A few months ago I found a cheap flight to New Zealand and booked it.  It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time (thanks, Lord of the Rings and the Amazing Race), and it’s something that has given my thinking some focus these last few weeks.  I think about it in different terms each day: time in a beautiful place, a chance to see where some of my favorite movie moments were filmed, my first time leaving the country alone (sorry, Canada), a break from my ten-year summer routine.  And while I will be traveling alone, I feel like I’ll be carrying many good things with me.

Here’s a brilliant time-lapse video of the country by photographer Shawn Reeder.  If I see beauty half as good as he has captured on film, I will consider myself doubly-blessed.