If you’re like me, I’m sure Australia and New Zealand are at the top of your bucket list. If you have already been, it remains at the top of your list to return to.

You’ll probably want to devote as much time to the experience as your schedule will allow when it remains at such a high level of must-do or must-do-again—and sometimes that will include American holiday time (just so you have enough vacation days to account for your time away).

However, some holidays are celebrated across every continent, with even more time devoted to family and friends—like Boxing Day. As I was planning our 2018-2019 adventure DownUnder, and thinking about what we could do during their summer and our winter escape, one of the things we wanted to do was go wine tasting in the Marlborough Wine Region of New Zealand. Because of our schedule of ports, as we did this part of our adventure by cruise, the best (and only) day to experience the wine region was on December 26.

Knowing that Boxing Day was as much a celebrated holiday as the day before, I knew that we might have limited (if any) options for seeing and tasting our way through Marlborough. I reached out to a local guide contact that I have in the region, and we discussed the dilemma—a year out. He was able to use his local connections to confirm a private winery tour of three vineyards, including lunch at one, for the day at their award-winning Cellar Doors (what we Americans refer to as Tasting Rooms).

This is just one example of the attention to detail, connections to local experiences, and individual curation that I bring to our collaboration on your bucket list journey. My goal is to take all obstacles that may occur and turn them into one-of-a-kind opportunities and experiences. Contact me today to take your goals and create a plan to accomplish them.