Travel interrupted! After an auspicious start to 2020, it all came crashing down with the arrival of the COVID-19. And of course, travel was just one aspect of people’s lives that came to a screeching halt early in the year.

Lesson learned – don’t take the freedom to travel for granted!

Oahu (Dec 2019-Jan 2020)

Thirty days in a beachfront condo with friends and travel companions, Steve and Marlene. Andrew and Gail (son and daughter-in-law) joined us for nine days over Christmas. Truly a tropical paradise!

Number of blog posts from Oahu: 3 (click here for links)

New Zealand (Feb-Mar 2020)

Fifty-one days – four days in the Auckland area followed by 47 days exploring the South Island. Our original plan was to max out our three month visitor visa, but the vacation was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Those 51 days, however, were magical, and we packed in as much as we could. But we’re not finished, and we plan to return when the time is right to resume our self-guided tour of this very special place.

Number of blog posts from New Zealand: 12 (click here for links)

Here’s a preview of some great scenery:

Original Itinerary

Our plan was to fly into Auckland and acclimate for a few days (which we did) before taking a quick flight to Christchurch and picking up our rental car. Our lodging stops for the South Island are shown on the map below.

The only change from our planned itinerary was that we only spent three nights in Nelson before flying back to Auckland for an overnight before continuing on to the U.S.

After finishing our travels on the South Island, we were scheduled to take the ferry to Wellington and begin our tour of the North Island as shown below.

To be continued at a later date . . .

Being stuck at home for the remaining nine months of the year motivated us to explore the great outdoors in our own back yard. We ran out of good weather before we exhausted our ‘to do’ list, which means that no matter what happens with the pandemic in 2021, we will have more new places to visit next spring and summer.

Number of blog posts from our Colorado 2020 excursions: 9 (click here for links)

A few favorite photos from summer and fall outings: