Activity level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Modes of transportation: 🚗 👟 🚌
After landing we made our way to the rental car which was a short walk from the terminal. We tried to do the aisle pickup, but according to the attendant: “we don’t have as many liberties here as you do in the states”, so no free car selection. She was also extremely unimpressed that the fanciest car we’d ever driven was a Tesla (she asked).
We hit the (wrong side of the) road at 6am, and, despite having a full first-class breakfast in the air, we were feeling a little peckish. Regrettably, the only place that was open that early was McDonalds aka Maccas. We did try to have uniquely New Zealand flavors such as a “fluffy” (steamed milk served with a marshmallow) and a “big brekkie sandwich,” which was sort of an abominable mish-mash of a Big Mac and a full breakfast.
After settling our hunger but not our stomachs, we were on our way to the magical land of Hobbiton. Along the way, we passed beautiful green rolling hills, many sheep, more green hills, and many, many more sheep. We think we might have also seen the Windows 95 screen saver.
The weather got a bit stormy on the drive, but the rain cleared up the second we started our tour of middle earth. Hobbiton was like a fairy town. Apparently, they tore down the set from the first three movies and rebuilt them more permanently when they filmed The Hobbit Trilogy (at least that’s one good thing that came out of those movies). They really did a fantastic job of making sure it felt like a real hobbit town, from the details on the houses, to the scenery, to the crops.
Fun fact: the entire shire is only featured for seven minutes out of the entire 6 movie series.
We also got a complementary beer in The Green Dragon and a limited edition free mug due to the construction on set. Who knows how we’re going to get that home. Sarah wants to carry the mug for the remaining 57 days of the honeymoon, which she is very allowed to do.
We also went into the shire area with a bus full of people, and only came back half-full. Hopefully they find their way back out of middle earth (pro tip: find some eagles).
After Hobbiton, we continued on our journey to another magical land of the healing hot springs. We were still getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road, but luckily we made it to our destination with only 3 close calls.
Before that, we checked into our hotel quickly and had dinner/lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant named Saigon 60s, which had fantastic food. Sarah couldn’t wait 15 days to actually be in Vietnam to have Vietnamese food.
We got a couples massage at the Polynesian Spa (neither of us had ever had a massage before), and we both still don’t know whether you’re supposed to talk to each other during it. They also “stole” and washed Eric’s swim shorts by accident, so he almost had to go home in a robe. Despite getting a full 7.5 hours of luxe sleep on the flight there, we were exhausted and took a nap in the thermal-water heated stone lounging chairs, overlooking the lake. Then, we had one more dip in the hot springs and went on our merry way.
Eric wanted to ensure our first stay was special, but even after emailing the front desk at booking that it was the first night of our honeymoon, they put us in a room with two doubles ???
Ah well, it didn’t matter much because after a long day of sleeping on a flight, napping in the car, touring Hobbiton, getting massages, and napping again, we slept great. Jet lag is real. The hotel had beautiful views of the natural hot springs surrounding the city, and it was the best sleep Sarah’s had since we started wedding planning.
Leave a Reply