Tales from the South Pacific, July 13-29, 2011 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
PassPorter.com
Award-winning travel guidebooks

   guidebooks   |   news   |   podcasts   |   boards   |   blog   |   worksheets   |   photos   |   articles   |   updates   |   register   |   follow us on


Forums Closed
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.

So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.

Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.

And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.

We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm​. You made it all happen.

There are other changes as well.

Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:

We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.

It's time to move on and move forward.

PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.

But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.

So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.

And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.

That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!

If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.

So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!

Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!

Go Back   PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums > PassPorter Universe: General Trip Planning and Discussion > Globetrotting: General Trip Reports
Register


Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.

To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.

If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.

 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Prev Previous Post   Next Post Next
Old 06-23-2012, 05:47 PM   #1
LLaffinPlace
Community Rank: Globetrotter
 
LLaffinPlace's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: North Alabama
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 3,430

Post Thanks / Like
Tales from the South Pacific, July 13-29, 2011

Tales from the South Pacific, July 13-29, 2011


Note: Our trip was reversed from what this shows.

Travelers

Larry, last seen outside of WDW in “Athens and the Islands
Sue, also last seen with Larry in "Athens and the Islands

Itinerary

I’m going to omit tagging the day numbers because I crossed the International Date Line a couple of times and it just gets confusing!
  • Travel from Alabama to Richmond, VA (Larry only)
  • Travel from Richmond, VA to Nadi, Fiji (cross the International Date Line and the Equator))
  • Fiji
  • Fiji
  • Fiji, Travel from Fiji to Rotorua, New Zealand
  • Rotorua
  • Rotorua, Travel from Rotorua to Auckland
  • Auckland, Travel from Auckland to Sydney, Australia
  • Sydney
  • Sydney
  • Sydney, Travel from Sydney to Honolulu, Hawai’i (cross the International Date Line and the Equator)
  • Honolulu
  • Honolulu, Travel from Honolulu to Richmond, VA
  • Travel from Richmond to Alabama (Larry only)

Background

How did this trip come about?
The organizers of the Athens trip also organized this one through EF Tours. I believe I mentioned in the Greece and Turkey Trip Report that Sue and I had decided to take this trip.

What kind of trip was this?
This was an educational trip, with adults, families, and school-age kids (primarily middle school and high school). There were several groups put together; the other groups were from Texas. It was a good crowd and plenty of fun was had by all.

Well, welcome to yet another wonderful trip. Yes, I traveled from the very hot Summer in Alabama to the tropics and then to the Southern Hemisphere where it was Winter, and then to Hawai'i. The challenge for this trip was that I was limited to one bag and a carryon, and I had to pack for tropical as well as cold weather. The solution was definitely layers and shirts with sleeves that rolled up.

There were many things to see and do, lovely and lively scenery, and while it was certainly a whirlwind tour, I feel I got a flavor of the places we visited. I am careful not to say that I “know” New Zealand or Australia, because that’s like saying you visited New York City and now “know” the United States.

There was an amazing amount of travel required (this actually omits the field trip to the Blue Mountains in Australia) (in miles):
  • Huntsville, AL to Atlanta, GA 142.8
  • Atlanta, GA to Richmond, VA 469.6
  • Richmond, VA to Dallas, TX 1140.7
  • Dallas, TX to Los Angeles, CA 1240.1
  • Los Angeles, CA to Nadi, Fiji 5533.8
  • Nadi, Fiji to Auckland, New Zealand 1322.8
  • Auckland, New Zealand to Rotorua, New Zealand 120.3
  • Rotorua, New Zealand to Auckland, New Zealand 120.3
  • Auckland, New Zealand to Sydney, Australia 1342.0
  • Sydney, Australia to Honolulu, HI 5064.0
  • Honolulu, HI to Dallas, TX 3795.4
  • Dallas, TX to Richmond, VA 1140.7
  • Richmond, VA to Atlanta, GA 469.6
  • Atlanta, GA to Huntsville, AL 142.8
Roundtrip from Alabama 22,044.9 miles!

By the time I returned I certainly did not want to see the inside of a plane for a while!

I crossed both the Equator and the International Date Line for the first time on this trip.

Coming Up: Time to GO!
__________________
"&Larry"


A beautiful day in the neighborhood!
My Previous Trips5/18 - WL CC (1srpt stay); 12/17 - WL CCV (1st stay); 4/17 - OKW (1st stay), VGF; 4/16 - BLT, PVR BBB; 11/15 - F&W, AKV, VWL; 3/15 - F&G, BLT; 12/14 - B&S, AKV; 10/14 - CR Garden Wing; 10/13 - F&W, BCV, SSR [1st stay]; 5/13 - Bob and Cam's Retirement, BWV; 12/12 - Holiday Reunion, BLT; 4/12 - Bob's 65th Birthday Bash, BLT, AKV Club Level [1st stay]; 12/11 - BCF Reunion VWL, BLT [1st GV stay]; 9/11 - Labor Day BCV; 4/11 - VWL [NATREC]; 4/11 - AKV; 10/10 - Epcot F&W Fest BLT [1st stay], VWL [1st stay]; 9/10 - Labor Day BWV; 5/10 - Memorial Day AKV Kidani Village; 12/09 - Sousefest AKV Jambo House; 09/09 - BWV [1st DVC stay!]; 05/09 - PP DoD CR GW and MK View; 12/08 - Mousefest YC Club Level; 4/08 - BWI, POFQ; 4/07-5/07 - WL, Poly MK View; 4/06 - WL OFC; 1/06-2/06 - AKL; 4/05 - BC, POR; 2/04 - AKL; 4/03 - POR; 2/02 - WL, CBR; 1/01 - DxL; 4/00 - DxL, WL; 12/95 - CBR; 11/85 - Offsite; 8/74 - Royal Inn; 6/73 - Offsite; 4/73 - Offsite

Last edited by LLaffinPlace; 06-24-2012 at 01:03 PM..
LLaffinPlace is offline  
 
Reply With Quote
 




Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump














Please login or register to hide these ads -- it's free and easy!

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:05 AM.

-->

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Feedback Buttons provided by Advanced Post Thanks / Like v3.4.0 Patch Level 1 (Pro) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
(c) 1998-2017 PassPorter Travel Press/MediaMarx, Inc.
Celebrating 19 Years of Making Dreams Come True
Ad Management plugin by RedTyger