Confirming travel plans from a stranger

Holiday travel can be a fun or stressful time, depending on who you are.

I’ll be traveling during Christmas time and while this trip to Calí, Colombia* is my next upcoming travel, Bryce and I have been more focused on another trip coming up at the end of January.

This one is a trip to New Zealand!

We’ll have just under three weeks in the Oceania country and I couldn’t be more excited. We have a lot of ideas about what we want to do but so far we have the flights booked, the first three nights of lodging booked and a trail race registered for. (As trail runners, we have our priorities, right? And, yes, I will most likely have to walk the whole thing since I’m currently injured).

Anyway, the other day the two of us were working at a coffee shop and two older couples took seats at the empty table next to us. From what I could overhear, it sounded like old friends catching up. Then one woman asked the other one how their trip to New Zealand was. The other one emphatically started describing how it was weird getting used to driving on the opposite side of the road.

I really had a lot of work to get done and needed to focus so I put my headphones in to tune out all the other noise, including this woman’s New Zealand recap. But, yes, I really wanted to hear more about this couple’s trip!

Every so often, Bryce would nudge me and I’d remove my headphones to hear what the traveling couple was talking about next.

“… and then we were digging with our shovels to find the hot water!”

“… and, oh, the glow worm caves were so cool!”

These two were describing exact locations we have been eyeing to explore.

“Let me know if they start talking about anything we haven’t heard of,” I whispered to Bryce across the table. He didn’t have headphones on so he was the unofficial official eavesdropper for the afternoon.

In the end, the couple hadn’t mentioned anything we weren’t aware of, but it made me relieved that their travel itinerary were all places and activities we were considering.

It’s normal to base your New Zealand travel plans after complete strangers, right? I mean, it’s kind of like basing your plans off of travel books or Google, anyway!

I guess we better get officially planning!

*In by no means am I not excited for my trip to Colombia. I have never been to South America. The difference is that this trip is to visit family so it’s a bit different from being in control of all your time 🙂