Off tomorrow to Wellington, to drop off car to Estelle and Aaron, and spend 2 nights with them. Then leave Sunday for Kuala Lumpur via Auckland. We have 4 nights there, then on to London. About a month there then Rome and Naples. back to London for Dominic's graduation. Then  a week in Copenhagen, then a few more days in London. Then Barcelona for a few days, then a month in the south of France. After that we have 6 nights in Paris. From there we fly to Japan for  a week there before returning to Auckland in early June.
Phew! That's 4 house exchanges plus several cheapish hotels, numerous flights, some cheap ones among them. Watch this space.

We are off on another traveling adventure next month! First stop is Kuala Lumpur, a city we have not visited yet, where we will spend 4 nights. Then we go on to London. We have a house exchange there which will make the whole trip affordable. Not looking forward to the UK in winter, although there will be lots to see and do as well as catching up with our younger daughter and son. After a month there, we go over to Italy for 8 days, spending our time between Rome and Naples. We will look at ancient Roman ruins, and sample Italian food and wine. Then we go back to London and another house exchange. At Easter, we will go to the graduation ceremony of our son, which is the main justification for the whole trip. After that we may have a trip to Copenhagen for 4 or 5 days, if our our home exchange arrangements come through there.  Then we fly down to Barcelona for 4 nights. Barcelona is one Spanish city we missed out on seeing before, we are looking forward to seeing the Gaudi architecture, and Catalan food!

 After Barcelona we move on to southern France, where we have another home exchange organized.  These home exchanges will make the whole trip much more affordable. We have about 1 month there soaking the up the French ambiance in a small town environment. Then we go to Paris for 6 nights. This trip will include side trips to Monet's garden and Versailles among other places.

Finally, we fly to Japan, where we will spend 8 days exploring the big smoke of Tokyo and catching up with friends in Tokyo and Osaka. Then back to NZ in the middle of winter.

We'll try to keep you posted.