27 days in a brightly-painted van.

We're so excited about spending four weeks together poking around New Zealand that we can barely concentrate on work and school. All we want to do is pick up our guidebooks and read about the phenomenal sights we will see.

Our original itinerary included Tahiti and Easter Island, but economy-bankrupt airlines-President Bush-something caused the prices for those stopovers to spike and made the cost obscene. However, the more we looked into our options over the past few days, the more we realized that a laid-back road trip through New Zealand is an ideal honeymoon that needs no add-ons. (Besides, dropping Easter Island frees up that destination for the Chile-Easter Island Spring Break 2010 — any takers?)

So, off we go December 17, 2008, not to return until January 14, 2009. And, we'll be traveling in style. Last night we reserved an intricate, brightly-painted van to tour about in. As we considered the typical, bland motor home options you might expect, Sarah discovered a brilliant little company, Escape, that hires out converted vans painted by local artists. The inside switches to a bed, the backside opens out a little cook area — and we'll camp and barbecue our way across the country (whenever we're not two days trekked out into the isolated, deep-green forested middle of nowhere, that is).

Well, I could end this post by telling you I've got to get back to grading or studying or something, but that would be a damn lie. I've got a Lonely Planet travel guide on my desk that reads New Zealand in big print across the top, and it's thick and mostly unread.

Jason