Skinny cash

Mrs Grendel I stopped eating some months back - well, not entirely, but enough so that we lose weight at a decent rate. This has also provided some additional disposable income and we had a nice tidy sum of savings in the back when I saw an ad for a snow holiday.

The Junior Grendels love the idea of snow - they've never had to endure the biting iciness of a real winter so snow to them looks terrific fun. I don't ski however and wasn't that keen on just going to the snowfields to pay a lot of money to watch other people ski.

We also have friends in across the Tasman and one day the inspiration hit "Lets do the family holiday in New Zealand!"

I started research the three main costs of a family visit - airfares, accommodation and transport. Daily food, fuel, activity costs and incidentals came into the mix later but I first need to try a few holiday options on for size.

Guided tours are right out - bus travel and Mrs Grendel are not friends and neither of us likes the on/off locked down routine of tours.

The most appealing option was to either hire a camper (vetoed by Mrs Grendel) or to hire a car and set our own itinerary. And thus it is that we now have both a budget and an itinerary, and tickets booked, accommodation paid for and a hire car to await us on our arrival.

The Junior Grendels have been saving coins to change into New Zealand money and I've been watching the exchange rate with interest hoping that it holds steady at the very least.

Buying the airline tickets was interesting but deserving of a post of its own.

The Plan

With the Global Economic Crisis in full swing, and new reports full of pandemic and woe, it was time to finally go on holiday.

What better time is there to stimulate an economy than when things seem at their worst, and what better place to visit and share our stimulus package than with our neighbours across the Tasman.

This is a logistical exercise of considerable proportions with children, and when you have a child with autism there are additional considerations.

However, Junior Grendel Number One is, in fact, very keen on the idea of souvenirs and travel on an airplane.

He's also fond of hotels (the kind with indoor pools and room service).

While our budget is unlikely to survive a full holiday in trans-tasman hotels, I thought we might be able to manage a night or two in something upmarket once or twice on our trip.

And thus was born The Plan.