The decision

I almost forgot to mention, we booked our flights to New Zealand on Friday after dinner. After a little more research, some flexibility and careful consideration we went with option 1. Sort of. Our original plan had us leaving on a Friday evening, arriving in Auckland on Sunday morning, then departing Auckland and arriving back in D.C. on a Sunday. We were able to save a few hundred dollars from Air New Zealand by shifting the entire trip back 2 days. Now we will fly on a Wednesday, arrive on Friday morning and return on a Friday. This actually works out better because it gives us a weekend to recouperate and try to get back on schedule, timewise. We didn't save as much as we would have with the longer flight but I know I feel a lot more confident about going so far without the extra time and layover involved. I think the longest flight I've been on so far in my life was close to 9 hours. We'll see how I handle 5 followed by 12 hours.

I finished working my way through the Lonely Planet guide I picked up and handed it off to Jake. It is kind of littered with Post-It flags but once he's done we're going to put together a do-able itinerary and make the rest of the necessary preparations. I. Can't. Wait!  Image from here.