Two Days till New Zealand

       My favourite Bronté once said, "I’m wearying to escape into that glorious world, and to be always there." Well glorious world, here I come. 

       This is the post where my photoblog also becomes my travel blog. I fly out of the Tampa International Airport in a little over 40 hours to the south island of my favourite country in the entire world, New Zealand. I am doing this for love, adventure, escape and, if I'm being honest, I am also 'going home'. I grew up in airports and I thrive off the hustle & bustle, the people, the movement, the dry, cold air of a cabin 30,000 ft in the air. It thrills me much like jumping off a 60 foot waterfall. But it also is home. I just watched Up in the Air for the first time ever and I really cannot believe it took me this long to see this movie. There's a point where George Clooney, who is playing Ryan Bingham, reaches 10 million flight miles and he is in the middle of a flight and the captain walks out of the cockpit and sits next to him. The captain asks him, "So where are you from?" Ryan pauses, smiles to himself and answers, "I'm from here." That is the story of my life. The sunrises over oceans of clouds on a 14 hour flight across the pacific ocean, my ears popping at take off and landing, the ping! of the seatbelt sign coming on, the cool, dry hum of the pressurized air like a lullaby as I watch a movie from my little tv that pops out of my arm rest, or as I draw or write or sleep (which rarely happens). This is home. It's the in between that is where I feel I belong, 
       With that said, I am flying out in just over 40 hours to the south island of New Zealand for 7 weeks to the arms of my best friend and fiancé, Josh, friends old and new, and to a thousand new adventures waiting to unfold. In this photo/travel blog I will be recounting in both words and photographs my adventures through airports, flights and customs and our experiences as we travel around the south island of New Zealand, so come along for the ride :)

Cypress Preserve, Florida. December 2009.

Lake Tekapo, NZ. July 2008.

Sumner Beach, NZ. June 2008.

Do not let a moment go by that doesn't remind you that your heart beats 900 times a day and that there are enough gallons of blood to make you an ocean. Do not settle for letting these waves settle and the dust to collect in your veins.
-Anis Mojgani