Posted on: October 19th, 2015 by MelissaM
In December 2015, Air New Zealand will host direct flights from Houston to Auckland, New Zealand. This means traveling to New Zealand just became even easier with five Air New Zealand hubs in North America!
Training with Tourism New Zealand
In preparation for the inaugural flight from Houston, the staff at About New Zealand partnered with Tourism New Zealand for a massive training event Thursday. 24 vendors from all across New Zealand showed up Thursday morning and, after a Texas sized breakfast, the teams got to work.
The morning jumped right into fast paced training sessions for our staff. The vendors in town ranged from luxury accommodations to award winning Maori Cultural experiences and even self-drive experiences in the comfort of a camper van, like tourism New Zealand’s Kombi Diaries.
There are some pretty interesting things waiting you in New Zealand including Helicopter Tours to Franz Josef, luxury day cruises on Doubtful Sound, accommodations fit for royalty (literally) and lots of Hobbit inspired experiences. We even got a look at a real prop worn by a Dwalin in The Hobbit!
Photo courtesy of Weta Workshop in Wellington, New Zealand
By midday the About New Zealand staff was full to the brim with New Zealand knowledge and Tourism NZ was out the door to Houston for their final stop. Housing this many vendors in one day was a milestone for About New Zealand. It was exciting and exhausting but most importantly it was another way we can improve your travel experience!
What does this mean for you? Our partnership with Tourism New Zealand and the amazing turn out of New Zealand vendors ensures your next New Zealand vacation is one you’ll never forget! After extensive training, our Destination Specialists are even more excited to start planning your New Zealand vacation!
Call us Toll Free 888-359-2877 (Mon-Fri 8:30am – 5:00pm Central US) or Start planning my trip
About New Zealand Reviews
Rating of Average of 4.88 on a total of 33 Ratings
Incredible Memories From Start to Finish
I recently returned from a 10 night trip to New Zealand and, WOW, the stories I could tell! I chose a trip that took me to 4 different cities (Auckland, Rotorua, Wellington, and Queenstown), and(...)
(...) each one had something special to offer. About New Zealand helped plan everything in advance, from flights and lodging, to special excursions. My favorites being the visit to Hobbiton and a cruise along the Doubtful Sound. Both were overwhelmingly beautiful locations and I'm so grateful that all the transfers and logistics were arranged ahead of time.
I also loved that there were "free" days worked into the itinerary so I could go off and explore each city at my leisure. This allowed me time to go wine tasting, rent a car to drive the countryside, and hike some truly beautiful trails.
All in all, this trip was the perfect balance of scheduled and free time and About New Zealand made booking and traveling within the country so simple!
The greatest lifetime memories were made on this adventure.
The vacation was well organized. When we came face to face with a cyclone the team had our backs and made sure that our vacation continued. Each of our sleeping accommodations were amazing. (...)
(...) (Exception Prince's Gate). Our excursions were fun, informative and accommodating. The trip was organized in the best way possible to ensure that we enjoyed all of New Zealand and our little bite of Australia. Our hats go off to Koda and Tiffany. They a made it a best vacation ever.
Arranged a completely enjoyable once-in-a-lifetime trip to New Zealand
My 3-week trip to New Zealand took me to every place I had wanted to see and more besides. All of the arrangements for flights, day tours, hotels and traveling between places in New Zealand(...)
(...) worked as planned.
A Great Experience!
It would actually please us greatly if our visit to Hobbiton might be the catalyst for others to visit the Shire. We’ve been Tolkien fans forever and lifting a pint in the Prancing Pony was one(...)
(...) of highlights of our trip.
