Journey to Middle Earth

My love for Lord of the Rings has been on going. Ever since I was a kid, I was fascinated by the stories, the characters, and the beautiful scenery that was Middle Earth. I would joke with my friends that one of my bucket list items is to go to New Zealand..."i'll start at the shire...head over to Bree and grab a pint at the Prancing Pony...then stop by Rivendell...then Moria...and eventually make my way to Mordor to destroy the ring!" I would typically get good chuckle from the nearest person.

Surpassingly, that voyage is a real thing!

This trip was far from planned! I was supposed to head to New Mexico for an amazing Snowboarding event in April, sadly that trip was canceled 12 hours before i was supposed to leave....bummer right? So I went to work on those days where I should have been enjoying deep fresh POW and shredding up TAOS New Mexico, So that week I sat down and laid out my PTO days that my job, shockingly I had just a little over 16 days that I had to use up by the end of the year. This got me thinking, i've always wanted to go to New Zealand, and if I don't do it soon, I was afraid i'll never make it out there. Time flies faster than we can count and the last thing I want is to look back when i'm 60 years old and realized I missed out on enjoying a world that I never got to see, and a world that never got to see me.

While I was googling the best times to visit New Zealand, I stumbled upon The Red Carpet Tour Company. Digging into it more, I found out that itinerary I mentioned briefly was a real thing...well sort of. This company has a variety of tour activities based on the amount of time you have. Their 14 day adventure is far from boring, and everyone i've spoken to said 14 days is the bare minimum you should spend in NZ. You spend essentially a week in the North Island starting at Auckland, NZ, venture down to Wellington, NZ, take a ferry to the South Island starting at Nelson and make your way down to Queenstown the following week. So I was chatting with my Mom and we looked over the accommodations. Red Carpet takes care of all of the headaches of travel, transport to and from each destination, hotels, itinerary and so much more. So my Mom and I both agreed and booked our trip for December 2024! So from April to December we had a short window to book our flights and get ready for our trip.

This adventure was a true journey though Middle Earth. We started our venture in Auckland, NZ where we meet our tour guides, Julie, Sasha, Melissa and Josh. A family owned tour group that are so loving and accommodating to everyone on the trip. Our tour consisted of 60+ people who were all excellent so awesome to be around.

Our trip consisted of Hobbiton, Trollshaw Forest, Earabor / Mordor (which was cancelled by construction on the roads) Weta Unleashed, seeing the talented Daniel Reeves, kayaking down the Pelorus River where the famous Hobbit barrel ride scene was filmed, Edoras, Lake Town, and the breath taking Pelennor Fields.

Follow my journey through Middle Earth!