since we were in F with minimal carry on, we were off the plane and onto the shuttle bus in less than 5 minutes, and at T1 very quickly thereafter. We ran up the stairs and to the gate just in time to see them close the door on the E120 bound for SMF. At this point I checked UA.com -- in typical fashion they had closed the flight out 10 minutes early AND had not bothered to offload us. Demanding an SD, I relayed all this information to her, and she was apologetic and offered us $150 and SBY on the next flight. Everything to SMF was sold out until the next morning, so we said make it $200 and we'll drive. Coupled with the automated apology emails from UA we netted about $600 in ecerts out of this venture, so it could have been worse, but I was pretty PO'd they wouldn't put us on DL back in KOA.

After a 90 minute drive back to SMF, we swapped the rental car for our own at the airport and then drove the remaining 75 minutes back to our home.

New Zealand is a magical place, and we have already begun to plan our next trip back in December 2015-January 2016. My advice for travelers to NZ is that if possible, think about how much time you think you need to spend visiting the country and triple it. We could have stayed a month on the North Island and not gotten bored. On our next trip we will spend about 2-3 weeks on the South Island and then return to the North Island for 5 solid days of trout fishing with a friend we made while in Turangi.

Besides our delay on the return, the flights were excellent. Besides the brevity of our trip, my only regret is that the only volcano that Mrs. PV_ got to see while in Hawaii was this one in the Thai restaurant in Volcano village.




Well, time to jump on MPIX and get going on those wedding photos I guess......

FlyingDoctorwu

Congrats on the Wedding! looks to be a great trip...
FDW

deovrat

Congratulations sir, you have yourself a great routing

flyertalker00156

Excited to see some of NZ. Will be heading there in December, So would like to see some photos in advance to get excited about my trip!

hlee628

Great report PV_Premier. Doing the camper van trip looks awesome. Can you share some more details about it?

Specifically I'm interested in knowing if you're able to do the rental without getting an international drivers license (I have a California license as well) and how easy you found it to drive the car (both driving on the left, and the size of the vehicle).

I've never driven anything larger than a minivan, but this looks like a wonderful experience.

PV_Premier

Hi hlee628, I had no problems renting with only a US DL (also state of CA issued), as well as a copy of my passport. I took along a copy of my car insurance policy for good measure, but it wasn't required. A very reasonable insurance policy was offered at the time of rental (about $200 NZ for the full rental period, which also included a few other perks such as free picnic table/chairs, etc.) that we took advantage of.

Driving was initially a challenge, primarily due to the vehicle's size. In every day life I drive a MiniCooper, so adjusting from that to the size of this campervan was a challenge. But, after a couple of days I got the hang of it. Driving on the left wasn't that big a deal to get used to, though it is strange for a right turn to be the "dangerous turn".

The campervan did not have 4WD and as you get further back into the backroads sometimes things get a little bit sporty. I would not recommend taking it down a wet gravel or dirt track, but we took it on some roads that I was initially a little leery of and it did fine.

Smaller campervan models are offered, but for us this one was just the right size. The bed was large and comfortable enough for a good night's sleep, and the kitchen was adequate for preparing basic meals. The van also had a propane-powered BBQ that pulled out of the side, which we used frequently for grilling fish and other meats at dinner time. One challenge is the size of the potable water tank, on this model it was about 130 gallons, which sounds like a lot, but realistically if you are preparing meals and taking a quick shower each day, you really need to refill it daily. The Camping NZ app that I mention below has locations for sanitary dump stations and potable water refill stations (both are always free throughout NZ) and was an invaluable resource for us on the move. That being said, it's not always easy to find a place to refill potable water when you need it, so you have to think about that ahead of time a little bit. Of course when it comes to drinking water, we used bottled.

It is a camping experience, not a hotel experience, so you have to be willing to get by without the luxuries and it's hard to eat "fancy" with the spartan kitchen available for cooking. That being said, the beauty of camping in NZ is the fact that in many parks very nice campgounds are offered and we found it quite easy to find a place to stay for the night that was not only safe and quiet, but also beautiful.

Insider tip, if you end up taking a trip like this, bring an iPad and download the "Camping NZ" app from the App Store. It does cost about $15, but the information is invaluable. It has road maps of all the regions of NZ and all the camping areas that are available, both public/freedom campgrounds and holiday parks. This made it really easy for us to either plan a place to stay each night, or find something when it came time to anchor up for the evening.

Andriyko

Congratulations! And thank you for the excellent report.^

Bretteee

You sold me on New Zealand. I would like to stop over though in the Cook Islands.

I went crazy trying to figure out which city SMF is? I still can't find it.

I enjoyed your pictures. It makes it more interesting seeing real people in the reports.

Best of luck in your future together.

DiscoPapa

Great trip report. I'm sorry to hear about the passing of your mother shortly before your wedding, congrats on your wedding, and go Rays!

theshaun

Terrific report!!!!

thanks for sharing.

PV_Premier

SMF is Sacramento. We thought about booking the s/o in Rarotonga but the award available for RAR to LAX is impossible. Next trip we might stop there on the return and pay cash for a one way J ticket back to LAX.

Thanks everyone for the nice comments!

injian

Thank you for posting this TR. NZ looks to have a solid product.