One week to go!

 The final week of countdown has begun.  It is just 7 days until we leave Auckland, heading for Houston with the (meantime) end destination of Denver in our sights.  We have about 2 weeks on the mainland of USA and will finish off with a celebratory week in Hawaii before heading home again.  Far too short of course but needs must!

Firstly our planned trip in Colorado, USA, is easy to see in this map. We plan a stay in Denver followed by a round trip through Colorado and Utah, back to Denver.  It is the first time that I have visited Utah.  In previous trips we have traveled south to New Mexico and North to Wyoming and beyond, so Westward it is, this time!

 

The expected temperatures make my heart sing although my niece tells me that there have been thunderstorms in the evenings which is easy to understand as heat forces the water into the atmosphere. Next Wednesday's high of 35 degrees in Denver will have dropped by the time we arrive late evening but 20 will still be a welcome change from our frosty mornings and snowstorms passing through the central North Island here in New Zealand. When summer moves into fall, the temperatures may drop a little but as a lover of hot weather, I am not bothered as I anticipate the warmth.  Maybe I will be in a week or two!

I have been using a Vacation Countdown app developed by Kulana Media to remind me of the days to go until we leave on an AirNZ flight to Houston.  Last time I went to Houston was on a flight that I won from AirNZ (thank you again to them!) and we traveled on to Louisiana and New Orleans.  It was a real treat!  

I won the return flights for two by using Twitter to highlight Air New Zealand's two new destinations - Houston and Buenos Aires.  Flights to Buenos Aires have not resumed since Covid but luckily, the Houston destination has resumed, and from Houston, Air New Zealand was able to provide the final part of our journey through their Star Alliance partnership with United Airlines.  UA run a direct flight to Denver which will make the trip straightforward for us.

The first leg to Houston is scheduled to take 13 hours and 45 minutes, so I have put in a bid for a skycouch upgrade.  My husband has also put in a bid using our airpoints.  We haven't ever been upgraded before so it would be very exciting to be successful.  I will let you know how we go!

Onwards and upwards!